The Sanchi area of Madhya Pradesh, central India, occupies a key place in the archaeology of Buddhism. Sanchi itself is one of India’s best preserved, and most studied Buddhist sites (notably Marshall, 1940), with a continuous constructional sequence from the third century bce to the twelfth century ce. Four other well-preserved Buddhist sites, Sonari, Satdhara, Morel khurd, and Andher (Fig. 8.1), all situ- ated within about ten kilometres of Sanchi , were first documented in Alexander Cunningham’s (1854a) well-known monograph, The Bhilsā Topes. These sites were taken up for renewed investigation by the present author during the Sanchi Survey Project (henceforth SSP) which also resulted in the documentation of an additional thirty Buddhist sites as well as other archaeological sites to be described later (Shaw, 2004a, 2004b, 2005, 2007; Shaw and Sutcliffe, 2001, 2003, 2005; Shaw et al., 2007). While the earliest monuments at Sanchi were connected with the patronage of the Mauryan Emperor Aśoka during the third century bce, the most prolific construction took place during the following two centuries. Donative inscriptions show that this work was funded not by state patronage, as before, but by extensive programmes of collective patronage supported by powerful families and guilds. The reliquary inscriptions from Sanchi Stūpa 2 and the four other ‘Bhilsā Tope’ sites provide a useful starting point for assessing how these sites and the surrounding landscape were perceived in ancient times (Willis, 2000). These inscriptions indicate that all of these sites were linked to a group of Hemavata teachers led by an individual named Gotiputa. The Hemavatas appear to have arrived in Vidiśā in the second century bce; they took over the older sites of Sanchi and Satdhara and established new centres at Sonari, Morel khurd, and Andher. The reliquaries show that these sites were linked and were established (or renovated in the case of Sanchi and Satdhara) in a single campaign.