The Great Stupa at Sanchi was originally built by which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Kanishka
- C.Harshavardhana
- D.Pulakeshin II
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Ashoka. The core of Stupa 1 at Sanchi, in Raisen district, was raised in the third century BCE in Ashoka's reign, with the Ashokan pillar carrying the schism edict beside it. The stupa was enlarged under later dynasties, and its four carved toranas belong to the Satavahana period, with the Buddha shown through symbols such as the wheel, the tree and the footprints.
Option B is wrong because Kanishka, the Kushana ruler, is linked with Buddhist art at Mathura and Gandhara and with the fourth Buddhist council. Option C is wrong because Harshavardhana ruled in the seventh century, long after the stupa was built. Option D is wrong because Pulakeshin II was a Chalukya ruler of the Deccan with no connection to Sanchi.
Read the full article: Khajuraho, Sanchi and Bhimbetka: Monuments of MP
Practice Questions
View allThe temples of Khajuraho were built by which dynasty?
- A.Chandela
- B.Paramara
- C.Bundela
- D.Tomar
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The Chandelas of Jejakabhukti built the Khajuraho group in Chhatarpur district between about 950 and 1050 CE, and the names of their rulers are tied to individual temples: Yashovarman to the Lakshmana temple and Vidyadhara to the Kandariya Mahadeva.
Read the full explanation →Which is the largest and most developed temple of the Khajuraho group?
- A.Lakshmana temple
- B.Kandariya Mahadeva temple
- C.Chaunsath Yogini temple
- D.Parsvanatha temple
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Built in the reign of Vidyadhara, it is the tallest and most fully worked out of the Khajuraho temples, with the complete sequence of ardhamandapa, mandapa, antarala and garbhagriha, a cluster of subsidiary shikharas rising towards the main one, and bands of sculpture over its walls.
Read the full explanation →The rock shelters of Bhimbetka were discovered in 1957 by whom?
- A.V. S. Wakankar
- B.H. D. Sankalia
- C.Daya Ram Sahni
- D.Robert Bruce Foote
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The archaeologist Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar noticed the shelters in the Vindhyan foothills of Raisen district in 1957 and began the study of their paintings, made in red and white ochre and showing hunters, dancers, animals and later riders with weapons.
Read the full explanation →The Khajuraho temples belong to which style of temple architecture?
- A.Dravida
- B.Nagara
- C.Vesara
- D.Hoysala
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The Khajuraho temples are classic north Indian Nagara temples: they stand on a high platform without a boundary wall or gateway, they have a curving shikhara over the sanctum with smaller shikharas clustered around it, and their halls run in a line from the entrance to the garbhagriha.
Read the full explanation →At Sanchi, the relics of the Buddha's disciples Sariputta and Mahamoggallana were found in which structure?
- A.Stupa 1, the Great Stupa
- B.Stupa 2
- C.Stupa 3
- D.The Ashokan pillar
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The relic caskets of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana, the two chief disciples of the Buddha, were recovered from Stupa 3 at Sanchi, which stands north-east of the Great Stupa and has a single torana.
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