Sanchi is famous for its stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from
the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD. The Sanchi Stupa, the best known of
all, was originally built by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, then Governor of
Ujjayini, whose wife Devi was the daughter of a merchant from the adjacent
Vidisha. Their son Mahindra and daughter Sangamitra were born in Ujjayini and
sent to Sri Lanka, where they converted the king, the queen and their people to
Buddhism. A chunar sandstone pillar fragment, shining with the proverbial
Mauryan polish, lies near Stupa 1 and carries the famous edict of Ashoka's
warning against Buddhism in the Buddhist community. Stupa 1 was found empty,
while the relics of the two disciples of Buddha enshrined in the adjacent Stupa
3 were carried away to England. The nearby modern Buddhist temple has a
reliquary containing the remains of Buddhist teachers from another Stupa
outside Sanchi.
