Amazing Facts about Sanchi Stupa: The Complete story and the "Places of Interest in Sanchi"

The Complete History Of Sanchi Stupa and Places of Interest :
We will be exploring the complete history of Sanchi and will talk about the unknown stories related to this World Heritage site. We will understand why Sanchi was built, what was its connection with Ashoka and how it declined and was lost.
Sanchi in central India houses an important group of Buddhist monuments built over 1400 years from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD. These Buddhist monuments are included in the world heritage list of UNESCO.
The great Stupa of Sanchi was built by Ashoka, the emperor of India during the third century BC. But why did he choose this site for the construction of his first and most magnificent Stupa? The site was never visited by Buddha nor was it directly related to any of the significant philosophies of Buddhism.
When he decided to built Stupas, it was Sanchi, the place where he was married, that he built his first Stupa in the third century BC. The stupa built by him was a brick stupa, around half the size of the Stupa as we see it today. It was constructed under the supervision of his wife Devi. He also created the monolithic pillar around which several stupas and other religious structures were added in the succeeding centuries.
The Mauryan dynasty came to an end in 184 BC, when Pushyamitra Shunga killed the last Mauryan king Brihadratha. Pushamitra was one of the most infamous adversaries of Buddhism and the Stupa built by Ashoka in Sanchi suffered a lot of destruction during his rule. Agnimitra, the son and successor of Pushyamitra Shunga, shifted his capital to Vidisha from Patliputra in the second century BC. He contributed significantly to the restoration and expansion of the Ashokan Stupa.
The Stupa was virtually reconstructed during the second century BC under the Sunga kings. Not only did it expand visibly in size, its enlarged brick dome now came to be encased in stone and surrounded by a stone railing. This doubled the size of the original stupa.
After the sunga dynasty, the region came under the control of Satavahana kings from Andhra, who played a major role in the further expansion and beautification of the stupa.
From the second to fourth century AD Sanchi was under the Kushans and subsequently passed on to the Gupta kings around 399 AD when Chandragupta II annexed Malwa. During their period some of the finest temples were built and images of Buddha and bodhisattvas were installed.
Buddhism was in decline in the post-Gupta era from the 7th century AD and only a few buildings were added at Sanchi.

Chapters:

0:00 - Sanchi and Sri Lanka
0:35 - Intro
1:00 - Ashoka the Great and Sanchi
3:50 - History of Sanchi Stupa
5:52- Decline of Sanchi
6:29 - Rediscovery
7:26 - Places of Interest
7:46 - Stupa I
8:36 - Stupa III
9:02 - Stupa II
9:56 - Monolithic Pillars
10:30 - Buddhist Temples of Sanchi
11:47 - Monasteries
12:34 - Sanchi Museum


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Credits :

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