A History of Agriculture in India v1.c32.13

v1.c32.13

As Sir John Marshall remarks: “Asoka himself founded the Sangharama and built this stupa where not only because Vidisa was one of the greatest cities of his empire, but because he wished to honour it as the birth-place of the beautiful Devi and a spot invested with specially happy memories for himself.”³ The stupa was made of bricks, and about the middle of the second century B.C., during the reign of Sunga king Agnimitra, it was encased in stone and the procession path was paved with stones. The stupa was surrounded by a balustrade which reminds one of the wooden palisades and enclosures. The balustrade was pierced by four gate-ways or *toranas*, which are richly carved. The *toranas* of *stupa* numbers 1 and 3, which are covered with sculpture reliefs, showing the Buddha’s life and previous incarnations, were added in the Andhra period from 72 to 25 B.C. The stones of the procession path, balustrade, and the gateways are gifts from devotees whose names are written in Brahmi characters. Each gateway is composed of two square pillars surmounted by capitals supported by a structure of three architraves with volute ends.