Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c33.s3.14

v2.c33.s3.14

On the basis of the style of sculptures and the palæographic data, Burgess, agreeing with Fergusson, holds that the construction of the Amarāvatī Stūpa was commenced in the 2nd century B.C., and enlarged later and decorated with new sculptures, the latest of which was the great railing erected a little before 200 A.D.¹ It was some time after the completion of this Amarāvatī stūpa, that the stūpas at Jaggayapeta and Nāgārjunikoṇḍa came into existence, their dates being, according to Burgess and Vogel respectively, the 3rd or 4th century A.D.² This estimate of date is based on palæographic evidences and the mention of the king called Māḍharīputa Siri Virapurisadata (= Māṭharīputra Śrī Vīrapuruṣadatta) of the Ikṣvāku dynasty.³ The inscriptions on the āyaka-pillars at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa contain not only the name of this king, but also that of his father Vāseṭhīputa Siri Cāṃtamūla and his son and successor Vāseṭhīputa Siri Ehuvuḷa Cāṃtamūla.¹ It appears from the inscriptions that the principal donor of the subsidiary structures of the stūpa was Cāṃtasiri, the sister of the king Siri Cāṃtamūla, and the paternal aunt (pituchā), later on, probably mother-in-law, of the king Siri Virapurisadata.² Hence, the time of the inscriptions, mentioning the names of the kings Cāṃtasiri and Vīrapurisadata, is the 3rd or the 4th century A.D. It should be remembered that the period mentioned here relates to the subsidiary structures of the main stūpa, and not to the stūpa itself—the Mahācetiya, which must be assigned to an earlier period.