A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11.20

c11.20

Buddhism was well established by the third century B.C. and continued to flourish throughout the Sātavāhana period; indeed, the first two centuries of the Christian era constitute the most glorious epoch of Buddhism in the Deccan. The stupa of Amarāvatī was enlarged and embellished, and at Allūru, Gummadiduru, Ghantaśāla, Gudivāda and Goli new stupas were built or old ones enlarged. New caves were cut and additional benefactions made at Nasik, Karle, and Kanheri. In the inscriptions of the time appear the names of a number of sects as well as of monks of various grades of learning and eminence engaged in enlightening the faithful in the Law of the Master. Stupas, the sacred tree, the footprints of the Master, the triśūla emblem, the dharmachakra, relics and statues of the Buddha and other great teachers and of the Nāgarājas were all objects of worship. The sculptures of this time show men and women in states of ecstatic devotion rather than merely kneeling or perhaps prostrating themselves with joined hands before the objects of their devotion.