There are many places in India by the name of Amaravati or Amravati. Here we are interested in Amaravati, the Indian Buddhist site of 3rd and 2nd century Buddhism. Amaravati for us is a symbol of Indian ignorance about its Buddhist past, rather than indicative of any suggestions of immortality.
It is our desire to inspire Indians to explore their Buddhist past and how deeply their very sense of Indian identity is inter mingled with Buddhist philosophy.
NagarjunaKonda -
Nagarjunakonda means Nagarjuna Hill in Telugu, the language used in much of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in present day Guntur district as an island, after it was indundated in 1960, to make way for an irrigation project of modern India, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. It is so named after a southern Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, of 2nd century AD, who is credited with the spread of Mahayana Buddhism in south India as well as up north to Tibet and onwards.It was once an important Buddhist learning and education site, that attracted Buddhist scholars from Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Bengal and Gandhara for higher studies in Buddhist disciplines and Buddhist thought.Before its flooding by Andhra government in 1960, about 100 specialist archaeologists were sent in for excavations alongwith 1000 labour to excavate whatever remnants and archeological evidence they could find for future generations of Buddhist students and studies.Today it is an example of the monumental ignorance of Indian political and educational elite, and the Brahminical dominated society, that is unaware of the Buddhist past and its contributions to Indian civilization and Indian identity.
The settlement of Nagarjunakonda was the capital of the Ikshvaku dynasty (225 AD - 325 AD), the successors of the Satavahanas in the eastern Deccan. It is believed that Sadvaha authorised the first monastic construction there during his reign.During the early centuries AD, the site housed more than 30 Buddhist viharas; excavations have yielded art works and inscriptions of great significance for the scholarly study of the history of this early period.[2] Nagarjuna was the exponent of the philosophy of sunyata (void). At the time, Buddhism often spread to Sri Lanka and Burma after using the area and the bustling Bay of Bengal ports of the Andhra to re-stock for the impending journey. Archaeological inscriptions at the site show that Sri Virapurusadatta, the second ruler of the dynasty was a Buddhist, as were his son Ehuvula and their descendants. The inscriptions also show state-sponsorship of construction of temples and monasteries, through the funding of the queen of Ikshvaku. Camtisiri inparticular, is recorded as having funded the building of the main stupa for ten consecutive years. The support also spread beyond the noble classes, many non-royal names being enscribed in the relics. At its peak, there were more than thirty monasteries and it was the largest Buddhist centre in South India. Inscriptions showed that there were monasteries belonging to the Bahusrutiya and Aparamahavinaseliya schools of Mahayana Buddhism, the Mahisasaka, and the Mahaviharavasin, from Sri Lanka. The architecture of the area reflects that of these traditions. There were other monasteries for Buddhist scholars originating from the Tamil kingdoms, Orissa, Kalinga, Gandhara, Bengal, Ceylon (the Culadhammagiri) and China. There is also a footprint at the site of the Mahaviharavasin monastery, which is believed to be a reproduction of that of Gautama Buddha.The region declined after the death of Rudrapurusa, the last Ikshvaku king. Excavations began in 1927, and the first finds were made by English archaeologists in 1928. The excavations were continuous until 1931. They unearthed the ruins of stupas and chaityas in 1926 at what was once an immense centre for Buddhist learning in ancient India. This was expanded in 1954 to include the whole valley, unearthing more than 100 further relics dating from the stone age to the 16th century AD.The great stupa at Nagarjunakonda belongs to the class of uncased stupas, its brickwork being plastered over and the stupa decorated by a large garland-ornament. The original stupa was renovated by the Ikshvaku princess Chamtisiri in the 3rd century AD, when ayaka-pillars of stone were erected. The outer railing, if any, was of wood, its uprights erected over a brick plinth. The stupa, 32.3 m in diameter, rose to a height of 18 m with a 4 m wide circumambulatory. The medhi stood 1.5 m and the ayaka-platforms were rectangular offsets measuring 6.7 by 1.5 m.An archaeological catastrophe struck in 1960, when an irrigation dam was constructed across the nearby Krishna River, submerging the original site under the waters of a reservoir. In advance of the flooding, several monuments were dug up and relocated to the top of Nagarjuna's Hill, where a museum was built in 1966. Other monuments were relocated to the mainland, east of the flooded area. Dedicated archaeologists managed to recover almost all of the relics.Nagarjunasagar dam :The Nagarjunasagar dam is the tallest masonry dam in the World. The excavated remains of the Buddhist civilisation were reconstructed and preserved at a museum on the island situated in the midst of the man-made Nagarjunasagar lake. The site has a 14th-century fort, medieval temples and a museum constructed like a Buddhist vihara. The museum houses a collection of relics of Buddhist culture and art. These include a small tooth and an ear-ring believed to be that of Gautama Buddha. The main stupa of Nagarjunakonda named Mahachaitya is believed to contain the sacred relics of the Buddha. A partly ruined monolithic statue of the Buddha is the main attraction at the museum. It also houses historic finds in the form of tools from Paleolithic and Neolithic times, as well as friezes, coins and jewellery.
The modern Indian state, home to one sixth of humanity, is largely ignorant of the Buddhist contribution, to the formation of the Indian state, and indeed of the very concept of Indian identity. Many scholars have argued that, India is not a country but a sub continent. But how did the sub continent become one country, is a question that very few Indian scholars and historians, usually, hopelessly burdened, with self replicating, European research interests and directions, have explored with confidence.The present day remediation of global power, the bankruptcy and failure of Euro centrism, brings forth new opportunities for re evaluation of history, knowledge production, European agendas and scholarly output.In modern times, Dr B R Ambedkar, the man in charge of putting the Indian constitution to paper, was the first major figure to realize, and indeed ceaselessly propagate, the sheer importance of Buddhism to any account of Indian history and India as a nation.Ambedkar summarily rejected the value, role and importance, of German, Russian Marxism, Russian and Chines communism, in addressing the major issues facing India in terms of social and economic inequality and surplus value control.In this sense, Ambedkar is the real and major architect of the modern Indian state, and its founding ideals, once the role of Gandhi to Indian struggle against colonialism is properly understood in the historical and social context.
