Our Visit to the Sanchi Stupa

Hi, everyone! We are a group of six and today we’ll be telling you about Sanchi Stupa. According to us, it is the best historical place.

When we arrived at Sanchi Stupa we were welcomed by a tour guide who told us about the history of the Great Stupa. We learnt that it was commissioned by the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka. The Great Stupa was built in the third century BCE to showcase Buddhism.

There are four gateways in the complex of Sanchi Stupa. The pillars at these gateways showcase the events of Buddha’s life and Jataka tales. Our guide introduced us to three such stories – Mahakapi Jataka, Sama Jataka and Chaddanta Jataka.

In the Mahakapi Jataka, Bodhisatta is believed to be a chief of monkeys. He ruled over eighty thousand monkeys in the Himalayas. One day, a king from the plains decided to seize the mango tree that was used by the monkeys for food. The king decided to kill all the monkeys. While saving the monkeys, the chief had to sacrifice himself. The king was moved by this selfless act and arranged a grand pyre for the chief.

In Chaddanta Jataka, Bodhisatta was a pure-white in colour and forty metres tall elephant. His tusks were seven metres thick and emitted six-coloured rays. The elephant had two wives. The second wife was jealous of the first one and starved herself to death so that she could be reborn as a human queen. The second wife was reborn as a princess and married a king. She became a queen consort and sent a hunter to kill the elephant. The hunter killed the elephant and brought his tusks. Upon seeing the tusks, she was filled with guilt and died within a few days.

We discovered that in Sama Jataka, a man was mistaken to be a deer and shot dead.

We loved all the stories and each one of them taught us a lot. Sama Jataka taught us to always have a keen eye and think before doing anything because it can lead to someone else paying for your mistake, which can be very unfair. In Mahakapi, we learnt that sacrificing always leads to the wellbeing of many individuals. Last but not the least, Chaddanta Jataka, it didn’t have a moral but it showcased the generosity of the elephant.

We learnt a lot from this trip. It was so informative and interesting. We have never experienced anything like today, we hope to have more adventures with EdTerra. This was a remarkable experience.

Student By Aarna Girdhar, Evika Parihar, Kaenat Singh, Navya Kaushik, Shaina Kapoor & Zara Abrol (Kunskapsskolan School, Gurugram).

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EdTerra Edventures conducts various other programs for the youth. If you go to school and are under 17 years of age, ask your school to contact us to arrange a visit to your school for an introduction to “Bhopal” and other journeys under EdTerra’s India Discovery Program.

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