Great Stupa at Sanchi

Content Area: South, East, and Southeast Asia Title/Designation: Great Stupa at Sanchi Artist/Culture: Buddhist; Maurya, late Sunga Dynasty Medium: Stone masonry, sandstone on dome Creation Date: 300 B.C.E.-100 C.E. Creator’s Origin/Location: Madhya Pradesh, India Snapshot: The Great Stupa at Sanchi is a Buddhist relic mound/reliquary. It was discovered in 1818. “Stupa” is Sanskirt for ‘heap.’ The function of stupas was to house religious objects and they were used for burial purposes (ashes/physical remains of Buddha and significant Buddhist figures). These ashes activated the stupa’s energy of the Buddha himself. This tradition was likely started by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the mid-3rd century. Ashoka was the first king to practice Buddhism and he created 84,000 stupas and supposedly divided the Buddha’s ashes among them all. He followed the directions of the Buddha and placed stupas in places other than important places where key moments occurred in the Buddha’s life. Buddha wanted this specifically so that many hearts can be made calm and glad. It is also said that building stupas has karmic benefits which is a key component in Buddhism. Those who helped build stupas won’t be reborn in a remote location and won’t suffer from extreme poverty. The Great Stupa is located on a hill in the countryside. Three main parts of the Great Stupa were constructed during different times. First was the Asokan foundation (which was likely made of mud and clay, but later enlarged to about twice its original size and made with more sophisticated materials), second was the railing decorations (from late Sunga period), and third was the toran, or ceremonial gateway, (constructed from the 1st century B.C. to the 1st century A.D.). The gateways pierced the large stone railings, and on the gateways were elaborate, deeply carved relief sculptures. These reliefs depict the life of Buddha (who was represented by an empty wheel, an empty throne sacred trees, and footsteps, but never in human form), the legends of Buddha’s previous births, auspicious symbols, inscriptions honoring donors, various other significant Buddhist scenes. Also, each of these gateways had capitals of animals or dwarfs, and each contained three architraves that ended in spirals. They continuously contained figures of female yakshas (earthly spirits) which symbolize vitality and fertility. The stupa itself was a hemispherical dome (an anda, meaning “egg,” or garbha, meaning “womb”), and it symbolizes how heaven encloses the earth. The stupa also represents the seated lotus position of Buddha and other Buddhist teachers. The base of the stupa represents the crossed legs in the lotus position, the middle portion is to represent Buddha’s body, and the top of the mound where the pole rises from the apex is to represent Buddha’s head. The form of the dome dates from pre-Buddhist Indian burial mounds. The Great Stupa is placed on a square and each side represents the four directions: North, South, East and West. Each side has a gate which is known as the torana, oriented to the four cardinal points of the compass, that represent a different time in Buddha’s life. The East is to represent Buddha’s birth, the South shows his enlightenment, the West is his first sermon at the deer park and the North represents Nirvana. The Great Stupa has a harmika (squared rail unit) on top of the mound which represents the world mountain. There is a Yashti rising from the dome, which symbolizes the cosmic axis, connecting the earth with the heavens. There are umbrellas, or chatras, projected that represent the devaloka (heavens). There is a walking terrace 16 feet high, and worship of the stupa consists of walking on the terrace/circumambulation, around the monument, clockwise. Elsewhere on the sacred site, there are smaller stupas, and ruins of monasteries and an assembly hall (a chaitya).