The Great Stupa at Sanchi was originally built by which ruler?
- A.Chandragupta Maurya
- B.Ashoka
- C.Kanishka
- D.Harshavardhana
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Ashoka. The core of the Great Stupa at Sanchi, in Raisen district, was raised in brick by Ashoka in the third century BCE, and the stone casing and the railing were added later. The four carved gateways, or toranas, with their scenes from the Jatakas, belong to the Satavahana period. Sanchi also has an Ashokan pillar carrying the schism edict, and the site was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1989.
Option A is wrong because Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka's grandfather, founded the dynasty but is not credited with this stupa. Option C is wrong because Kanishka, a Kushana ruler, is linked with the stupa at Peshawar and the fourth Buddhist council. Option D is wrong because Harshavardhana ruled in the seventh century CE, nearly a thousand years after the stupa was begun.
Read the full article: Jyotirlingas, Temples and Religious Places of MP Notes
Practice Questions
View allWhich two of the twelve jyotirlingas are located in Madhya Pradesh?
- A.Somnath and Nageshwar
- B.Mahakaleshwar and Omkareshwar
- C.Bhimashankar and Trimbakeshwar
- D.Kedarnath and Vishwanath
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Mahakaleshwar stands at Ujjain on the bank of the Shipra and is the only south-facing jyotirlinga, known for the Bhasma Aarti performed before dawn.
Read the full explanation →Which jyotirlinga is the only one that faces south, and is therefore called Dakshinamukhi?
- A.Omkareshwar
- B.Mahakaleshwar
- C.Somnath
- D.Grishneshwar
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The jyotirlinga at Ujjain is installed facing south, which is why it is called Dakshinamukhi, and it is the only one of the twelve with that orientation.
Read the full explanation →The Omkareshwar jyotirlinga stands on an island in which river?
- A.Shipra
- B.Betwa
- C.Narmada
- D.Chambal
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Omkareshwar is on the island of Mandhata in the Narmada, in Khandwa district, and the island is said to take the shape of the syllable Om, from which the name comes.
Read the full explanation →The temples of Khajuraho were built by which dynasty?
- A.Paramara
- B.Chandela
- C.Bundela
- D.Kalachuri
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The Chandela rulers of Jejakabhukti built the Khajuraho group in Chhatarpur district between about 950 and 1050 CE, in the Nagara style with clustered shikharas rising over the sanctum.
Read the full explanation →Which is the largest temple in the Khajuraho group?
- A.Lakshmana temple
- B.Chausath Yogini temple
- C.Kandariya Mahadeva temple
- D.Matangeshwara temple
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It is the largest and most developed of the Khajuraho temples, built in the western group under the Chandela ruler Vidyadhara in the early eleventh century, and it shows the Nagara plan at its fullest, with a cluster of smaller shikharas rising like foothills to the main spire over the…
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