Amaravati school of art

History glossary

Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Amaravati school of art was a school of Buddhist sculpture in the lower Krishna valley of present-day Andhra Pradesh. It flourished from about the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE, mainly under the Satavahanas and later the Ikshvakus. Its artists carved white limestone (often called "marble") into lively story panels full of crowded, moving figures.

It matters because it was the great art school of the south in the same age as Gandhara and Mathura in the north. It also shows that Indian image-making grew in more than one region at the same time.

Explanation

Background: a stupa and its donors

  • The centre was the Amaravati stupa (mahachaitya). A stupa is a solid mound that holds relics of the Buddha. Amaravati was among the largest stupas in ancient India.

  • The site stands near the ancient town of Dhanyakataka, on the Krishna river.

  • The stupa was decorated in layers over several centuries. Stone railings, gateways and drum slabs (panels fixed round the base of the dome) were added and replaced over time.

  • Patrons were many. Kings of the Satavahana line ruled the region. But inscriptions on the stones show that much of the money came from ordinary donors: merchants, craftsmen, monks and nuns. Each gave a slab or a pillar to earn merit.
  • The same style spread to other stupas of the region. These include Nagarjunakonda (under the Ikshvakus, who came after the Satavahanas), Jaggayyapeta, Goli and Ghantasala.

Main features of the style

  • Material: white or greenish-white limestone. It came from the local Palnad area. This sets it apart from Gandhara's grey-black schist [1] and Mathura's red sandstone [2].
  • Narrative reliefs. A relief is a carving that stands out from a flat stone background. The panels tell stories:
  • events from the Buddha's life, such as the taming of the mad elephant Nalagiri

  • Jataka stories (tales of the Buddha's earlier lives).

  • Crowded and full of movement. Many figures fill each panel. They bend, turn, dance and rush. The scenes feel alive, not stiff.

  • Slender, graceful bodies. Figures are tall and thin, often shown in the tribhanga pose (the body bent in three places, at neck, waist and knee).
  • Round medallions. Many stories are packed into circular panels on the railings. The artists arranged crowds skilfully inside the curve.
  • Mostly local in spirit. The style grew out of older Indian traditions of stupa carving, such as the work at Sanchi and Bharhut. It was not a copy of Greco-Roman art.

How it changed over time

  • Early phase: the Buddha shown by symbols. In the older panels the Buddha does not appear as a person. Artists showed him through signs: an empty throne, footprints, the wheel (dharmachakra), the Bodhi tree or a stupa.
  • Later phase: the Buddha in human form. From about the 2nd century CE, panels show the Buddha as a human figure. Sometimes symbols and human images appear on the same monument.

  • This follows the wider change in belief of the age. Mahayana Buddhism treated the Buddha as a saviour whom people wanted to see and pray before.

  • End of the school. The school faded after about the 3rd–4th century CE, after Ikshvaku rule declined.

Results and later history

  • Influence abroad. Historians generally believe the Amaravati style shaped early Buddhist art in Sri Lanka and parts of Southeast Asia, through sea trade from the Andhra coast.
  • The site was badly damaged in colonial times. NCERT tells the story:
  • In 1796 a local raja found the ruins while looking for building stone for a temple.
  • Colin Mackenzie visited the site in 1798.
  • In 1854 Walter Elliot took many slabs to Madras. Other slabs were taken away or reused, and the stupa itself was lost.

  • Pieces are now in the Government Museum, Chennai and the British Museum, London. The London pieces are often called the "Elliot marbles".

  • A lesson in conservation. H.H. Cole argued that finds should be kept where they were found, not carried off. That is partly why Sanchi survived in place and Amaravati did not.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: c. 2nd century BCE to 3rd century CE. The dates are approximate. Some scholars stretch the end into the 4th century CE.
  • Place: Amaravati, in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, on the Krishna river (ancient Dhanyakataka). Related sites in the same valley are Nagarjunakonda, Jaggayyapeta, Goli and Ghantasala.
  • Rulers: the Satavahanas (main phase) and the Ikshvakus (later phase, especially at Nagarjunakonda).
  • Evidence:
  • Donor inscriptions carved on the slabs. They name the merchants, monks and nuns who paid for them.
  • Surviving sculptures in the Government Museum, Chennai, the British Museum, London, and the site museum at Amaravati.
  • Colonial records of the site's discovery and removal (Mackenzie, Elliot), as told in NCERT Class 12, Chapter 4.

Don't confuse with

  • Gandhara school: northwest region; grey-black schist; a Greco-Roman blend, with an Apollo-like Buddha [1]. Amaravati is in the south, uses white limestone and is Indian in style.
  • Mathura school: red sandstone; heavy, full yaksha-like figures; a wide pantheon (gods of many faiths) [2]. Amaravati is mainly Buddhist, with slender figures in crowded story panels.
  • Sanchi: a stupa in central India (Madhya Pradesh) with carved sandstone gateways (toranas). It survived in place, while Amaravati's stupa was taken apart and its slabs carried to Madras and London.
  • Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh: a modern city named after the old site. In a history question, "Amaravati" means the ancient stupa and art school.

Prelims Hooks

  • Amaravati school = white limestone; Gandhara = grey-black schist [1]; Mathura = red sandstone [2].
  • Amaravati is on the Krishna river in Andhra Pradesh. Its ancient name is Dhanyakataka.
  • Main patrons: the Satavahanas, later the Ikshvakus (at Nagarjunakonda), plus many merchant, monk and nun donors named in inscriptions.
  • Famous theme: the taming of the elephant Nalagiri in a round medallion relief.
  • Trap: early Amaravati panels show the Buddha through symbols. The human Buddha image appears later (from c. 2nd century CE).
  • Amaravati sculptures in London are called the "Elliot marbles", after Walter Elliot, who moved slabs to Madras in 1854.

Mains Points

  • Indian art had several regional centres, not one source. In the same centuries, Gandhara worked in schist with Greco-Roman models [1], Mathura in red sandstone with yaksha models [2], and Amaravati in white limestone with lively story panels. Amaravati is strong proof against the claim that Indian sculpture began only because of Greek contact.
  • Art paid for by ordinary people. Amaravati's donor inscriptions name merchants, artisans, monks and nuns. This shows the trade wealth of the Andhra coast and wide popular support for Buddhism, not only royal support. It is a useful point for GS-I questions on society, trade and religion.
  • A case study in heritage loss. Amaravati was taken apart in the 19th century, and its slabs went to Madras and London. Sanchi was kept in place. Together they show why in-situ conservation (protecting a find where it was found) matters. They also raise the current debate on returning colonial-era artefacts held in foreign museums.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Gandhara artbritannica.com · tier 3
  2. 2Mathura artbritannica.com · tier 3