Who provided money for the preservation of the ancient site of ‘Sanchi’?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Sultan Jehan Begum
In the nineteenth century the stupa at Sanchi lay in the princely state of Bhopal. The French even asked to take away its eastern gateway for a museum in France, but plaster-cast copies satisfied them and the original stayed at the site. The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and her successor Sultan Jehan Begum, provided money for the preservation of the ancient site.
Sultan Jehan Begum also funded the museum at Sanchi, the guesthouse where John Marshall wrote his volumes on Sanchi, and the publication of those volumes. Marshall dedicated them to her.
NCERT (2025-26): “1. A Glimpse of Sanchi … 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. The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and her successor Sultan Jehan Begum, provided money for the preservation of the ancient site. No wonder then that John Marshall dedicated his important volumes on Sanchi to Sultan Jehan. She funded the museum that was built there as well as the guesthouse where he lived and wrote the volumes. She also funded the publication of the volumes.…” |