The Chethiyagiri Vihara Festival, in which relics of the Buddha's chief disciples are displayed, is held in which state?

The Chethiyagiri Vihara Festival is held every year at Sanchi, in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, usually in November. During the festival, the sacred relics of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana (Maudgalyayana), the two chief disciples of the Buddha, are displayed to the public for worship.

The relics were discovered in 1851 by the British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham in Stupa No. 3 at Sanchi. They were taken to England and kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for many years. After repeated requests by Buddhist organisations, they were returned and, in 1952, placed in the newly built Chethiyagiri Vihara at Sanchi, a Buddhist temple built by the Maha Bodhi Society of India. The festival is held every year to mark the anniversary of the enshrinement of the relics. Buddhist monks and devotees from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and other countries attend the festival, and the relics are carried in a procession.

Sanchi is famous for its Buddhist monuments, especially the Great Stupa (Stupa No. 1), originally built by Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE and later enlarged. Its four elaborately carved gateways (toranas), added under the Satavahanas in the 1st century BCE, depict the Jataka tales and scenes from the life of the Buddha. In early Buddhist art, the Buddha was not shown in human form but through symbols, such as the Bodhi tree, footprints, an empty throne and the wheel. The monuments of Sanchi were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Bihar is home to Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment.
• ✗Uttar Pradesh is home to Sarnath and Kushinagar.
• ✗Odisha has Buddhist sites such as Dhauli and the Ratnagiri-Udayagiri-Lalitgiri complex.