Sanchi
is known for its Stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from the 3rd
century B.C. to the 12th century A.D. The most famous of these monuments, the
Sanchi Stupa 1, was originally built by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, the then
governor of Ujjayini, whose wife Devi was the daughter of a merchant from adjacent
Vidisha.
Their son Mahindra and daughter Sanghamitra were born in Ujjayini and sent to
Sri Lanka, where they converted the King, the Queen and their people to Buddhism.
The world-renowned stupas of stupa of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh are being designated
by UNESCO as the world heritage site for its archaeological andhistorical importance.
A Chunar sandstone pillar fragment, shining with the proverbial Mauryan polish,
lies near Stupa 1 and carries the famous edict of Ashoka warning against schism
in the Buddhist community.
Stupa 1 was found empty , while relics of the two disciples of Buddha enshrined
in the adjacent Stupa 3 were carried away to England. The nearby moern temple
has a reliquary containing the remains of a Buddhist teacher from another stupa
outside Sanchi.
The
Sanchi hill goes up in shelves with Stuupa 2 situated on a lower shelf, while
Stupa 1, Stupa3, the 5th century Gupta temple No. 17 and the 7th century temple
No. 18 are on the intermediate shelf while a later monastery is on the crowning
shelf.
The balustrade surrounding Stupa 2, carved with aniconic representations of
the Buddha, was added in the late 2nd century BC under the Shungas, while the
four gateways of Stupa 1 were built in the 1st century BC under the Satavahanas.
Carved with stories of the Buddha's past and present lives and with incidents
from the subsequent history of Buddhism, the gateways are the finest spenciments
of early classical art, which formed the seedbed for the entire vocabulary of
later Indian art.
Two fo the moving stories told on these portals are those of Prince Vessantara,
who gave away his wealth, his wife and children out of charity and compassioin,
and of Buddha who, as the monkey king, sacrificed his life to wave his companions.
Destination Madhya Pradesh - Sanchi,
Central India Destinations
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