Sanchi

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Sanchi v • d • e Madhya Pradesh • India
Sanchi
District(s)	Vidisha
Coordinates	23.29° N 77.44° E
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Population	- (2001)

Coordinates: 23.29° N 77.44° E

**Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi**^a
**UNESCO World Heritage Site**

State Party	India
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Identification	#524
Region^b	Asia-Pacific
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1989 13th Session
a Name as officially inscribed on the WH List b As classified officially by UNESCO

Sanchi is a small village in India, located 46 km north east of Bhopal, and 10 km from Besnagar and Vidisha in the central part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the location of several Buddhist monuments, dating from the third century BCE to the twelfth century CE. It is a nagar panchayat in Raisen district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi was originally commissioned by the emperor Ashoka the Great in the third century BCE. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. It was crowned by the chhatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to honour and shelter the relics (Dehejia 1997).

1 Sunga period
2 Satavahana period
3 Indo-Greek contacts
4 Later periods
5 Western Re-discovery
6 Geography
7 Demographics
8 Notes
9 References
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Sunga period

The compound Buddhist symbols: Shrivatsa within a triratana, over a Chakra wheel, on the Tonana gate at Sanchi.

The stupa was vandalized at one point, sometime in the second century BCE, an event some have related to the rise of the Sunga emperor Pusyamitra Sunga. It has been suggested that Pushyamitra may have destroyed the original stupa, and his son Agnimitra rebuilt it.^[1] During the later rule of the Sunga, the stupa was expanded with stone slabs to almost twice its original size. The dome was flattened near the top and crowned by three superimposed parasols within a square railing. With its many tiers it was a symbol of the dharma, the Wheel of the Law. The dome was set on a high circular drum meant for circumambulation, which could be accessed via a double staircase. A second stone pathway at groundlevel was enclosed by a stone balustrade with four monumental gateways (toranas) facing the cardinal directions. The buildings which seem to have been commissioned during the rule of the Sungas are the Second and Third stupas (but not the gateways), and the ground balustrate and stone casing of the Great Stupa.

[edit] Satavahana period

The gateways and the balustrade were built after 70 BCE, and appear to have been commisionned by the Satavahana. An inscription records the gift of one of the top architraves of the Southern Gateway by the artisans of the Satavahana king Satakarni:

"Gift of Ananda, the son of Vasithi, the foreman of the artisans of rajan Siri Satakarni"^[2]

Even though made of stone, were carved and constructed in the manner of wood and the gateways were covered with narrative sculptures. These showed scenes from the life of the Buddha integrated with everyday events that would be familiar to the onlookers and so make it easier for them to understand the Buddhist creed as relevant to their lives. In the case of Sanchi and most other stupas it was the local population who donated money towards the embellishment of the stupa to attain spiritual merit. There was no direct royal patronage. Devotees, both men and women, who donated money towards a sculpture would often choose their favourite scene from the life of the Buddha and then have their names inscribed on it. This accounts for the random repetition of particular episodes on the stupa (Dehejia 1992). On these stone carvings the Buddha was never depicted as a human figure. Instead the artists chose to represent him by certain attributes, such as the horse on which he left his father’s home, his footprints or a canopy under the bodhi tree at the point of his enlightenment. The human body was thought to be too confining for the Buddha.

[edit] Indo-Greek contacts

Carved decoration of the Northern gateway to the Great Stupa of Sanchi

Foreigners of Indo-Greek appearance (wearing the chlamys cape over short chiton tunics, with short curly hair and headbands, playing carnyx (κάρνυξ) trumpets lower left) honouring the Sanchi stupa with gifts, prayers and music. Northern Gateway, Sanchi, India. 2nd-1st century BCE (Click image for reference).

Sanchi is located only 5 miles from the city of Vidisa, where the Heliodorus pillar is located. The pillar was dedicated around 100 BCE by a Greek ambassador named Heliodorus, sent by Antialcidas, the Indo-Greek king of Taxila, to the Sunga king Kasiputra Bhagabhadra.

Some of the friezes of Sanchi also show devotees in Greek attire (Greeks clothes, attitudes, and musical instruments) celebrating the stupa.^[3]

[edit] Later periods

Further stupas and other religious Buddhist and early Hindu structures were added over the following centuries until the 12th century CE. Temple 17 is probably one of the earliest Buddhist temples as it dates to the early Gupta period. It consists of a flat roofed square sanctum with a portico and four pillars. The interior and three sides of the exterior are plain and undecorated but the front and the pillars are elegantly carved, giving the temple an almost ‘classical’ appearance (Mitra 1971).

With the decline of Buddhism, the monuments of Sanchi went out of use and fell into a state of disrepair.

[edit] Western Re-discovery

A British officer in 1818, General Taylor, was the first known Western historian to document (in English) the existence of Sanchi. Amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters, ravaged the site until 1881, when proper restoration work was initiated. Between 1912 and 1919 the structures were restored to their present condition under the supervision of Sir John Marshall.

Today, around fifty monuments remain on the hill of Sanchi, including three stupas and several temples. The monuments have been listed among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1989.

[edit] Geography

Sanchi is located at 23.48° N 77.73° E^[4]. It has an average elevation of 434 metres (1423 feet).

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^GRIndia, Sanchi had a population of 6785. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Sanchi has an average literacy rate of 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 57%. In Sanchi, 16% of the population is under 6 years of age.

[edit] Notes

^ "Who was responsible for the wanton destruction of the original brick stupa of Asoka and when precisely the great work of reconstruction was carried out is not known, but it seems probable that the author of the former was Pushyamitra, the first of the Sunga kings (184-148 BCE), who was notorious for his hostility to Buddhism, and that the restoration was affected by Agnimitra or his immediate successor." in Marshall, "A guide to Sanchi", p38
^ Original text "L1: Rano Siri Satakarnisa L2: avesanisa vasithiputasa L3: Anamdasa danam", John Marshall, "A guide to Sanchi", p52
^ "A guide to Sanchi" John Marshall. These "Greek-looking foreigners" are also described in Susan Huntington, "The art of ancient India", p100.
^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Sanchi

[edit] References

Dehejia, V. (1992). Collective and Popular Bases of Early Buddhist Patronage: Sacred Monuments, 100 BC-AD 250. In B. Stoler Miller (ed.) The Powers of Art. Oxford Universit Press: Oxford. ISBN 0-19-562842-X.

Dehejia, V. (1997). Indian Art. Phaidon: London. ISBN 0-7148-3496-3.

Mitra, D. (1971). Buddhist Monuments. Sahitya Samsad: Calcutta.jatin