Notes on the Geography of Peninsular India: Sanchi: Photo 2
Ashoka's stupa, built in the third century B.C., was entirely of brick. After his death and the dissolution of the Mauryan Empire, sovereignty here fell to the Sunga kings who, as often happened, enlarged the stupa by building a stone envelope around it and filling the space with rubble. Ashoka's stupa was in this way doubled in the second century B.C. to a diameter of 120 feet. The scabs you see are what's left of the thick cement that once covered the dome or anda, which was then covered with a fine white-washed plaster trimmed with swag-like sculpted ornaments in contrasting colors.
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