Assertion: The French took away the eastern gateway of Stupa of Sanchi after taking permission from Shahjehan Begum.

Reason: Nineteenth-century Europeans were very interested in the stupa at Sanchi.

The Assertion is incorrect but the Reason is correct.

Nineteenth-century Europeans were very interested in the stupa at Sanchi. In fact, the French sought Shahjehan Begum’s permission to take away the eastern gateway, which was the best preserved, to be displayed in a museum in France. For a while, some Englishmen also wanted to do the same, but fortunately both the French and the English were satisfied with carefully prepared plaster-cast copies and the original remained at the site, part of the Bhopal state.