Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.12

c15.12

At Saṅkārāma (Skt. Saṅghārāma) in Viśākhāpaṭanam on Kaliṅga route, there is an important group of monuments datable to several periods. The earliest were wrought under the shadows of Aśokan monuments of the Barābar hills and comprised a large Buddhist Vihāra, the monolithic Stūpas, some of the cells and the three apsidal Chaitya halls dating from the 2nd cent. B. C. The monolithic Stūpas here are of very large size, the principal one front of the monastery being 65' in diameter at the base. The second phase followed in the form of Stūpas covered with cut-stone-blocks and the third one in the form of structural brick Stūpas put up about the 2nd cent. A. D., although the building activity at the site continued up to the Pallava period.