1-648-040 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The East Gate of the Sanchi Tope, India, 1895. The great stupa (or tope) of Sanchi is the most important surviving monument of the Shunga era (c185-75 BC). It consists of a large hemispherical dome which was built over an already existing stupa ascribed to the 3rd century BC from the time of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka (c269-232 BC). Four elaborately carved gateways (toranas) were added to the stupa during the 1st century BC and the eastern gateway is depicted here. From The Universal Geography with Illustrations and Maps, division XV, written by Elisee Reclus and published by Virtue & Co. Limited (London, 1895).