हिंदीOn this day
Excavated

Amaravati (Dhanyakataka) and the Mahachaitya

Dhanyakataka on the Krishna, a Satavahana royal city whose great stupa produced some of the finest stone carving of ancient India. Beside it stands the Amareswara temple, one of the five Pancharama shrines of Shiva.

Built: Stupa from c. 3rd century BCE, enlarged under the Satavahanas, 1st–3rd century CEWhere: Andhra PradeshDeity: Buddhist Mahachaitya; beside it the Amareswara temple of Bhagwan Shiva16.57° N, 80.36° E
  1. c. 3rd century BCE
  2. 2nd century CE
  3. 1797
  4. 1859
Photo: Adityamadhav83 · CC BY-SA 3.0

01The great chaitya

Inscriptions on the stupa call it the Mahachaitya of Dhanyakataka. A fragment of a Mauryan pillar inscription found here shows the site was honoured by the 3rd century BCE. Under the Satavahanas, and especially in the 2nd century CE under Vasishthiputra Pulumavi and his successors, the stupa was cased in pale green-white limestone carved with the life of the Buddha, crowds, palaces, elephants and river scenes, the style now called the Amaravati school. Its craftsmen and their style travelled with traders to Lanka and Southeast Asia. For Buddhists this is sacred ground; for every Indian it is one of the high points of the sculptor’s art.

02Quarried, then carried away

By the late 18th century the mound was being dug for building stone. Colin Mackenzie saw it in 1797 and surveyed it in 1816. Walter Elliot dug again in 1845, and his finds went to Madras and in 1859 to London, where they are now in the British Museum; other slabs are in the Government Museum, Chennai, and the site museum at Amaravati. Next to the stupa site stands the Amareswara temple. By the Pancharama katha, when Kartikeya broke the linga worn by the asura Tarakasura, its pieces fell at five places in Andhra, and Amaravati is one of them.

The life of this place

  1. c. 3rd century BCEA Mauryan-period pillar inscription marks the site.
  2. 2nd century CEThe stupa is cased in carved limestone under the Satavahanas.
  3. 1797Colin Mackenzie finds the mound being dug for stone.
  4. 1859Elliot’s sculptures are shipped to London.
Visiting

The ASI site museum stands beside the stupa mound at Amaravati village, about 35 km from Vijayawada; the Amareswara temple is a short walk away.

People

Gautamiputra SatakarniRuler
Reigned c. 106–130 CE (one common reckoning)

Gautamiputra Satakarni

Satavahana king who crushed the Shakas

Nearby

Amararama, Amareswara Temple, AmaravatiStanding
Cholas and the Southern Seas

Amararama, Amareswara Temple, Amaravati

The first of the five Pancharamas, on the south bank of the Krishna at Amaravati. The linga here is held to have been installed by Indra, which gives the place its name, the arama of the Amaras.

Undavalli CavesStanding
The Gupta Age

Undavalli Caves

Across the Krishna from Vijayawada a whole hillside has been cut into a four-storeyed temple, and on its upper floor Bhagwan Vishnu lies on Shesha in a single carved figure about five metres long.

Kanaka Durga Temple, VijayawadaStanding
Vedic Rishis and the Itihasa

Kanaka Durga Temple, Vijayawada

The golden Durga of Indrakeeladri hill above the Krishna at Vijayawada, the city that takes its name from Arjuna’s victory. Her Navaratri is the largest festival in Andhra.

Panakala Narasimha Temple, MangalagiriStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Panakala Narasimha Temple, Mangalagiri

One of the eight great Narasimha kshetras of Andhra, where the open mouth of Narasimha on the hill drinks exactly half of whatever jaggery water is poured in, and gives back the rest as prasad.