Torana architrave with elephant makara, Phanigiri, Suryapet district, Telangana, Ikshvaku, 3rd–4th century CE. Limestone. Collection: Department of Heritage, Telangana.

Torana architrave with lion makara, Phanigiri, Suryapet district, Telangana, Ikshvaku, 3rd–4th century CE. Limestone. Collection: Department of Heritage, Telangana.

The discovery in 2002–3 of these crossbars, from a monumental gateway at the Buddhist monastery of Phanigiri, transforms our understanding of monastic architecture in the early Andhra territories. Gateway architecture was previously known only from the makara, lion, and rider terminal shown nearby, and from depictions in stupa sculptural reliefs. The three largest architrave sections found at Phanigiri to date, along with several smaller fragments, are decorated with episodes from the life of the Buddha. The lower architrave features the birth of Buddha in the sala tree grove at Lumbini; the narrative culminates above with the depiction of the Buddha’s first sermon in the deer forest at Sarnath. Other scenes include Prince Siddhartha first witnessing sickness, old age, and death outside the palace, and the youth resolving to abandon his princely life. Scenes of monks venerating relics and the Dharma-wheel reflect the realities of everyday monastic life.

Buddha, Nelakondapalli, Khammam district, Telangana Ikshvaku, 3rd century CE. Limestone. Collection: State Museum Hyderabad.

This monumental standing Buddha, composed of limestone quarried near the major monastic site of Nelakondapalli, is among the largest and most complete recovered to date in the ancient territories of Andhra. The figure displays the four auspicious marks (laksanas) of Buddhahood: the spiral of hair on the forehead (urna), tight clockwise spirals of hair all over his head (all that remained after renouncing his royal status and cutting his hair), swelling of the cranium (usnisa), and distended earlobes, a legacy of the heavy jewelry he wore as prince. A fifth feature, the treatment of the eyes, is not described in Buddhist texts. However, observe how the pupils appear to roll back into the skull, indicating the Buddha is in a deep meditative state.

Buddha footprints (buddhapada), Phanigiri, Suryapet district, Telangana, Ikshvaku, late 3rd–4th century CELimestone. Inscribed: Success! (This) pair of feet as pious gift of Bodhika, grandson of the venerable (. . .). Collection: State Museum, Hyderabad.

A symbol of the Buddha’s presence, a stone slab depicting his footprints (buddhapada) was a regular feature of Buddhist monastic architecture in southern India. In a religious setting, reverence for the footprint alludes to a profound respect for higher knowledgewisdom, witnessed by devotees prostrating themselves before the feet of a spiritual mentor. This buddhapada was excavated from a semicircular (apsidal) shrine at the Phanigiri monastery. It carries a one-line inscription that honors the donor’s gift and asserts his lineage. The footprints display numerous auspicious marks of a Great Man (mahapurusa), most prominently the Dharma-wheel on the soles of the feet.

Stupa drum slab honoring the Buddha as a flaming pillar, Amaravati Great Stupa, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, Ikshvaku, 3rd century CE. Limestone. Collection: Archaeological Museum ASI, Amaravati, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.

The flaming pillar rising from an empty throne to denote the presence of the Buddha is a unique contribution of early southern Buddhism. It is probable that the motif conflates Buddhist imagery (the empty throne) with pre-Buddhist sacrificial posts (yupas) and Vedic fire (agnipuja) worship. While no known texts directly explain this imagery in a Buddhist setting, the concept combines two metaphors of divinity: the sacrificial post that the Buddha caused to appear, adorned with jewels and made entirely of gold, and its flame-emitting quality that, like the Buddha’s body, radiates brilliance. The sutras tell us that the Buddha was “upright like a golden sacrificial post; he radiated splendor.”

Poseidon (after Lysippos). Handle of a jug (situla). Emblema depicting Perseus and Andromeda, Roman, 1st century CE. Copper alloy. Collection: Town Hall Museum, Kolhapur.

A hoard of thirty-seven bronze and copper objects was excavated in 1945 at Brahmapuri, in Kolhapur, western India. The cosmopolitan mix of indigenous Indian objects and Roman imports suggests a merchant’s inventory of goods destined for sale in the Satavahana territories of the Deccan. The bronze Poseidon (seen lower right) is one of many miniature copies after the lost original by the Greek sculptor Lysippos, images of which were issued on coins as early as 290 bce. The group of locally produced miniature bronzes, including the toy cart and elephant with riders, points to an indigenous market for luxury novelties in metal. Other items in the hoard, including the spouted vessel, ring fitting, and set of auspicious symbols, suggest ritual use.

Relics from the Piprahwa stupa, Piprahwa Great Stupa, Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, Maurya, ca. 240–200 BCE. Gold, semiprecious stones, rock crystal, pearls, and shell. Private collection.

Before his death, the Buddha instructed his followers to collect and enshrine his cremation remains in stupas, “like those of kings,” beginning the cult of relic worship in Buddhism. The relics gathered from the ash, described as “like jasmine buds, washed pearls, and [particles of] gold,” are understood to be magically formed out of the fire. In 1898 the precious objects seen here were excavated from the largest reliquary deposit ever recorded, by the English estate manager and engineer William Claxton Peppé (1852– 1936). An inscription on one of the reliquaries named the corporeal remains as those of the Buddha himself—the first such discovery in India. The bone relics were presented in 1899 to King Rama V of Thailand, then the only surviving Buddhist monarch. The bulk of the offerings were sent to the Indian Museum in Kolkata, where they remain today. The colonial government allowed Peppé to retain 331 “duplicate items,” which remain with his descendants and are shown here.