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The Great Stupa at Sanchi |
Off the beaten path in the heart of India lies the small village of Sanchi, home to some of the world's oldest and most spectacular Buddhist monuments. The Great Stupa at Sanchi is the site's main structure, erected by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka in 250 BCE after his enthusiastic conversion to Buddhism. Ashoka erected great stupas and pillars to promote Buddhism all over India and sent ambassadors as far as ancient Rome and Egypt to propagate Buddhism. At its height the Maurya Empire stretched from parts of Persia in the west to Bengal and Assam in the east. Today what remains of his empire in India are stone pillars at Sarnath and Mathura and the Great Stupa at Sanchi. Stupas were a new development in religious architecture at that time. Originally more like a mound sculpture than building, they marked a holy site or contained the relics of a holy person. Most likely the original stupa at Sanchi housed some relics of the Buddha himself, perhaps a fragment of his skull. The original stupa is now encased in a large brick stupa measuring 54 feet high and 70 feet in diameter and flanked by four massive gateways (toranas) exquisitely carved with scenes from the Buddha's life. The Buddha is not represented in human form in these carvings, which didn't come until the first century, but as different symbols — the lotus (his birth), the Bodhi tree (his enlightenment), the wheel (his teachings), throne (his presence), his footprints (Buddhapada) and the stupa. The carvings are a world apart from the Mahayana form of Buddhism practiced in the Himalayas. They are entirely Indian, depicting a world of elephants, monkeys, lions, crocodiles, multi-headed snakes, voluptuous women, pot-bellied dwarfs, chariots, battles, boats, rivers jumping with fish, lotus flowers and so on. They're a rich representation of life in ancient India, and in places the carvings and monuments look and feel almost like ancient Greece. They have a similar elegance, richness and restraint. These gateways are among the most beautiful art in India. Over time Sanchi evolved and became a major center for Buddhism. Sculptures, temples, pillars, monasteries and additional stupas were built around the Great Stupa. By the 10th century Sanchi went into decline, and by the 12th century it fell into disuse as Buddhism virtually disappeared from India. Hinduism ascended and incorporated the Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu, the preserver of the universe. Tragically, Muslims later hacked off many of the faces in the carvings at Sanchi in their attempts to spread Islam in the region. The Buddha's face remains on only one of the four large sitting Buddha sculptures that sit at the base of the stupa at the entrance of each of the four gateways. In 1818 Sanchi was "rediscovered" by a British army officer. Following that the site was pillaged by amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters until 1881 when the British Archaeological Society began restoring it. Today there's a small museum nearby with some of the stone carvings and artifacts found at the site, as well as a decent photo documentation of the restoration. Sanchi became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989, but thankfully it's not become a major tourist attraction. Only a few Buddhists pilgrims, archaeology buffs and artistically-inclined travelers like me make the journey to this remote little corner of the world, and for now it remains as peaceful as the time of the Buddha. |
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