Cunningham en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Cunningham worked out that the original height of the inscribed shaft must have been 31 feet 11 inches. His measurements also demonstrated that the column had been shaped so as to give ‘a gentle swell in the middle of the shaft,’ showing that whoever had cut the pillar had followed the same practice as the Greeks, who perfected this technique. . . .
Further sorting through the mass of stonework covering the site brought to light the bell, abacus and capital that had once crowned the Ashokan pillar. To the delight of the excavators the capital was in the form of four lions ‘standing back to back, each four feet in height’. Their heads had been knocked off but their bodies and limbs were still intact, “so boldly sculpted and the muscles and claws so accurately placed, that they might well be placed in comparison with many specimens of Gecian art.’ . . . . Page 246
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Dinesh said:
Further sorting through the mass of stonework covering the site brought to light the bell, abacus and capital that had once crowned the Ashokan pillar. To the delight of the excavators the capital was in the form of four lions ‘standing back to back, each four feet in height’. Their heads had been knocked off but their bodies and limbs were still intact, “so boldly sculpted and the muscles and claws so accurately placed, that they might well be placed in comparison with many specimens of Gecian art.’ . . . . Page 246