A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.35

c21.35

The technical skill and artistic excellence of the Andhra craftsman are best seen in the structural monuments, particularly the stūpas distributed over an area of 75 miles all round Ellore. The most notable of them were at Goli, Jaggeyapeta, Bhaṭṭiprōlu, Ghaṇṭśāla, Amarāvati and Nāgārjunikonda. As examples of Buddhist architecture and sculpture they had few equals at the beginning of the Christian era. Most of them had an exterior encasement of white marble, richly carved in low relief, and this gave them an imposing appearance. In the early examples, as at Bhaṭṭiprōlu, the stūpa was built solid, but later strength and economy of material were secured by means of cross-walls and other walls radiating towards the circumference like the spokes of a wheel’. The bricks themselves were of enormous size, 24" × 18" × 4". At first, the stūpa was a low hemispherical mound, as at Sānchi, but in later examples the dome is raised by being set on a lofty plinth. The marble casing was never applied over the whole surface of the brick core, but only to its lower portion, the remainder being plastered and painted white. At the four cardinal points there were rectangular projections from the plinth which accommodated steps leading to the procession-path above the plinth. Above each of these projections stood five slender pillars which may have symbolized the five Dhyānibuddhas and were called āryaka kambhas (‘worshipful columns’). ‘As an ornamental attribution to the domical shape of the stūpa, this projection with its graceful pillars was an admirable device and gives an artistic distinction to the southern type.’