A report on Sanchi, Stupa and Sanchi Stupa No. 2

The Piprahwa stupa is one of the earliest surviving stupas.

Plan of the monuments of the hill of Sanchi, numbered 1 to 50.

Buddha's ashes Stupa built by the Licchavis, Vaishali and one of the earliest stupas

An early stupa, 6 m in diameter, with fallen umbrella on side at Chakpat, near Chakdara; probably Maurya, 3rd century BCE

Map of Sanchi hill, with Stupa II at the extreme left, to the west

The capital of the Sanchi pillar of Ashoka, as discovered (left), and simulation of original appearance (right). It is very similar to the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, except for the abacus, here adorned with flame palmettes and facing geese, 250 BCE. Sanchi Archaeological Museum.

by later illustrations among the Sanchi reliefs

The relief of the horse-headed ogress in Sanchi Stupa No.2.

The Great Stupa under the Sungas. The Sungas nearly doubled the diameter of the initial stupa, encasing it in stone, and built a balustrade and a railing around it.

The Ahin Posh stupa was dedicated in the 2nd century CE under the Kushans, and contained coins of Kaniska I.

Foreigner on a horse, circa 115 BCE, Stupa No2.

The Chinese Songyue Pagoda
Row of stupas on roadside east of Leh, Ladakh.jpg (523 CE) is thought to derive from the Gandharan tower-stupa model.

Sunga period railings were initially blank (left: Sanchi Great Stupa), and only started to be decorated circa 115 BCE with Stupa No.2 (right).

Sunga period railings were initially blank (left: Great Stupa), and only started to be decorated circa 115 BCE with Stupa No.2 (right).

Inscriptions on the railings of Sanchi Stupa II

Sunga pillar No25 with own capital on the side.

Foreigner on a horse. The medallions are dated circa 115 BC.

Lakshmi with lotus and two child attendants, probably derived from [[:File:Venus with two cupids 2.jpg|similar images of Venus]]<ref>An Indian Statuette From Pompeii, Mirella Levi D'Ancona, in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1950) p.171</ref>

View of the Wat Phra Kaew complex from the northeast, temple complex of the Emerald Buddha with stupas

The sharing of the relics of the Buddha. Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, 2-3rd century CE. ZenYouMitsu Temple Museum, Tokyo.

Buddha relics from Kanishka's stupa in Peshawar, Pakistan. These surviving relics are now housed in Mandalay, Myanmar.

Female riding a Centaur. Centaurs are generally considered as Western borrowings.<ref>"The hippocamps, the tritons, centaurs and other weird creatures, which certainly were borrowed from Western Art, occur at Gaya and other places, in the sculptures of the early period. Forms more or less similar occur at Mathura and Arnaravati." {{cite book |last1=Banerjee |first1=Gauranga Nath |title=Hellenism in ancient India |date=1920 |publisher=Calcutta |page=64 |url=https://archive.org/details/hellenisminancie00banerich}}</ref>

The Great Stupa at the time of the Satavahanas.

Hero fighting against lions, a motif of West-Asian origin, such as [[:File:Teheran National Museum Royal Warrior.jpg|this one]] or [[:File:Masjid-e Solaiman, Heracles Susa Archaeological Museum.jpg|this one]].<ref name="Hero">Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3676.jpgTeheran National Museum Royal Warrior.jpgMasjid-e Solaiman, Heracles Susa Archaeological Museum.jpg"A man wrestling with an upright lion on a second stupa relief at north Indian Sanchi" The Parthian Period by Malcolm A. R. Colledge "The scene of king versus rampant lion appears on the coins of Persian satraps in Cilicia. At Dura the oriental tradition is so strong that even Heracles is represented fighting with upraised club a rampant lion; and it is of special interest to note that this same oriental scene of hero fighting rampant lion occurs on the sculptures of the railing pillars of Stupa II at Sanchi in India. The motif was, therefore, widespread and might be called a stock scene in the Parthian repertoire." in {{cite book |title=Berytus: Archaeological Studies |publisher=American University of Beirut. |page=291 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYdCAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

Temptation of the Buddha, with the Buddha on the left (symbolized by his throne only) surrounded by rejoicing devotees, Mara and his daughters (center), and the demons of Mara fleeing (right).

Row of chortens at roadside near Leh, Ladakh

War over the Buddha's Relics, kept by the city of Kushinagar, South Gate, Stupa no.1, Sanchi.

Enlightenment Stupa at Ogoy Island, Russia

King Ashoka visits Ramagrama, to take relics of the Buddha from the Nagas, but he failed, the Nagas being too powerful. Southern gateway, Stupa 1, Southern Gateway, Sanchi.

Sanchi Stupa No.2, the earliest known stupa with important displays of decorative reliefs, circa 125 BCE<ref name="Bell 15">Didactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 p.15ff</ref>

Ashoka in grief, supported by his two queens, in a relief at Sanchi. Stupa 1, Southern gateway. The identification with Ashoka is confirm by a similar relief from Kanaganahalli inscribed "Raya Asoko".

East Gateway and Railings of Bharhut Stupa. Sculptured railings: 115 BCE, toranas: 75 BCE.

Symmetrical leaping winged lions among floral motifs.

Bodhi tree temple depicted in Sanchi, Stupa 1, Southern gateway.

The Great Stupa at Sanchi<ref name="Alī Jāvīd p.50">World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Volume 1 p.50 by Alī Jāvīd, Tabassum Javeed, Algora Publishing, New York </ref> Decorated toranas built from the 1st c. BCE to the 1st c. CE.

Temple for the Bodhi Tree (Eastern Gateway).

foreigners illustrated at Sanchi worshiping the Great Stupa

A model resembling the Saidu Sharif Stupa, with square base and four columns (1st century CE).<ref>Le Huu Phuoc, Buddhist Architecture, Grafikol 2009, p.174-176</ref>

Loriyan Tangai decorated stupa, in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara (2nd century CE).

A tower-shaped stupa, thought to be the design of the second (rebuilt) Kanishka stupa, Jaulian monastery

Stupa-shaped reliquary, Kushan period, about 2nd century CE

Lotus with Hellenistic Beads and reels motif.

Chilas petroglyphs, Buddhist stupa, circa 300-350 CE based on paleography<ref>Dated "between A.D. 300-350 based on Kharosthi, Brahmi, and Sodian inscriptions written before and after the drawing was completed (fig.3) In the center of the triptych, a spectacular stupa with a relatively small dome [anda], a chattravali with seven disks, columns, banners, and multiple bells illustrates a trend towards decorative profusion." {{cite journal |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=2002 |title=Chital petroglyphs|page=152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RuhtAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA152 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |language=en}}</ref>

Miracle of the Buddha walking on the river Nairanjana

The Great Stupa at Sanchi, which contained the relics of Buddha, the oldest known stupa

Palmette design, often present in early Buddhist decorations.

Procession of king Suddhodana from Kapilavastu

An early stupa at Guntupalle, probably Maurya Empire, third century BCE

"The promenade of the Buddha", or Chankrama, used to depict the Buddha in motion in Buddhist aniconism.

Buddha statue inside a votive stupa, Sarnath

Bimbisara with his royal cortege issuing from the city of Rajagriha to visit the Buddha

Foreigners making a dedication at the Southern Gateway of Stupa No 1

Chorten near Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

Stupas and monasteries at Sanchi in the early centuries of the current era. Reconstruction, 1900

The white stupa in Miaoying Temple, China

The Kalachakra stupa in Karma Guen, Spain

Temple 17: a Gupta period tetrastyle prostyle temple of Classical appearance. 5th century CE

Statue of Padmapani (5th c.or 9th c.) Victoria and Albert Museum.

Pillar 26: one of the two four-lions stambha capitals at Sanchi, with lions, central flame palmette and Wheel of Law (axis, stubs of the spokes and part of the circumference only), initially located at the Northern Gateway of the Great Stupa. Sanchi Archaeological Museum.

Various decorative elements of Stupa No.2, Sanchi.

Pillar 26: lion pillar capital at time of discovery, with Dharmachakra wheel (reconstitution). Northern Gateway.

Pillar 35 column stump (right), and bell capital with abacus, positioned upside down.

Vajrapani statue of pillar 35, 5th c. CE. Sanchi Archaeological Museum.

Temple 18 at Sanchi, an apsidal hall with Maurya foundations, rebuilt at the time of Harsha (7th century CE).

Ashoka supported by his two wives, with reconstituted pillar detail. Also seen in [[:File:Sanchi King Ashoka with his Queens, South Gate, Stupa no. 1.jpg|a contemporary relief on the Southern Gateway of Stupa 1]].

The Great Stupa as breached by Sir Herbert Maddock in 1822. Watercolor by Frederick Charles Maisey, in 1851.

Man in costume from the northwest, fighting against lions.<ref name="Heracles">Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3640.jpg "A very unusual lower dress is worn by a curly headed man depicted on the ground rail pillar at Sanchi; he is defending himself from the attack of a lion with the help of a shield. He is wearing a plaited short skirt like dress" in Material Life of Northern India, Asha Vishnu, p.11 "A somewhat earlier relief on a railing column of the Small Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh (second century B.C.E., sandstone) figures a man engaged in a lion hunt. The panel shows a realistic lion, except for its manes, which are in the shape of small round curls, not unlike those of the Buddha. The lion is more standing upright than thrusting forward, but this may be due to lack of space. The hunter or hero wears non-Indian clothes—boots, a skirt till his knees, a kind of T-shirt and a helmet—, which might indicate a foreign hero or story. Theoretically, the story line of this panel may be based on the Greek Heracles myth as well." in Animals in Stone: Indian Mammals Sculptured Through Time by Alexandra Anna Enrica van der Geer.</ref>

Ruins of the Southern Gateway, Sanchi in 1875.

Man in costume from the northwest, possibly an Indo-Scythian.<ref name="Muzio">Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3659 Saluting man.jpgding to Ciro Lo Muzio, this is "a relief showing a male figure of north-western or Central Asian origins, as revealed by his attire: a tight sleeved tunic with folds rendered with parallel lines forming a chevron-like motif along the arms. But for a few details, the figure, possibly depicting a Saka, strongly recalls the members of a drinking couple in a toilet-tray in the British Museum: same tunic, same chevron pattern on the sleeves (and, in the toilet tray, also on the "solar" motif framing the couple), a very similar hair treatment, and eyelids in strong relief, a detail which is not found on other human figures on the same vedika." in Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March 2017, {{p.|130}}</ref>

Inscribed panel from Sanchi in Brahmi script in the British Museum

The last two letters to the right of this inscription in Brahmi form the word "dǎnam" (donation). This hypothesis permitted the decipherment of the Brahmi script by James Prinsep in 1837.

General view of the Stupas at Sanchi by F.C. Maisey, 1851 (The Great Stupa on top of the hill, and Stupa 2 at the forefront)

The Great Stupa (Stupa No.1), started in the 3rd century BCE

Remains of the Ashokan Pillar in polished stone (right of the Southern Gateway), with its Edict.

Sanchi Minor Pillar Edict of Ashoka, in-situ (detail of the previous image).

Remains of the shaft of the pillar of Ashoka, under a shed near the Southern Gateway.

Side view of the capital. Sanchi Archaeological Museum.<ref name="p.25-28 Ashoka pillar"/>

Shunga vedika (railing) with inscriptions.

Detail of the foreigners, in Greek dress and playing carnyxes and aolus flute. Northern Gateway of Stupa I (detail).

Foreigners holding grapes and riding winged lions, Sanchi Stupa 1, Eastern Gateway.<ref>"The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, 1993, p. 112 Note 91</ref>

Foreigners on horses, wearing headbands, caps and boots. Western gate of Stupa 1.

The Buddha represented by the Dharmacakra.

Bottom panel Dvarapala guardian deity or devotee.

Pillar 34 with lion.<ref>Marshall p. 52 Pillar 34</ref>

The winged lion capital of pillar 34 (lost).

A vision of ancient Indian court life, using motifs from Sanchi (wood engraving, 1878).

The Stupa No. 2 at Sanchi, also called Sanchi II, is one of the oldest existing Buddhist stupas in India, and part of the Buddhist complex of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh.

- Sanchi Stupa No. 2

The Great Stupa at Sanchi is one of the oldest stone structures in India, and an important monument of Indian Architecture.

- Sanchi

In effect, many stupas are thought to date originally from the time of Ashoka, such as Sanchi or Kesariya, where he also erected pillars with his inscriptions, and possibly Bharhut, Amaravati or Dharmarajika in Gandhara.

- Stupa

During the following centuries, especially under the Shungas and the Satavahanas, the Great Stupa was enlarged and decorated with gates and railings, and smaller stupas were also built in the vicinity, especially Stupa No.2, and Stupa No.3.

- Sanchi

Stupas were soon to be richly decorated with sculptural reliefs, following the first attempts at Sanchi Stupa No.2 (125 BCE).

- Stupa

2 related topics with Alpha

Bharhut

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Village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India.

The gateways (left) were made by northern (probably Gandharan) masons using Kharosthi marks, while the railings (right) were made by masons using marks in the local Brahmi script.

the Kharosthi letters were found on the balustrades

Bharhut pillar capital with rosette, beads-and-reels and flame palmette designs.

Buddha sculpture at Bharhut 11-12th cent

Worship of the Bodhi tree, with Yakshini.

Māyā's dream, Gandhara, 2–3rd century CE.

Maya's Dream, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE.

Yambumane-Avayesi Jataka or Andha-Bhuta Jataka.

The Yaksha relief at Bharhut being worshipped as Hanuman by local villagers

The ruined Bharhut Stupa; seen behind it is the Lal Pahadi (Red Mountain)

It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa.

The Bharhut sculptures represent some of the earliest examples of Indian and Buddhist art, later than the monumental art of Ashoka (circa 260 BCE), and slightly later than the early Shunga-period reliefs on railings at Sanchi Stupa No.2 (starting circa 115 BCE).

Though more provincial in quality than the sculpture at Sanchi, Amaravati Stupa and some other sites, a large amount of sculpture has survived, generally in good condition.

Mahabodhi Temple

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Ancient, but much rebuilt and restored, Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya, marking the location where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

Ashoka's Mahabodhi Temple and Diamond throne in Bodh Gaya, built c. 250 BCE. The inscription between the Chaitya arches reads: "Bhagavato Sakamunino/ bodho" i.e. "The building round the Bodhi tree of the Bhagavat(Holy) Sakamuni (Shakyamuni)". Also interesting to note is the word Bhagavat for Buddha, as Hindus consider him an incarnation of Vishnu who is also called Bhagavat. The elephant-crowned pillar of Ashoka (now lost) is visible. Bharhut frieze (c. 100 BCE).

Another relief of the early circular Mahabodhi Temple, Bharhut, c. 100 BCE.

Discovery of the Diamond throne, built by Ashoka c. 250 BCE.

Reconstitution of the Sunga period pillars at Bodh Gaya, from archaeology (left) and from artistic relief (right). They are dated to the 1st century BCE. Reconstitution done by Alexander Cunningham.

The stupa finial on top of the pyramidal structure.

A statue of Mucalinda protecting the Buddha in Mucalinda Lake, Mahabodhi Temple

The temple as it appeared in 1899, shortly after its restoration in the 1880s

Bodhgaya. Buddha image in the main temple.

Bodh Gaya quadriga relief of the sun god Surya riding between pillars (detail of a railing post), 2nd–1st century BCE.

The temple undergoing repairs (from January, 2006).

Bodh Gaya Chedi Replica at Wat Yansangwararam, Chonburi Province, Thailand

Bodh Gaya original railings, Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Padakusalamanava Jataka.<ref>The Padakusalamanava Jataka, in which a horse-headed ogress falls in love with one of her preys, and the Bodhisattva (the future Buddha) is born of their union. In: Didactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China, Alexander Peter Bell, LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 pp. 15ff</ref>

Plaster copy and reconstruction of original Sunga railing.

Adoration of the wheel of the Law (plaster copy).

Flower Design decorated with gold leaves.

During the second week, the Buddha remained standing and stared, uninterrupted, at the Bodhi tree. This spot is marked by the Animeshlocha Stupa, that is, the unblinking stupa or shrine, to the north-east of the Mahabodhi Temple complex. There stands a statue of Buddha with his eyes fixed towards the Bodhi tree.

Representations of the early temple structure meant to protect the Bodhi tree are found at Sanchi, on the toraṇas of Stūpa I, dating from around 25 BCE, and on a relief carving from the stupa railing at Bhārhut, from the early Shunga period (c.

There are carved panels as well as medallions, with many scenes similar to those of the contemporary Sunga railings at Bharhut (150 BCE) and Sanchi (115 BCE), although the reliefs at Sanchi Stupa No.2 are often considered as the oldest of all.