After Ashoka the Great Emperor of India, conquered nearly everything he possibly could using relentless violence, he was filled with a sense of futility of all that he was doing. In some such moment, he turned to Buddhism for repentance. Now Buddha, himself was a royal turned ascetic who preached non-violence. Plus who better to take inspiration from Buddha who knows all about the superfluous nature of money and of mindless power. It sure was made a match in heaven for Ashoka to go Buddha’s way.
Treading on the path, Ashoka in 3rd century BC built the Buddhist site of Sanchi. This place tells the history of the Buddhist expansion in the world. The construction was overlooked by his wife who was a native of the Vidisha, the nearest city to the Sanchi site.
Now the site itself is Simply Awesome. No wonder it is a World Heritage site. No wonder this is one of the places of great Buddhist significance. Once you are there it is not difficult to see why this is the case.
The Stupas have been restored very painfully and are maintained nicely. A good guide is mandatory over here as the carving on the gates tell the jatak tales. Very interesting and enlightening. (In case you are really interested, a lot of Jataka tales can be easily downloaded through gutenberg.org. Try the following and see if you like it http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7518/7518-h/7518-h.htm)
Additionally, it is interesting to see the Greek influence on some of the toranas and the tales. Tells us how the civilizations used to interact and intermingle 2000 years back.
The entire complex consists of many stupas, many buddhist viharas, temples etc. Ensure that you walk around the entire complex and not get confined to main 2-3 stupas.
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