The King in the Stone

The Buddhist stupa in Sanchi was built by the legendary Indian King, Ashoka so it’s no surprise that instances of Ashoka, specifically as a Buddhist devotee, These instances are recorded in the beautifully carved gateways (Toranas), and architrave of the Buddhist stupa, celebrating the Buddhist devotion of Ashoka.

The southern gateway depicts legends associated with King Ashoka; Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The story of Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism after witnessing the violence and cruelty of the Kalinga war is quite famous, however, only a few know that the famous Buddhist stupa at Sanchi was initially built by Ashoka. His wife Devi, was a daughter of a merchant from Vidisha, a town neighbouring the site of Sanchi stupa.

As a patron of the stupa, Ashoka himself features heavily on the stupa. The southern gateway especially features different instances of Ashoka and Buddhism. Let’s take a look at them one by one.

The biggest image with Ashoka is located on the front face of the middle architrave of the southern gateway.  According to Buddhist legends, after the death of Buddha, his ashes were distributed among 8 princes who build stupas corresponding to them. However, 2 centuries later, after the Kalinga war, Ashoka decided to collect these remains of Buddha and spread them across India so that Buddhism can spread further*. Ashoka* set out in this campaign to collect the remnants of Buddha and almost succeeded too.

However, he had to face defeat when he came face to face with the Nagas. After collecting the 7 remnants, Ashoka set out to collect the last one, preserved in the Ramagrama Stupa in Nepal Tarai. Here he was met with strong opposition by the devout Nagas, who refused to let go of Buddha’s remains. After a long battle, alas, Ashoka had to return empty-handed.  The middle architrave of the southern gateway shows the Ramagrama stupa, on the left side Ashoka on a chariot is visible, while on the right side devotees with Naga hoods are shown offering prayer to the stupa.

The next image of Ashoka is present in the front face of the left pillar, the two vertical panels show a procession of a king and a king with his two queens in the deer park of Sarnath. The fact that this panel shows the site of Sarnath can be ascertained by the presence of the Wheel, on the top panel. The wheel is a popular symbol of Buddhism and represents the presence of the Dharma Wheel. Sarnath’s deer parks are identified as the site of Dharmachakra Parvartan, where the wheel of Dharma was set in motion by Buddha and where he gave his first sermon after enlightenment.

The inner face of the same left pillar shows another legend associated with Ashoka. The second panel shows the story of how once when Ashoka visited Bodh Gaya, he was grief-struck to see the Pipal tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment, being neglected by his wife, Queen Tishyarakshita. According to Ashokvanadan, a Buddhist chronicle of Ashoka’s wife, Queen Tishyarakshita was jealous of the attention Ashoka gave to the Bodhi tree. Filled with envy, she tried to harm the tree through poisonous thorns.

When Ashoka witnessed this, he was overcome with sorrow. Ashok thereafter decided to build a temple around the Bodhi tree which in present times is known as the sacred temple of Bodh Gaya.

The Mauryan ruler Ashoka was a great patron of Buddhism. After the initial years of violence, he spent a lifetime spreading the message of Dharma and non-violence through his edicts and rock inscriptions. Years later, Ashoka is still remembered as a great ruler, but Sanchi stupa offers us a glimpse of the pious Buddhist Ashoka.

It was John Marshall, the famous archaeologist who worked on the excavation of Harrapa and Mohenjodaro, who oversaw the excavation of Sanchi Stupa and recognised this figure as Ashoka.

One of the clues that helped Marshall relate this figure to Ashoka was the use of 4 lions, similar to the manner of the Pillars of Ashoka in the pillars of Southern gateway. The architraves rest over these 4 lion figures.  Besides this gateway, the 4 lions do not appear anywhere else on the Stupa.

Ashoka was grief struck after witnessing the state of the Bodhi tree; Image source: Wikimedia commons

The four lion symbol is similar to the Ashokan Pillar capitals; Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Ashoka built the Bodhi Temple at Gaya; Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The wheel at the top represents the Dharma wheel; Image source: Wikimedia commons

Ashoka had to face defeat when he came face to face with Nagas: Image source: Wikimedia Commons