The Great Stupa at Sanchi was originally built during the reign of which ruler?
- A.Chandragupta Maurya
- B.Ashoka
- C.Pushyamitra Shunga
- D.Kanishka
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Ashoka. The Great Stupa, Stupa 1 at Sanchi, was raised in brick in the third century before Christ in the reign of Ashoka, who also set up a pillar at the site bearing the schism edict and crowned by a lion capital. Sanchi is connected with Ashoka through Vidisha as well, because tradition makes his wife Devi a woman of that town.
Option A, Chandragupta Maurya, was Ashoka's grandfather and the founder of the dynasty, but no building at Sanchi is attributed to him. Option C, Pushyamitra Shunga, belongs to the next stage of the story rather than the first: under the Shungas the stupa was enlarged to about twice its size and faced with stone, railings and a staircase. Option D, Kanishka, was a Kushana ruler whose Buddhist patronage lay in the north-west and at Mathura. The sequence to memorise is Ashoka built it, the Shungas enlarged it and the Satavahanas added the gateways.
Read the full article: Ancient Madhya Pradesh: Bhimbetka, Sanchi and Ujjain
Practice Questions
View allThe rock shelters of Bhimbetka are located in which district of Madhya Pradesh?
- A.Sehore
- B.Raisen
- C.Dhar
- D.Rewa
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The Bhimbetka rock shelters lie in Raisen district, in the foothills of the Vindhyan range south of Bhopal, within the forest now protected as Ratapani.
Read the full explanation →Who brought the Bhimbetka rock shelters to the notice of scholars in 1957?
- A.H. D. Sankalia
- B.V. S. Wakankar
- C.R. D. Banerji
- D.Daya Ram Sahni
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Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar, an archaeologist from Ujjain, noticed the rocky outcrops from a train in 1957 and went on to explore and record the shelters and their paintings.
Read the full explanation →The four carved gateways or toranas of the Great Stupa at Sanchi were added under which dynasty?
- A.Mauryas
- B.Shungas
- C.Satavahanas
- D.Guptas
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The four toranas that stand at the cardinal points of the Great Stupa were carved in the first century before Christ in the Satavahana period, and an inscription on one of them records the gift of ivory carvers of Vidisha.
Read the full explanation →Relics of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana, two chief disciples of the Buddha, were recovered from which structure at Sanchi?
- A.Stupa 1
- B.Stupa 2
- C.Stupa 3
- D.Temple 17
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The relic caskets of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana, the two chief disciples of the Buddha, were found in Stupa 3 at Sanchi, which stands a short distance north-east of the Great Stupa and has a single gateway.
Read the full explanation →Ujjain is situated on the bank of which river?
- A.Betwa
- B.Shipra
- C.Chambal
- D.Tapti
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Ujjain stands on the Shipra, also written Kshipra, a tributary of the Chambal, and it is on the ghats of this river that the Simhastha, the Kumbh of Ujjain, is held every twelve years.
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