Sanchi Town is a Nagar panchayat, near Raisen town in Raisen District of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, it is located 46 km (29 mi) north east of Bhopal, and 10 km (6.2 mi) from Besnagar or Vidisha in the central part of the state of Madhya Pradesh.

The main are these, using the numbers assigned by Sir Alexander Cunningham, founder of the Archaeological Survey of India, who led excavations at Sanchi in 1854, which are still often used in the literature:[3] Sanchi is one of a number of Buddhist sites in close vicinity of Vidisha.

[7] On 11 September 2012, the Government of Madhya Pradesh announced the Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies, which is being built in collaboration with the government of Sri Lanka and Bhutan and will be located at Sanchi, in close proximity to the stupa.

Designed by Sri Lankan architect SW Isurunath Bulankulame, the university will have various facilities, combined with a green landscape and usage of natural energy.

The foundation stone for the university was laid on 17 September 2012 by Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigmi Yozyer Thinley, and Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka president Bangala Upatissa Nayaka Thero, amid high security due to a massive protest being organised by MDMK leader Vaiko against Rajapaksa, who had specially arrived in Madhya Pradesh with many protesters, but ultimately stopped.