The Mauryan Polity c11.s3.t6.5

c11.s3.t6.5

From these Mr. Smith formulates the theory of the universality of the church, ‘the congregation from the four quarters, present and absent’, adding that the number four has some mystic significance, and that the selection of the symbol was influenced in some cases by the origin of monks. There is nothing impossible in that some of these animals are the vāhanas of the guardians of the four quarters, or the dikpālas of Sanskrit literature.² There is no mystic significance about the number four, as more than four riding animals crown the various capitals of these pillars. In the light of the references occurring in the Vedic literature about these animals, it was argued that there is no foundation for the theory of the universality of the church as V. A. Smith would have it.¹ These pre-Aśokan pillars with animal capitals were pillars of victory, planted as memorials by the ancient kings of India of whom we have unfortunately no record, the images of the capital representing the emblem of their ensign, symbolical of the object of their worship.