SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 13 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 1 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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Arrange the following sites in chronological order based on the stylistic development of Buddhist sculpture: a) Mathura b) Bharhut c) Sanchi Stupa–1

(a)b-c-a
(b)c-a-b
(c)c-b-a
(d)a-c-b

Answer

Why

Correct — A. The order is Bharhut → Sanchi Stupa-1 → Mathura, which is b-c-a.

Bharhut first: its railing reliefs are dated to about 125–100 BCE, in the Shunga period.

Sanchi Stupa-1 next: its carved gateways (toranas) were added from the 1st century BCE; an inscription credits artisans of the Satavahana king Satakarni II.

Mathura last: its school flourished under the Kushans, roughly the 1st to 3rd centuries CE.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
c-a-b — Puts Bharhut last, though its railing reliefs of about 125–100 BCE are older than both the Sanchi gateways and Kushan-period Mathura.
(c)
c-b-a — Swaps the first two. Sanchi Stupa-1 was founded by Ashoka, but its sculpture sits on gateways added from the 1st century BCE, after Bharhut's reliefs.
(d)
a-c-b — Puts Mathura first, but its school flourished under the Kushans from about the 1st century CE, after both Bharhut and the Sanchi gateways.

Concept

Early Buddhist sculpture moves from narrative reliefs on stupa railings and gateways towards images of the Buddha himself.

At Bharhut and Sanchi, the Buddha is not shown in human form: carved panels tell the stories and symbols stand for him.

Mathura, working in red sandstone under the Kushans, made some of the earliest images of the Buddha in human form, around the 1st century CE.

The trap is Sanchi's age. Stupa-1 began as an Ashokan brick stupa in the 3rd century BCE, older than Bharhut. But the question is about sculpture, and Stupa-1's sculpture is on gateways added from the 1st century BCE.

Key facts

Bharhut's railings and gateways were dismantled and reassembled at the Indian Museum, Kolkata.
Alexander Cunningham visited Bharhut in 1873 and excavated it in 1874.
Sanchi's Great Stupa was commissioned by Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE and later enlarged in stone under the Shungas.
The Mathura school is known for red sandstone sculpture of the Kushan period.

Study next

Gandhara and Mathura schools compared: material, style and Buddha typesAniconic symbols of the Buddha on the Bharhut and Sanchi reliefsThe Amaravati school of the Krishna valley

Common traps

Placing Sanchi first because the Great Stupa was founded by Ashoka, when its carved gateways are later than Bharhut's reliefs.
Reading Mathura as early because the city is ancient, when its Buddha images belong to the Kushan period.

The Mathura school's period is asked directly at 26 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.5, which keys its Brahmanical sculptures to the Kushana period. Gandhara art beyond stone appears at 15 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.1.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Culture — all 246 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.