Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c15.27

c15.27

As already stated this monument to the Buddhist faith has now completely disappeared from the site it occupied, while the surviving marble bas-reliefs have been transferred to the sculpture galleries of Madras and Calcutta, and also to adorn the main staircase of the British Museum, London.² But in its day there can have been few structures in southern India more inspiring or impressive. When it is understood that the whole of its marble surfaces were carved in relief with a fineness approaching that of ivory, some idea of the richness and pulsating effect of the conception as a whole may be realized. In the design and treatment particularly of the figure compositions depicting incidents in the life of the Buddha, there is expressed a verve and abandon which is inimitable. Each scene mirrors some touching manifestation of emotion, while the exquisite subtlety of the modelling is reminiscent of that on an Athenian stele. So vividly poignant are many of the groups they seem to imply that the sculptor was communicating some of his own soul into the people he portrayed as if his chisel and mallet were not mere tools but for the time being formed part of himself. If its architectural appearance was in any degree equal to its plastic embellishment then the Amaravati stupa was indeed a superb achievement.