Sanchi Stupa
MONUMENTS OF INDIA – SANCHI STUPA
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Sanchi Stupa is located is Sanchi, a small village in Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh (India), it is located 46 km north east of Bhopal city, and 10 km from Vidisha city in the central part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the location of several Buddhist monuments and is an important place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Toranas surround the Sanchi Stupa and they each represent love, peace, trust, and courage.
In 1818 a British officer, General Taylor, was the first known Western historian to document (In English) the existence of Sanchi place. And amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters ravaged the site, when its proper restoration work was initiated. The Sanchi Stupa structures were restored to their present condition under the supervision of John Marshall between 1912 and 1919.
The Sanchi stupa is also called as ‘Great Stupa’ at Sanchi and was originally commissioned by Emperor Ashoka in the Third Century B.C. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha and it was crowned by the chatra, a parasol-like structure symbolising high rank, which was intended to honour.
