'Relic Series. Plate.12. Relic Caskets from No.2 Sthupa at Satdhara.'

Pen and ink and wash drawing of relic caskets from Stupa No.2 at Satdhara by Frederick Charles Maisey, dated 1847-1854.

At Satdhara, near Vidisha, there is a group of stupas situated on a hilltop. Stupas are Buddhist mounds often enshrining relics.

In 'The Bhilsa Topes' of 1966, Alexander Cunningham described the Tope No.2, "This ruined tope stands at a distance of 230 feet to the N.N.W. of the great Tope...A shaft was sunk in it to a depth of 6 feet, when some stones falling in, two small steatite caskets were seen lying at the bottom. The stones were loose; there was no trace of any chamber; and the caskets were both much discoloured on the upper surface. It is evident therefore that the Tope had been opened before by villagers; who, finding nothing but a few calcined bones, had replaced the relic-caskets, and filled up the holes again with loose stones. These caskets are of a pale mottled steatite...They are inscribed inside the lids, the one with Sariputasa "(Relics) of Sariputra", and the other with Maha-Mogalanasa "(Relics) of Maha Mogalana".