Monastery 51

Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh


Monastery 51 sits a short way downhill west of the Great Stupa, beside a tank. Outside its west gate is the Great Bowl, carved from a boulder, into which food and offerings were placed for distribution to the monks.


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1. Great Bowl

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Behind Monastery 51, partway down the hill towards Stupa 2, is the Great Bowl, carved from a huge boulder, into which food and offerings were placed for…

2. Western Gateway

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Pot-bellied dwarves support the architraves of the Western Gateway, which has some of the site’s most interesting scenes. The back of the bottom…

3. Pillar 35

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Pillar 35 (northwest of the Great Stupa) dates from the 5th century AD. Its capital, with a figure of the Bodhisattva Vajrapani, is in the Archaeological…

4. Great Stupa

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Beautifully proportioned, the Great Stupa is the centrepiece of the monumental area, directly ahead as you enter the complex from the north. Originally…

5. Northern Gateway

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The Northern Gateway, topped by a broken wheel of law, is the best preserved of the toranas. Elephants support the architraves above the columns, while…

6. Southern Gateway

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The back-to-back lions on the pillars of the monuments compound's Southern Gateway (the oldest) were a favourite Ashokan motif and now form the state…

7. Pillar 10

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Of the scattered pillar remains, the most important is Pillar 10, erected by Ashoka but later broken. Two upper sections of this beautifully proportioned…

8. Temple 18

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Temple 18 is a chaitya (prayer room or assembly hall) similar in appearance to classical Greek columned buildings. It dates from around the 7th century AD…