Studies in Indian Art c11.s1.2

c11.s1.2

The two Great Stūpas of Bharhut and Sanchi were the outcome of a continental planning, the former occupying a central position on the eastern route and the latter on the western. These two parallel routes were bee-hives of transport, the one connecting Śrāvastī and Kośāmbī with the Chedi country on the Narmadā and South Kosala, and the other leading from Mathurā to Vidiśā and Pratiṣṭhāna on the Godāvarī in the south. The eastern highway picked up the two important sectors; one from Magadha via the Sona valley and the other from seaports of Kaliṅga through the forest regions of Gondwānā. Similarly the western route received two feeders; one from Ujjaini and the other from the seaports of Bhrigukachchha and Sūrpāraka (modern Sopārā). The religious zeal of the rich merchants of these two regions deposited their wealth as treasure-troves in the form of the two great Stūpas of Bharhut and Sanchi.