This carving shows the seven past Buddhas, represented symbolically by two trees and five stupas.  All Buddhists believe that there have been Buddhas before Siddhartha Gautama (although they appear only rarely on the earth), and that the future Buddha, Maitreya, is even now working towards Buddhahood.  These past Buddhas are important because a future Buddha's vow to attain enlightenment must be confirmed by a living Buddha, who validates this vows.  The Theravada and the Mahayana disagree on whether there can be more than one Buddha at a time-the Theravadins deny this, and the Mahayana affirm it.

Here's a close-up of the middle arch of the eastern gateway (shown above).  This panel depicts the Future Buddha's Great Departure--when he renounced his royal status and became a homeless wanderer searching for supreme enlightenment. 

The story is told in sequential fashion from left to right: at far left is the town of Kapilavastu, with houses and residents.  The Buddha (symbolized by the tree in the middle) left his home on a horse named Kanthaka (which is also covered with the royal umbrella, and in the center panels the gods are holding the horse off the ground, muffling its hoof beats to keep the Buddha's family from being roused by the noise (and frustrating his desire to go).  At far right the horse is being led back toward the town, and the pair of footprints is another symbol of the Buddha. 

This image, from the lowest torana arch of the eastern gateway shown above, depicts the emperor Ashoka's visit to the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, the site of the Buddha's enlightenment.  Ashoka's piety is visible not only from his visits to these holy sites, but in his patronage in establishing sites such as Sanchi itself.  Such public acts of piety were also good public relations moves, since they placed Ashoka in the role of the righteous king, but it seems clear from various sorts of evidence that at a personal level Ashoka was a pious Buddhist. 

Here the tree (itself a symbol for the Buddha) is in the center, and around it stand Ashoka and his court making appropriate reverential gestures.  One of Ashoka's wives from Vidisha--which is only 6 miles away, so he had strong connections to the region, and good reasons to spread patronage there. 

November 2005