Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.s1.4

c15.s1.4

But the teasures of Dhānyakaṭaka still remained unexhausted. In 1830 Mr. Robertson removed some thirty-three Amaravati sculptures which eventually reached Madras and from there were sent to London in 1855. In 1876 Sewell had some hap-hazard digging done by ignorant workmen exposing a good number of sculptures. In 1879-80 the Duke of Buckingham, Governor of Madras, ordered a full clearance of the site leading to the complete destruction of the Stūpa. In 1881 Burgess came on the scene and found some 300 sculptured specimens and fragments to which he added 90 more pieces by his own excavations. The bulk (361 pieces) of these found their way to the Madras Museum in three lots, 170 pieces in 1883, 11 in 1891, and 128 and 52 in 1891. In 1905-06 and 1908-09 excavations Alexander Rea recovered additional valuable sculptures which came to be deposited in the Madras Museum.