{"id":120820,"date":"2026-08-25T11:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T05:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=120820"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T05:32:08","slug":"tracing-ashoka-in-ujjain-vaishya-tekri-excavation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/tracing-ashoka-in-ujjain-vaishya-tekri-excavation\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracing Ashoka in Ujjain: Vaishya Tekri Excavation and History"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Tracing Ashoka in Ujjain Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Madhya Pradesh government has begun restoring Buddhist monuments linked to the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, starting with a fresh excavation at <\/span><b>Vaishya Tekri in Ujjain<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The initiative has renewed scholarly interest in Ashoka&#8217;s connection to the city and raised questions about how much the site can actually confirm historically.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Vaishya Tekri Stupa: Scale and Earlier Findings<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to academic <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter Skilling&#8217;s 2011 paper<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Vaishya Tekri \u2014 the <\/span><b>largest stupa<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the site \u2014 measures about 350 feet at its base and 100 feet high, notably <\/span><b>larger than the 54-foot stupa at Sanchi.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nearby stands a smaller structure called <\/span><b>Kumbhar<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (or Kumhar) Tekri; both remain relatively undisturbed, save for a power line and pylon running through the area.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Initial excavations by the Department of Archaeology of the erstwhile Gwalior State in 1938-39 uncovered large bricks and punch-marked coins, leading archaeologists to date the structures to the Mauryan period.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, historians have urged caution, noting that this excavation report is decades old and its interpretation was shaped by earlier accounts \u2014 particularly Alexander Cunningham&#8217;s writings on Ashoka.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They argue that further investigation beyond the 1938-39 findings is needed before drawing firm conclusions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Ashoka&#8217;s Years in Ujjain<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ujjayini (modern Ujjain), located on the Sipra river (a tributary of the Chambal), was the <\/span><b>capital of the Avanti kingdom<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and a major commercial centre.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Historian Romila Thapar notes that Ujjain linked trade routes to <\/span><b>western coastal ports<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like <\/span><b><i>Broach<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b><i>Sopara<\/i><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as well as to Pataliputra \u2014 Ptolemy referred to it as &#8220;<\/span><b>Ozene<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&#8221;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ashoka was sent to Avanti as viceroy by his father, Emperor Bindusara. Unlike his brief posting in Taxila, he is believed to have spent nearly a decade in Avanti, headquartered at Ujjain \u2014 reportedly in recognition of his earlier work at Taxila.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Historians call Ujjain the &#8220;<\/span><b>Greenwich of India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,&#8221; since Hindu astronomers calculated the prime meridian of longitude from the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They suggest <\/span><b>Ashoka arrived around 282 BCE<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, roughly a decade before Bindusara&#8217;s death, by which time Ujjain was already an urban centre with 300 years of history along the Sipra.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mud fortifications first appeared around Ujjain in the 7th century BCE, and by the 6th century BCE, Avanti had emerged as a powerful independent kingdom.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Where Ashoka Met Devi<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">En route to Ujjain, Ashoka stopped at Vidisha, where he met and married <\/span><b>Vedisadevi <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Devi), daughter of a local merchant \u2014 though Thapar notes historical records do not confirm a legal marriage. The couple had two children: Mahinda and Samghamitta.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evidence for Ashoka&#8217;s Ujjain posting includes his own edicts, issued later as emperor, which mention a prince (kumara) stationed at Ujjain.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts also note that Vidisha, where Ashoka met Devi, lies directly on the route from Pataliputra to Ujjain.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, scholars disagree on physical evidence: while Skilling considers it plausible that Ashoka erected pillars or edicts at such an important site, they point out that <\/span><b>no Ashokan pillars have been found in Ujjain<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, particularly near the stupas, and that the excavations reveal little about Ujjain&#8217;s political structure during Ashoka&#8217;s time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Stupa and the &#8216;Hell&#8217;<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Local traditions in Sri Lanka associate Vaishya Tekri with Devi \u2014 its name reportedly deriving from her merchant (Vaishya) family background.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, Kumhar Tekri carries a starkly different association: Chinese scholar-pilgrim Xuanzang, who visited Ujjain in the 7th century, recorded a stupa marking the site where &#8220;King Ashoka made a hellish prison.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thapar notes that earlier excavations at Kumhar Tekri revealed a burial-cum-cremation ground dating to the 3rd century BCE, corroborating Xuanzang&#8217;s account.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">About a decade into his Ujjain viceroyalty, Ashoka returned to Pataliputra after Bindusara fell critically ill \u2014 setting the stage for his subsequent, and violent, struggle for the Mauryan throne.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Fresh Excavation: Promise and Caution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scholars have welcomed the government&#8217;s renewed funding for excavation, noting archaeology typically receives limited financial support.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, they caution that the focus should extend beyond the stupa structure itself to the broader cultural landscape \u2014 drawing a parallel with Sanchi, where the ashes of Buddhist teachers were found buried in cemeteries surrounding the stupas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They suggest the excavation should aim to understand how the site evolved over time, including other structures and the monks associated with it, rather than treating the stupa as an isolated monument.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Concerns have also been raised about encroaching urbanisation, with the once-rural site now bordered by an expanding industrial zone around Ujjain.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Vaishya Tekri excavation offers a valuable opportunity to deepen understanding of Ashoka&#8217;s decade-long Ujjain viceroyalty and early Buddhist history in Malwa.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, as historians caution, the site&#8217;s grand scale and evocative local traditions must be weighed against the limits of decades-old evidence \u2014 making a broader, landscape-level investigation essential for the fresh dig to yield historically reliable conclusions rather than reinforce old assumptions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-history\/ashoka-ujjain-fresh-dig-vaishya-tekri-stupa-10842043\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tracing Ashoka in Ujjain explores Vaishya Tekri, Ashoka&#8217;s Avanti viceroyalty, Buddhist history and what fresh excavations can reveal about the Mauryan period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":120835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,9756,22,59],"class_list":["post-120820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-mains-articles","tag-tracing-ashoka-in-ujjain","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs-tag","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120820"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120842,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120820\/revisions\/120842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}