Amaravati Art in the Context of Andhra Archaeology
by Sreyashi Ray chowdhuri | 2018 | 90,477 words
This page relates ‘Lower Krishna Valley (7): Gummadidurru’ 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 (7): Gummadidurru
[Location: Gummadidurru (Lat 16052’ N, Long 800 18’E Nandigama Taluk, Gunṭur District)]
The site [Gummadidurru] lies in a small village of that name in the Nandigama taluk of Gunṭur district. It is very close to the Mahācaitya of Jaggayyapeṭa. Presently though the site appears insignificant but in ancient times it must have been an important Buddhist centre as evidence confirms the habitation of Buddhist monks in the region from 2nd century C.E.
Trial excavation was carried out by M.H. Kuraishi (1926) and his findings were published in the Annual report of Archealogical Survey of India in that year[1]. Here many stūpas including a Mahācaitya were discovered (PL 7c). The Mahācaitya was circular in shape. The drum measured 55 feet in diameter and has four projections at four cardinal directions. The hub is composed of a square brick structure with a filling of rubble and brick bats in mud. Like Amarāvatī, the drum is decorated with oblong slabs with reliefs altering with carved pilasters. The horizontal frieze with the stūpa representations and pilasters depict the life stories of Buddha and Jātaka stories. The style of the reliefs and some inscriptional evidence can be ascribed to 2nd and 3rd century C.E.
North-west to the main stūpa and 7 feet 3 inch away from it is a brick caitya gṛha. Some inscriptions record the construction of a Mahācaitya by a native of dakṣināpatha and also mention Mahatalavara khendavisa of Mugiyas, who were identical with Pukiyas[2].