Photo de stock - Uttari toran dwar; North gate; Sanchi; Madhya pradesh; India. Emperor Asoka (273_236 B.C.) built stupas in Buddha’s honour at many places in India. Stupas at Sanchi are the most magnificent structures of ancient India. UNESCO has included them as one of the heritage sites of the world. Stupas are large hemispherical domes; containing a central chamber; in which the relics of the Buddha were placed. Sanchi stupas trace the development of the Buddhist architecture and sculpture at the same location beginning from the 3rd century B.C. to the 12th century A.D. The greatest surviving Buddhist stupa of the B.C. period is on top of the hill at Sanchi. It is likely that it would have enshrined the relics of the Buddha. The stupa was originally made in the 3rd century B.C. T here is an Asokan pillar at the southern entrance of the stupa. In the middle of the 2nd century B.C.; the stupa was doubled in size and its older wooden railings were replaced with massive stone ones. From the middle architrave (rear). The temptation scene occupies the right of the architrave (compare the more dynamic treatment of this theme on the West Gate). On the left part of the architrave; Sujata offers rice to Buddha after his fast. Horses and elephants occupy the space between architraves.