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{{Short description|Stupa in Madhya Pradesh, India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox building
| image = Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3589.jpg
| image_caption = Stupa number 2 at [[Sanchi]]
| pushpin_map = India#India Madhya Pradesh
| pushpin_relief = 1
| pushpin_map_caption = Stupa II at Sanchi
| coordinates = {{coord|23.48|N|77.73|E|display=inline,title}}
| building_type = [[Stupa]]
| location = [[Sanchi Town]], Madhya Pradesh, India
| architectural_style = [[Buddhist architecture|Buddhist]]
| construction_start_date = 2nd century BCE
| inauguration_date =
| demolished_date =
| height =
| diameter =
| other_dimensions =
| embedded = {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| child = yes
| part_of = [[Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi]]
| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)}}(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
| ID = 524
| year = 1989
}}
}}

The '''Stupa No. 2''' at [[Sanchi]], also called '''Sanchi II''', is one of the oldest existing Buddhist [[stupa]]s in India, and part of the Buddhist complex of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh. It is of particular interest since it has the earliest known important displays of decorative reliefs in India, probably anterior to the reliefs at the [[Mahabodhi Temple]] in [[Bodh Gaya]], or the reliefs of [[Bharhut]].<ref name="Bell 15">Alexander Peter Bell ''Didactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China''. LIT Verlag Münster, 2000 [https://books.google.com/books?id=77hHrXX4COgC&pg=PA15 p.15ff]</ref> It displays what has been called "the oldest extensive stupa decoration in existence".<ref name="Walters">"The railing of Sanchi Stupa No.2, which represents the oldest extensive stupa decoration in existence, (and) dates from about the second century B.C.E" John Clifford Holt, Jacob N. Kinnard & Jonathan S. Walters, ''Constituting Communities: Theravada Buddhism and the Religious Cultures of South and Southeast Asia''. SUNY Press, 2012 [https://books.google.com/books?id=PnnG8sclrdYC&pg=PA197 p.197]</ref> Stupa II at Sanchi is therefore considered as the birthplace of [[Jataka]] illustrations.<ref name="Bell 15"/>

==Foundation==
[[File:Sanchi map with Stupa 2.jpg|thumb|left|Map of Sanchi hill, with Stupa II at the extreme left, to the west]]
Stupa No. 2 is located in the Buddhist complex of [[Sanchi]]. It was probably founded later than the Great Stupa (Stupa number 1) at Sanchi, but it contained reliquaries dated to the [[Mauryan Empire]] period (323-185 BCE), and it was the earliest to receive decorative reliefs, about a century earlier than Stupa Nb 1.<ref name="Bell 15"/>

One of the key indicators to date Sanchi Stupa No.2 has been the similarity of its architectural motifs with those of [[Heliodorus pillar]], which is datable to circa 113 BCE due to its establishment during the rule of [[Indo-Greek]] [[Antialcidas]], as well as similarities of the [[paleography]] of the inscriptions.<ref>Buddhist Landscapes in Central India, Julia Shaw, 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 p.88ff]</ref>

The Stupa is located outside of the main complex of Sanchi, about 300 meters to the west, on the slope of Sanchi hill.<ref name="Marshall 79">Monuments Of Sanchi Vol.1, John Marshall [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.532798 p.79ff]</ref> It is located in a lower position than Stupa 1 because the relics it contained, are those of church dignitaries from the time of [[Ashoka]], who were considered as worthy of a lower position than the Buddha himself in Stupa number 1, or his disciples in Stupa number 3.<ref name="Marshall 79"/>

==Relics==
[[File:Sanchi Stupa No 2 relics.jpg|thumb|Some of the relics found in Stupa Nb 2.]]
The Stupa contained a relic box with four small caskets of [[steatite]] inside, containing human bones. An inscription in early [[Brahmi]] was found on the relic box, mentioning that it contained "the relics of all teachers, including Kasapagota and Vachi-Suvijayita".<ref name="Marshall 79"/> Besides, ten saints were mentioned on the caskets, who either participated to the [[Third Buddhist Council]] held under [[Ashoka]], or were sent as emissaries to the [[Himalayas]] to preach the Buddhist doctrine. Among them is a "Mogaliputa", who may be [[Mogaliputa Tissa]], who presided the Third Buddhist Council, but this is disputed.<ref name="Marshall 79"/>

==Content of the reliefs==
Typically, the earliest medallions at Sanchi are dated to 115 BC, while the more extensive pillar carvings are dated to around 80 BC,<ref name="Shaw 90">Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, by Julia Shaw, Left Coast Press, 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 p.90]</ref> or almost a century later than the first ones, around 15 BCE.<ref name="Marshall 79"/>

===Early period (circa 115 BCE)===
These reliefs from the early period of Sanchi II (circa 115 BCE) are the earliest known examples of Indian stone reliefs.<ref name="Bell 15"/><ref name="Shaw 90"/><ref name="Shaw 88">Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, Julia Shaw, Left Coast Press, 2013 [https://books.google.com/books?id=jzkyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88 p.88ff]</ref>

;First Jatakas
[[File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3638.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The relief of the horse-headed ogress in Sanchi Stupa No.2.]]
One relief of a horse-headed woman, similar to [[:File:Bodh Gaya Jataka.jpg|another one]] at the [[Mahabodhi Temple]] of [[Bodh Gaya]], is thought to be the first known representation of a [[Jataka]] (a story of a previous life of the Buddha), the Padakusalamanava Jataka, in which a horse-headed ogress falls in love with one of her preys, and the [[Bodhisattva]] (the future Buddha) is born of their union.<ref name="Bell 15"/>

[[File:Sunga railings detail.jpg|thumb|Sunga period railings were initially blank (left: Sanchi Great Stupa), and only started to be decorated circa 115 BCE with Stupa No.2 (right).<ref name="Bell 15"/><ref name="Walters"/>]]
These first attempts at narrative art are [[aniconic]], as they do not represent the Buddha directly, but only his appearance in previous lives, or his symbols.<ref name="Bell 15"/>

These are altogether 455 medallions and half-medallions, or which 293 consist in lotus flowers, and 126 in a lotus with another motif. Only 36 of the medallions have another subject.<ref name="Bell 15"/> For the first time, clearly Buddhist themes are represented, particularly the four events in the life of the Buddha that are: the Nativity, the Enlightenment, the First Sermon and the Decease.<ref>Buddhist Architecture, Huu Phuoc Le, Grafikol, 2010 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&pg=PA149 p.149]</ref> Some authors consider these reliefs as the prelude (the "[[prolegomenon]]") of the iconography of the reliefs in [[Bharhut]] (100-80 BCE) and of the later and much more evolved depictions on the toranas of the Great Stupa in Sanchi (1st century BCE/CE).<ref name="Bell 15"/>

====Influence from the northwest====
It is thought that the earliest reliefs from the last quarter of the 2nd century BCE were produced by craftsmen from the area of [[Gandhara]] in northwestern Indian, a central [[Indo-Greek]] region,<ref name="AG"/> because they left mason's marks in [[Kharoshthi]] (a script used around the area of Gandhara), as opposed to the local [[Brahmi]] script.<ref name="AG"/> This seems to imply that these foreign workers were responsible for some of the earliest and sometimes quite foreign motifs and figures that can be found on the railings of the stupa.<ref name="AG">An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, by [[Amalananda Ghosh]], BRILL [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wba-EZhZcfgC&pg=PA295 p.295]</ref>

Around the time of the first reliefs at Stupa II, in 115 BCE, the embassy of [[Heliodurus|Heliodorus]] from the [[Indo-Greek]] king of [[Taxila]] named [[Antialkidas]], visited the court of the [[Sungas]] king [[Bhagabhadra]] in [[Vidisha]], about 6 km away from Sanchi. In Vidisha, Heliodorus established the [[Heliodorus pillar]] in a dedication to [[Vāsudeva]]. This would indicate that relations between the Indo-Greeks and the Sungas had improved by that time, that people traveled between the two realms, and also that the Indo-Greeks readily followed Indian religions.<ref>Ancient Indian History and Civilization, Sailendra Nath Sen, New Age International, 1999 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA170 p.170]</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;" align="center" colspan="2" cellpadding="3" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%;"
|-
|align=center colspan=2 style="background:#D3D3D3; font-size: 100%;"| '''Early reliefs at [[Sanchi]], Stupa No2 (circa 115 BC)'''
|-
|align=center colspan=2|
<gallery mode="packed" heights=150px>
File:Sanchi Stupa 2 man on horse.jpg|Foreigner on a horse. The medallions are dated circa 115 BC.<ref name="Shaw 90"/>
File:Lakshmi Sanchi Stupa 2.jpg|[[Lakshmi]] with lotus and two child attendants, probably derived from [[:File:Venus with two cupids 2.jpg|similar images of Venus]]<ref>An Indian Statuette From Pompeii, Mirella Levi D'Ancona, in Artibus Asiae, Vol. 13, No. 3 (1950) [https://ja.scribd.com/document/260301968/An-Indian-Statuette-From-Pompeii p.171]</ref>
Flying griffin Sanchi Stupa 2.jpg|[[Griffin]].
Sanchi 2 anguipede.jpg|[[Anguipede]], a Greek mythological figure.
Female riding a Centaur Sanchi Stupa 2.jpg|Female riding a [[Centaur]]. Centaurs are generally considered as Western borrowings.<ref>"The hippocamps, the tritons, centaurs and other weird creatures, which certainly were borrowed from Western Art, occur at Gaya and other places, in the sculptures of the early period. Forms more or less similar occur at Mathura and Arnaravati." {{cite book |last1=Banerjee |first1=Gauranga Nath |title=Hellenism in ancient India |date=1920 |publisher=Calcutta |page=[https://archive.org/details/hellenisminancie00banerich/page/64 64] |url=https://archive.org/details/hellenisminancie00banerich}}</ref>
File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3676.jpg|Hero fighting against lions, a motif of West-Asian origin, such as [[:File:Teheran National Museum Royal Warrior.jpg|this one]] or [[:File:Masjid-e Solaiman, Heracles Susa Archaeological Museum.jpg|this one]].<ref name="Hero">[[File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3676.jpg|80px|right]][[File:Teheran National Museum Royal Warrior.jpg|80px|right]][[File:Masjid-e Solaiman, Heracles Susa Archaeological Museum.jpg|80px|left]]"A man wrestling with an upright lion on a second stupa relief at north Indian Sanchi" [https://books.google.com/books?id=lSZfkzVk3GMC&pg=PA15 The Parthian Period by Malcolm A. R. Colledge]<br>"The scene of king versus rampant lion appears on the coins of Persian satraps in Cilicia. At Dura the oriental tradition is so strong that even Heracles is represented fighting with upraised club a rampant lion; and it is of special interest to note that this same oriental scene of hero fighting rampant lion occurs on the sculptures of the railing pillars of Stupa II at Sanchi in India. The motif was, therefore, widespread and might be called a stock scene in the Parthian repertoire." in {{cite book |title=Berytus: Archaeological Studies |date=12 August 2023 |publisher=American University of Beirut. |page=291 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OYdCAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
Lion with calf Stupa II Sanchi.jpg|Lion with calf.
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3628.jpg|[[Bactrian camel]].
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3635.jpg|Man on a [[centaur]].
Sanchi 2 winged lions.jpg|Symmetrical leaping winged lions among floral motifs.
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3603.jpg|Winged griffin.
</gallery>
|}

====Floral designs====

The vast majority of the oldest medallions and half-medallions (293 out of 455) simply consist of a lotus motif. A further 126 additional medallions and half medallions represent a lotus with another motif. Some motifs take on Hellenistic decorative forms.

{| align="center" class="wikitable" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;"
| align="center" colspan="2" style="background:#D3D3D3; font-size: 100%;" | '''Floral designs, Sanchi Stupa No2 (circa 115 BCE)'''
|-
| align="center" colspan="2" |
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:Flower motif Stupa No2 Sanchi.jpg|Floral designs.
Elephant and riders Stupa No2 Sanchi.jpg|Elephant.
Flower medallion Stupa II Sanchi.jpg|Flower medallion.
Sanchi 2 medallion.jpg|Medallion.
File:Lotus within beads and reels motif Stupa No2 Sanchi.jpg|Lotus with Hellenistic [[Beads and reels]] motif.
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3626.jpg|Lotus and guirland.
</gallery>
|}

====Buddhist symbols====

Among the medallions, purely Buddhist symbols are quite rare. However, motifs of [[triratna]]s and [[palmette]]s (already visible in the [[:File:Pataliputra Palace capital by L A Waddell 1895.jpg|Pataliputra capital]], 3rd century BCE) appear in places, amidst multiple lotus motifs.

{| align="center" class="wikitable" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;"
| align="center" colspan="2" style="background:#D3D3D3; font-size: 100%;" | '''Buddhist symbols, Sanchi Stupa No2 (circa 115 BCE)'''
|-
| align="center" colspan="2" |
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3634.jpg|[[Palmette]] design, often present in early Buddhist decorations.
File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3642.jpg|[[Triratna]] with decorative scrolls.
File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3658 Medallion 2.jpg|Motif based on triratnas.
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3658 Flame palmette.jpg|[[Palmette]] design.
</gallery>
|}

===Later period (circa 15 BCE)===
About a century later, some more descriptive reliefs were added, and often superimposed on the earlier ones, which clearly show the evolution of Buddhist art during the intervening period.<ref name="Marshall 79"/> This time, the reliefs are much more Buddhist in character, and are contemporary with the reliefs on the [[torana]] gateways of the Great Stupa at Sanchi.<ref name="Bell 15"/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;" align="center" colspan=1 cellpadding="3" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%;"
|-
|state = collapsed align=center colspan=2 style="background:#D3D3D3; font-size: 100%;"| '''Later reliefs at [[Sanchi]], Stupa No2 (circa 15 BC)'''
|-
|<gallery mode="packed" heights=150px>
Sanchi Stupa Sculpture 15.jpg|Floral frieze.
File:Sanchi 8-17.jpg|Decorative pillar.
File:Sanchi 8-18.JPG|Decorative pillar.
File:Sanchi Stupa 2 elephants and Dharmachakra.jpg|Pillar with elephants and [[Dharmachakra]].
File:Sanchi Stupa 2 Northern Gate ballustrade decoration.jpg|The full pillar.
File:Decorative elements from Stupa No 2 at Sanchi.jpg|Various decorative elements of Stupa No.2, Sanchi.
Sanchi Stupa Sculpture 15.jpg|Floral designs.
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3655 Lakshmi.jpg|[[Lakshmi]].
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3652.jpg|Devotional scene.
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3667 Wheel and Triratna.jpg|[[Dharmachakra]] and [[Triratna]].
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3671 Tree in railing.jpg|[[Bodhi tree]].
Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3672.jpg|[[Apsara]]s.
File:Ashoka supported by his two wives at Stupa 2 Sanchi with reconstituted pillar detail.jpg|[[Ashoka]] supported by his two wives, with reconstituted pillar detail. Also seen in [[:File:Sanchi King Ashoka with his Queens, South Gate, Stupa no. 1.jpg|a contemporary relief on the Southern Gateway of Stupa 1]].
File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3640.jpg|Man in costume from the northwest, fighting against lions.<ref name="Heracles">[[File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3640.jpg|80px|right]] "A very unusual lower dress is worn by a curly headed man depicted on the ground rail pillar at Sanchi; he is defending himself from the attack of a lion with the help of a shield. He is wearing a plaited short skirt like dress" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=zaJ5oyrqBakC&pg=PA11 Material Life of Northern India, Asha Vishnu, p.11]<br>"A somewhat earlier relief on a railing column of the Small Stupa at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh (second century B.C.E., sandstone) figures a man engaged in a lion hunt. The panel shows a realistic lion, except for its manes, which are in the shape of small round curls, not unlike those of the Buddha. The lion is more standing upright than thrusting forward, but this may be due to lack of space. The hunter or hero wears non-Indian clothes—boots, a skirt till his knees, a kind of T-shirt and a helmet—, which might indicate a foreign hero or story. Theoretically, the story line of this panel may be based on the Greek Heracles myth as well." in [https://books.google.com/books?id=oQ3quxh9gsgC&pg=PA357 Animals in Stone: Indian Mammals Sculptured Through Time by Alexandra Anna Enrica van der Geer].</ref>
File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3659 Saluting man.jpg|Man in costume from the northwest, possibly an [[Indo-Scythian]].<ref name="Muzio">[[File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3659 Saluting man.jpg|80px|right]]According to Ciro Lo Muzio, this is "a relief showing a male figure of north-western or Central Asian origins, as revealed by his attire: a tight sleeved tunic with folds rendered with parallel lines forming a chevron-like motif along the arms. But for a few details, the figure, possibly depicting a Saka, strongly recalls the members of a drinking couple in a toilet-tray in the British Museum: same tunic, same chevron pattern on the sleeves (and, in the toilet tray, also on the "solar" motif framing the couple), a very similar hair treatment, and eyelids in strong relief, a detail which is not found on other human figures on the same vedika." in [https://www.academia.edu/36161223/Problems_of_Chronology_in_Gandhāran_Art_Proceedings_of_the_First_International_Workshop_of_the_Gandhāra_Connections_Project_University_of_Oxford_23rd-24th_March_2017 Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March 2017, {{p.|130}}]</ref>
</gallery>
|}

===Dedicatory inscriptions===
[[File:Inscriptions on the railings of Sanchi Stupa II.jpg|thumb|Inscriptions on the railings of Sanchi Stupa II]]
There are also numerous dedicatory inscriptions on the railings of Stupa II in the [[Brahmi script]], in a style similar to the [[Bharhut|Bharhut Stupa]]. The similarity in paleography suggests that Sanchi Stupa No. 2 and Bharhut were roughly coeval.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Ajit |title=Bharhut Sculptures and their untenable Sunga Association |journal=Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology |date=2014 |volume=2 |pages=223–241 |url=https://www.academia.edu/10237709 |language=en}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Sanchi Stupa number 2}}
* [https://www.google.com/maps/@23.4806573,77.7362184,2a,75y,52h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1suglYCZ6kddpFneSnI1urkw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DuglYCZ6kddpFneSnI1urkw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dsearch.TACTILE.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D96%26h%3D64%26yaw%3D52.689594%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en Google Street View tour of Sanchi Stupa No.2]

[[Category:Tourist attractions in Raisen district]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in India]]
[[Category:Mauryan art]]
[[Category:Indian architectural history]]
[[Category:Stupas in India]]
[[Category:Buddha statues in India]]
[[Category:Buddhist holy sites in Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Indian Buddhist sculpture]]

Sanchi Stupa No. 2 - Revision history

Puranam: Starting details - done