Sanchi Stupa 1, East Torana (East Gateway)
Sandstone monumental gateway (torana) at the east entrance of the Great Stupa (Stupa 1), Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India. Covered in dense narrative relief sculpture depicting Jataka tales, yakshi tree-goddess figures, and aniconic representations of the Buddha. Satavahana/Shunga period, c. 50 BCE – 50 CE. In situ UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Critical Reception History
1818 · British colonial administrators and Orientalist scholars
Sanchi was 'discovered' by General H.H. Taylor in 1818. The subsequent decades saw considerable damage: treasure-hunters excavated the stupas searching for relics, and portions of the gateways were damaged. The French proposed removing the gateways to Paris; the British removed fragments to various museums. Alexander Cunningham's Archaeological Survey of India conducted the first systematic excavation and documentation (1851). The Marshall-Foucher-Majumdar publication (1940) became the definitive British-era scholarly statement, framing Sanchi within an Orientalist discourse of primitive Buddhist art preceding the 'higher' Hellenistic-influenced Gandhara tradition. This art-historical hierarchy has been substantially revised by postcolonial scholarship.