Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.5

c12.s3.5

The building activity at Sanchi began during the time of Aśoka who raised a brick-built Stūpa. The five gateways and the railings were added during the early Āndhra period about the second half of the first century B. C. There is an inscription on the south gateway top architrave facing the Stūpa, stating it to be the gift of Ananda, foreman of the artisans (*āveśin*) of King Sirī Sātakarṇi, ruler of the Andhra dynasty (Inscription No. 398, Marshall, *Monuments of Sanchi*, 1.342). During the reign of the Kuṣāṇa kings little of importance was added excepting a statue of the Buddha in red sandstone during the time of Vāsishka. In the Gupta period Sanchi once more emerged into importance, as shown by an inscription on its railing referring to the gift of a village for the Ārya Saṅgha, that is the community of the Buddhist monks residing at Kākanādaboṭa, the new name of the ancient Mahā-Chetiyagiri.¹