It was orignally placed atop the asoka pillar at the important buddhist site of sarnath by the emperor ashoka in about 250 BCE the piller sometime called the ashoka coulam is still in its orignal location but the lion capital is now in the sarnath museum in state of uttar pradesh india this place should not be missed if you are visiting sarnath Got2 wings left side for buddhism and the other side for hindusim lots of old idols paintings etc most intersting one was the top of ashoka piller
The piller depicts four lions on the top standing back to back and a wheel the ashoka chakra on the platform beneath the lion the piller also depicts a bull a lion an elephant and a horse which symbolise four diffrent phases of the life of gautam buddha.