An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s8.10

v1.c17.s8.10

The nucleus of the greatly denuded Mahā-caitya at AMARAVATI was most probably as old as the 3rd century B.C., though it underwent additions and embellishments till the 2nd-3rd century A.D. While digging the *stūpa* for securing building materials, the local zemindar found a stone box containing a crystal casket, inside which were a small pearl and some small leaves of gold (Rea, 1894). The excavation conducted at the *stūpa* in 1958-9 yielded five crystal caskets in the slots of two stones within the core of the southern *āyaka* (*c*. 2nd century A.D.) of the *stūpa*. Four of these caskets are *stūpa*-shaped, while the fifth is somewhat cylindrical. The caskets yielded bones, beads, pearls, semiprecious stones and gold flowers. Within the precincts of the *stūpa* was found a gold casket with six gold flowers and a piece of bone inside an earthen vessel.