Emperor Asoka (273-236 B.C.) built stupas in  Buddha's honour at many places in India. Stupas at Sanchi  are the most magnificent structures of ancient India. UNESCO has included them as  one of the heritage sites of the world. Stupas are large hemispherical domes, containing a central chamber, in which the relics of the Buddha were placed. Sanchi stupas trace the development of the Buddhist architecture and sculpture at the same location beginning from the 3rd century B.C. to the 12th century A.D.
Asoka when he was a governor  married Devi, the daughter of a respected citizen of Vidisha, a town 10 km from the Sanchi hill. Prince Mahendra  visited Sanchi with his mother before leaving for the island of Lanka for taking Buddhism there. Emperor Asoka had put up at Sanchi a pillar edict and a stupa containing relics of the Buddha. Addition of new stupas and  expressions in stone of legends  around the life of the Buddha  and the monastic activities at the Sanchi hill continued under several dynasties for over fifteen hundred years. Also, the Brahmi script could be deciphered from the similarities in inscriptions carved at different places in the main stupa.
Sanchi stupas are noteworthy for their gateways as they contain  ornamented  depiction of incidents from the life of the Buddha and his previous incarnations as Bodhisattvas described in Jataka tales. Sculptors belonging to different times tried to depict the same story by repeating figures. The Buddha has been shown symbolically in the form of tree or through other inanimate figures. One of the sects of Buddhism opposed depiction of the Buddha by a human figure.