History

The stupa at Amaravati was likely founded during the Mauryan period in the 3rd century BC, possibly under Ashokan patronage, as a relatively simple hemispherical mound. Its transformation into the most elaborate Buddhist monument in South India occurred over several centuries of Satavahana patronage, during which the plain brick core was progressively encased in carved white limestone panels — railings, drum slabs, pillar panels, and dome casing slabs — whose figural scenes depicting Jataka tales, the life of the Buddha, and the aniconic wheel and footprint symbols became the primary medium through which Buddhist art in peninsular India developed its mature visual vocabulary. By the 1st to 3rd centuries AD the stupa was fully encased in sculptured marble, surrounded by an ornate railing enclosure, and was a major pilgrimage destination and Buddhist teaching centre.

The site’s destruction was gradual and opportunistic. When Colonel Colin Mackenzie visited in 1797 as part of his survey of the Deccan, he found the stupa still largely intact but observed local villagers already using carved slabs as building material. Construction projects by the local nawab Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu in the early 19th century accelerated this process catastrophically: thousands of carved slabs were removed, broken up, and burned as lime or reused as construction fill. Subsequent British archaeological excavations by H. H. Cooke in 1845, James Burgess in 1877, and later the Archaeological Survey of India recovered surviving fragments but also transported significant quantities to Chennai; approximately 120 slabs reached the British Museum between 1859 and 1880 via colonial acquisition.

Today the site retains only the stupa’s circular drum base, several in-situ carved panels under protective cover, and a small site museum. The question of the repatriation of the Amaravati marbles from the British Museum to India remained a subject of diplomatic discussion in the early 21st century.