Sanchi Travel Buddhist Heritage Tourism Tour Operators

Sanchi is serene hill crowned by a group of stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from 3rd Century BC 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.

The Buddha is not represented through figures at Sanchi, but through symbols, as was the tradition in the early period of Buddhism.

The lotus represents the Buddha's birth, the tree signifies his enlightenment, the wheel represents his first sermon and the stupa represents his nirvana or salvation. The footprints and the throne denote the Buddha's presence.

Sanchi was virtually forgotten after the 13th Century until 1818, when General Taylor, a British Officer rediscovered it, half buried and well preserved. Later in 1912, Sir John Marshal, Director General of Archaeology ordered the restoration work at the site.

Some of the important monuments in Sanchi are :-

The Great Stupa No. 1 , 36.5 mtrs. In diameter and 16.4 mtrs. High, it is one of the oldest stone structures in India. With a massive hemispherical dome, the Stupa stands majestically.

Sanchi

The paved procession path around it has become smooth by centuries of pilgrims' visit. Built orginally as an earthern stupa by the Emperor Ashoka, it was rebuilt in the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BC. The last of the additions to this remarkable stupa are the elaborate and richly carved four gateways or Toranas. The first of the four gateways to be erected was the one at the Southern Entrane, followed, in chronological order by the Northern, the Eastern and the Western Gateways.

The Southern Gateway reveals the birth of Gautam in a series of dramatically rich carvings. The Northern gateway, corwned by a wheel of law, illustrates the micacle associated with the Buddha as told in the Jataka tales.

The Eastern Gateway, depicts the young prince, Gautam, leaving his father's palace, renouncing worldly life to seek enlightenment. The inner face of the right pillar portrays the dream of Maya, the mother of Buddha, when she conceived him. The Western gateway depicts the Seven incarnations of the Buddha, four represe.

Ashoka Pillar , with its four lion head stump, erected during the 3rd Century BC, is situated close to the Southern Gateway of the Great Stupa. Though, similar to the intricately carved pillar in sarnath, the lions did not support a "Wheel of Law" (Dharmachakra). A unique feature of this pillar is its brilliant polish.

The Gupta Temple (4th Century AD), in ruins now, is one of the earliest known examples of temple architecture in India. It consists of a simple flat roofed chamber with a pillared porchin front.

Temple 18, a Chaitya Hall, situated in front of the Southern Gateway of the Great Stupa is comparatively recent (around 7th Century A.D.) resebles the rock-cut chaitya halls at Karla Caves inMaharashtra. The Monastery and Temple 45, built between the 7th and 11th Centuries, show more developed styles of architecture. On the ornamental doorway here, one can see the image of Buddha with an oval Halo.

The Great Bowl, carved out of one block of stone, contained food that was distributed amongst the monks of Sanchi.

The Archaeological Survey of India Museum situated at the entrance to the monument, exhibits findings and remains of the excavated site. Among these are caskets, pottery, parts of gateways, lion capital of the Ashokan Pillar and images.


	Buddhist Places
			¤Ajanta Caves ¤Bhaja Caves ¤Bodhgaya ¤Nagarjuna Konda ¤Kanheri Caves ¤Jannar Caves ¤Kapilavastu ¤Karla Caves ¤Kaushambi ¤Sravasti ¤Kushinagar ¤Ladakh ¤Nalanda ¤Orissa ¤Rajgir ¤Sankisa ¤Tabo ¤Sarnath ¤Sikkim ¤Tawang ¤Vaishali