Chunar sandstone
Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Chunar sandstone is a fine-grained, buff (pale yellow-brown) stone. It comes from quarries at Chunar, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. It takes a very high polish. Mauryan craftsmen used it for Ashoka's pillars. Huge pieces were moved long distances to the places where the pillars stand. Centuries later, sculptors of the Gupta period at Sarnath also used it. One stone therefore links two great phases of early Indian art.
Example
The Sarnath lion capital of Ashoka (c. 3rd century BCE) is carved from polished Chunar sandstone. The well-known Gupta-period Buddha images from Sarnath are made of the same buff stone.
Don't confuse with
- Red sandstone of Mathura: the spotted red stone of the Mathura school of the Kushana period. Chunar stone is buff-coloured.