Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.1

c12.s3.1

Sanchi is only five and a half miles from Vidiśā (modern, Bhelsā) on the confluence of the rivers Vidiśā (modern, Bes) and the Vetravatī (modern, Betwā). It was the capital of Eastern Malwa or the Daśāraṇa country and the most important point on the great highway leading from Mathura to Pratisṭhāna on the Godavari. Like other great Buddhist centres springing up on the outskirts of important cities, the Saṅghārāma of Sanchi grew up on the outskirts of Vidiśā with magnificent monuments—Stūpas, temples, monasteries and memorial pillars. The world famed monuments of Sanchi are the most precious and perfect of all that Buddhism has bequeathed to posterity. The monuments flourished for twelve hundred years beginning from the reign of Aśoka. According to the Mahāvaṃsa when Aśoka was appointed governor of Ujjayinī he halted for some time at Vidiśā and married Devī, daughter of a rich merchant, who became the mother of Mahendra and Saṅgamitrā. Here was a hill named Mahā-Chetiya-giri which seems to have derived its name from the great Stūpa built on it. The hill is less than three hundred feet in height and of whale-back shape. There is a group of about sixty Stūpas known as Bhilsa Topes as follows: