For a city-dweller looking for a breath of clean air and some quiet, Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh is an unlikely recommendation. But I would go back there just to sit by the monastery ruins, soaking up the rich history of the once glorious town.
On an impulse, during a work trip to Bhopal, I decided to take a day off to visit the ancient Buddhist town. A short drive and an ascent up a 70-foot hillock later, I arrived at the complex of sculpted pillars, temples and stupas. Past the numerous monuments–a few whole, others in various stages of dilapidation–I walked around, amazed by the beauty of it all.
Struck by curiosity, I gravitated towards the locals for a dose of history. It seems, neglect befell the historic town after the fall of the Magadha Empire in 185 BC. It lay untouched for several thousand years, until the English stumbled upon the site in 1818. Eventually, I was told, it began attracting travellers from the world over, especially from Buddhist countries like Japan and Sri Lanka. Interestingly, the entrance to the Maha Stupa–or the Sanchi Stupa–carries a depiction of foreigners looking up at the structure in awe. I wondered if it meant that even two centuries ago, it was a popular pilgrim attraction!
Most monuments in Sanchi and surrounding villages were commissioned by Ashoka in the 3rd century BC. The third Mauryan emperor spent a good amount of his youth around here. What adds life to these crumbling structures today is the heartbreaking backstory of Ashoka and his first wife. At the age of 18, when the prince was sent to Sanchi as the prantpal of Ujjain, he met a young woman named Devi, the daughter of a merchant from the nearby town of Vidisha. He fell head over heels in love with her and asked for her hand in marriage.
Devi, however, was unimpressed by the young prince who already had a reputation as a forceful and violent administrator. Being a Buddhist, she believed in non-violence. So, when Ashoka expressed his wish to marry her, Devi dared him to resolve the Ujjaini uprising–a conspiracy by ministers who wanted to bring down the government–without bloodshed. Determined, the prince set off, but didn’t return for a while. Having lost any hope that he would come back, Devi decided to return to her routine of serving ageing monks at the nearby monastery.
As fate would have it, it was there that she ran into Ashoka again. He had managed to diffuse the crisis without resorting to violence but had been attacked by assassins in the process. Gravely injured, he hid in a cave near the monastery. Devi then nursed him back to health over the following weeks, and found herself falling in love with the prince.
She was a sanctuary to the restless monarch. While he is known to have married several other women in his lifetime, this peace-loving daughter of a merchant is said to be the one he adored the most.
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