Amaravati Art in the Context of Andhra Archaeology
by Sreyashi Ray chowdhuri | 2018 | 90,477 words
This page relates ‘Lower Krishna Valley (5): Alluru’ of the study on Amaravati Art in the Context of Andhra Archaeology, including museum exhibitions of the major archeological antiquities. These pages show how the Buddhist establishment of Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) survived from 4th century BCE to 14th century CE. It includes references and translations of episodes of Buddha’s life drawn from the Avadanas and Jatakas which are illustrated in Amaravati art.
Lower Kṛṣṇā Valley (5): Alluru
[Location: Alluru (Lat 16046’ N, Long 800 20’E,, Nandigama Taluk, Kṛshṇā District)]
Alluru is situated near Yerrapalem in Nandigama taluk of Kṛshṇā district. This site was excavated by M.H Kuraishi in 1926-27. The excavation yielded a brick stūpa having a wheel shaped plan with a circular hub 32 feet 8 inch in diameter with spokes and tyre[1] (PL 7a). The spokes divide the entire space into 16 cells which are filled with brick-bats and earth. The drum measured 76 feet 8 inch in diameter which had four ayakas 14 feet 8 inch by 2 feet. The stūpa is encased with decorated slabs like that of Amarāvatī.
The site revealed some standing Buddha images preserved in the Victoria Jubilee Museum, Vijayawaḍa. Some stucco heads and carved slabs were also discovered. The Buddhist remains are quite similar in style to that of later Amarāvatī sculptures. From inscriptional evidence it appears that this site was a centre of the Purvaśeliya sect of Buddhism[2]. Again from epigraphical records it is known that the stūpa and monasteries also received royal patronage for constructional activities during the Ikshavaku period.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ramachandran A, Op.cit, p 101.
[2]:
Ibid, p 99.