India- Sanchi

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On Monday March 30th we caught the overnight train from Agra to Bhopal, taking a private airconditioned sleeper car with a shared bathroom that left at about 1 a.m. (only an hour late). We arrived in Bhopal on Tuesday morning at about 7 a.m. with the intention of hiring a car to take us to Sanchi, site of the Great Stupa. The Bhopal train station proved as chaotic as any, and no information desk was to be found, so we stepped outside with our bags and hopped into an auto-rickshaw. With no pre-arranged plan, and in a place where very few people spoke English (Bhopal is decidedly off the usual tourist path) we quickly referenced our guidebook and had the driver take us to a hotel that had a state tourist office in the lobby. Arriving at about 8 a.m. we thought we would surely have to wait for a few hours before the office opened, but in a stroke of luck, the office was open. We spoke with the man inside, arranged to hire a car for the day, waited for about 30 minutes, and we were off on an hour and a half car ride to Sanchi.

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Sanchi is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary still extant, and includes the Great Stupa, dating from the 1st/2nd century B.C.E. The monument dates from the time prior to anthropomorphic images of the Buddha, so he is represented on the gates symbolically, as a tree, footprints, or in the Jataka Tales, stories of his past lives.

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Carvings from the gates.

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Theoretically, a stupa is a reliquary mound, but I don't believe any relics are housed inside of the Great Stupa.

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Worshippers circumambulate the stupa, and can do so both on the ground (above) and up on the platform (below).

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More of the amazing 2,000 year old carvings.

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Lizzard friend.

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As Sanchi was continually used for worship until the 12th century C.E. there were many monasteries surrounding the stupa. Below is the foundation of one of the monestaries. Also, you can see how the stupa is atop a hill with a lovely view of the surrounding countryside.

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One of my Japanese friends bestowed the nickname "Daibutsu-nerd" on me, because of my interest in Buddhist sculpture and monuments. I think that this may prove her right.

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A temple structure located at Sanchi, dating from much later than the Great Stupa.
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Spare parts....
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By the ruins of the temple.

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Also by the ruins of the temple...
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Goofing around. Perhaps the heat had overcome me?

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Stupa #2, much smaller than the Great Stupa, but still very cool.

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The gate of Stupa #2.

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Flowers and Stupa. There were very few people visiting Sanchi, there were 2 other groups of Indian tourists that were there at the same time as us, but we really had the place to ourselves. It was nice to be out in the middle of nowhere, away from the crowds and pollution of the cities for a while.

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At the bottom of the hill is the Sanchi Archaeological Museum. This institution is small, but houses an amazing collection of stone sculptures, most notably the Ashokan Lion Capital (for a similar image click here).

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The sign out front. No swords allowed.
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We paused for a tasty lunch in the town of Sanchi, Joe was feeling much better!

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Our second stop of the day was the Udaygiri Cave complex.

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These Hindu caves were carved out of the rock outcropping in the 4th and 5th century.

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Ganesha!

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We were the only visitors to the caves, and were guided around by an older gentleman who guarded the gate.

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More Hindu relief sculptures.

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Looking out across the countryside.

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Looking down at the cave complex, the flat topped rocks seem conducive to creating cave temples.

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At the top of the hill.

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Udaygiri....

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Back in Bhopal we saw this procession in the streets. The man being carried was of an advanced age, but I'm not sure what they were celebrating. The blue tint is from the taxi windows.
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We had to wait for many hours before our 11 p.m. overnight train, so we spent the afternoon at Cafe Coffee Day, doing some reading.

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Evening in Bhopal.

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A temple in Bhopal, I'm not sure if it's Hindu or Jain.

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A snack of Masala Potato Chips... mmm..... We had a tasty dinner of dosas before heading back to the train station to wait for our train to Aurangabad, which was delayed by over two hours.

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