Sanchi Stupas

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About the City
Located on the foot of a hill-- Sanchi is just 46 kms Bhopal. It is more of a village than a town. Sanchi is a religious place with historical and Archaeological significance. Sanchi is a site for the numerous stupas which were built on a hill top. The place is related to Buddhism but not directly to the life of Buddha. It is more related to Ashoka than to Buddha. Ashoka built the first stupa and put up many pillars here. The crown of famous Ashoka pillars, with four lions standing back to back, has been adopted as the national emblem of India. Sanchi is a serene hill crowned by a group of stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from 3rd Century to the 12th Century AD. The glory that was Sanchi, an ancient seat of Buddhist learning and place of pilgrimage, can still be experienced in its complex structures where many Buddhist legends found expression in the rich sculpture.

Sanchi Stupas
The Sanchi Stupa in Madhya Pradesh is the best specimen of stupa art. A Stupa is a dome-shaped mound that mimics the funerary mounds used to mark the graves of great kings. The first Buddhist stupas enshrined the Buddha's physical relics (bones and teeth), and thus gave him royal status. Another sign of this claim is the three-layer stone umbrella visible at the top of the stupa, since the umbrella was also a royal symbol.

Smaller miniature Stupas were also placed around the main, as is the case in Bodh Gaya, Gandhara and Nepal, where the pilgrims placed the stone replicas, sometimes with a Buddha statue within. The Gandhara stupas show great development in decorative sculptural elegance with a higher base.

Sanchi's Great Stupa is the oldest surviving Buddhist monument. The original Stupa was built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (reigned 269-32 BCE), but enlarged to its present form in the 1st CE. The Stupa later fell into ruins, but was restored by the Archeological Survey of India in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Great Stupa No. 1
The oldest stone structure in India. 36.5 mt in diameter and 16.4 MT high, with a massive hemispherical dome, the stupa stands in eternal majesty, the paved procession path around it worn smooth by centuries of pilgrims.

The Eastern Gateway
Depicts the young prince, Gautama leaving his father's palace on his journey towards enlightenment and the dream his mother had before his birth. The Western Gateway Depicts the seven incarnations of the Buddha. The Northern Gateway Crowned by a wheel-of-law, this depicts the miracles associated with the Buddha as told in the jatakas. The Southern Gateway The birth of Gautama is revealed in a series of dramatically rich carvings.

Stupa No. 2
The stupa stands at the very edge of the hill and its most striking feature is the stone balustrade that rings it.

Stupa No. 3
Situated close to the great stupa. The hemispherical dome is crowned, as a mark of its special religious significance, with an umbrella of polished stone. The relics of Sariputta and Mahamogallena , two of the Buddha's earliest disciples, were found in its inmost chamber

The Ashoka Pillar
Lies close to the Southern gateway of the Great Stupa, and is one of the finest examples of the Ashokan pillar and is known for its aesthetic proportions and exquisite structural balance.

The Great Bowl
Carved out of one block of stone, this mammoth bowl contained the food that was distributed among the monks of Sanchi.

The Gupta Temple
In ruins now, this 5th century AD temple is one of the earliest known examples of temple architecture in India.

The Buddhist Vihara
The sacred relics of the Satdhara Stupa, a few km away from Sanchi, have been enshrined in a glass casket on a platform in the inner sanctum of his modern monastery.

The Museum
The Archaeological Survey of India maintains a site museum at Sanchi. Note worthy antiquities on display include the lion capital of the Ashokan pillar and metal objects used by the monks, discovered during excavations at Sanchi.