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Nagarjunakonda (ISO: Nāgārjunikoṇḍā, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of India's richest Buddhist sites, and now lies almost entirely under the lake created by the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. With the construction of the dam, the archaeological relics at Nagarjunakonda were submerged, and had to be excavated and transferred to higher land, which has become an island.
The site was once the location of a large Buddhist monastic university complex, attracting students from as far as China, Gandhara, Bengal and Sri Lanka. There are ruins of several Mahayana Buddhist and Hinduism shrines. It is 160 km west of another important historic site, the Amaravati Stupa. The sculptures found at Nagarjunakonda are now mostly removed to various museums in India and abroad. They represent the second most important group in the distinctive "Amaravati style", sometimes called "Later Andhra".Rowland, pp. 209-214 There is also a palace area, with secular reliefs, that are very rare from such an early date, and show Roman influence.Rowland, 212
The modern name is after Nagarjuna, a southern Indian master of Mahayana Buddhism who lived in the 2nd century, who was once believed, probably wrongly, to have been responsible for the development of the site. The original name, used when the site was most active, was "Vijayapuri".
This Nāgārjunakoṇḍa (sometimes Nāgārjun ikoṇḍa) site in Andhra Pradesh is not to be confused with the Nāgārjuna (or Nāgārjuni) caves near the Barabar Caves in Bihar.
The site rose to prominence after the decline of the Satavahanas, in the first quarter of the 3rd century, when the Andhra Ikshvaku king Vashishthiputra Chamamula established his capital Vijayapuri here. The coins and inscriptions discovered at Nagarjunakonda name four kings of the Ikshavaku dynasty: Vashishthi-putra Chamtamula, Mathari-putra Vira-purusha-datta, Vashishthi-putra Ehuvala Chamtamula, and Vashishthi-putra Rudra-purusha-datta. An inscription dated to the 30th regnal year of the Abhira dynasty king Vashishthi-putra Vasusena has also been discovered at the ruined Ashtab-huja-svamin temple. This has led to speculation that the Abhiras, who ruled the region around Nashik, invaded and occupied the Ikshavaku kingdom. However, this cannot be said with certainty.
The Ikshavaku kings constructed several temples dedicated to the deities such as Sarva-deva, Pushpabhadra, Karttikeya, and Shiva. Their queens, as well as Buddhist upasikas such as Bodhishri and Chandrashri, constructed several Buddhist monuments at the site. It is believed that Sadvaha authorised the first monastic construction at Nagarjunakonda. During the early centuries, the site housed more than 30 Buddhist ; excavations have yielded art works and inscriptions of great significance for the scholarly study of the history of this early period.
The last extant Ikshavaku inscription is dated to the 11th year (c. 309 CE) of Rudra-purusha: the subsequent fate of the dynasty is not known, but it is possible that the Pallavas conquered their territory by the 4th century. The site declined after the fall of the Ikshavaku power. Some brick shrines were constructed in the Krishna River valley between 7th and 12th centuries, when the region was controlled by the Chalukyas of Vengi. Later, the site formed the part of the Kakatiya kingdom and the Delhi Sultanate. During the 15th and the 16th centuries, Nagarjunakonda once again became an important site. The contemporary texts and inscriptions allude to a hill fortress at Nagarjunakonda, which was probably built by the Reddy dynasty as a frontier fortress protecting their main fort of Kondaveedu Fort. It later appears to have come under the control of the Gajapati Kingdom: a 1491 CE inscription dated to the reign of the Gajapati king Purushottama indicates that the Nagarjunakonda fortress was controlled by his subordinate Sriratharaja Shingarayya Mahapatra. In 1515, the Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya stormed the fortress during his invasion of the Gajapati kingdom.
The region was later ruled by the Qutb Shahi dynasty and the Mughal Empire. It was subsequently granted as an agrahara to the pontiff of the Pushpagiri Math.
The first discoveries were made in 1926 by French archaeologist Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (1885–1945). Systematic digging was organized by English archaeologists under A. H. Longhurst during 1927–1931. The team excavated the ruins of several Buddhist stupas and chaityas, as well as other monuments and sculptures. The Buddhist Antiquities of Nagarjunakonda, Madras Presidency by A. H. Longhurst. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 72, Issue 2–3 June 1940, pp. 226–227 [1]
In 1938, T N Ramachandran led another excavation at the site, resulting in the discovery of some more monuments. In 1954, when the construction of the proposed Nagarjuna Sagar Dam threatened the site with submergence, a large-scale excavation led by R Subrahmanyam was started to salvage the archaeological material. The excavation, conducted during 1954-1960, resulted in the discovery of a number of relics, dating from the Early Stone Age to the 16th century. Later, around 14 large replicas of the excavated ruins and a museum were established on the Nagarjunakonda hill. Some of the sculptures excavated at Nagarjunakonda are now at other museums in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Paris and New York.
An archaeological catastrophe struck in 1960, when an irrigation dam was constructed across the nearby Krishna River, submerging the original site under the waters of a reservoir. In advance of the flooding, several monuments were dug up and relocated to the top of Nagarjuna's Hill, where a museum was built in 1966 Other monuments were relocated to the mainland, east of the flooded area. Dedicated archaeologists managed to recover almost all of the relics.
The great stupa at Nagarjunakonda belongs to the class of uncased stupas, its brickwork being plastered over and the stupa decorated by a large garland-ornament. The original stupa was renovated by the Ikshvaku princess Chamtisiri in the 3rd century, when ayaka-pillars of stone were erected. The outer railing, if any, was of wood, its uprights erected over a brick plinth. The stupa, 32.3 m in diameter, rose to a height of 18 m with a 4 m wide circumambulatory. The medhi stood 1.5 m and the ayaka-platforms were rectangular offsets measuring 6.7 by 1.5 m. Visit Lord Budha – Nagarjunakonda
The style of the recovered is "all but indistinguishable" from those of the final phase of the Amaravati Stupa not very far away, from the second quarter of the third century, slightly earlier than Nagarjunakonda. Though "lively and interesting", they show "a great decline since the mature phase at Amaravarti", with less complex groupings, various mannerisms in the figures, and a flatness to the surfaces.Harle, 38
also appear, with reliefs of Scythian soldiers wearing caps and coats."In Nagarjunakonda Scythian influence is noticed and the cap and coat of a soldier on a pillar may be cited as an example.", in "A Scythian dvarapala standing wearing his typical draperies, boots and head dress. Distinct ethnic and sartorial characteristics are noteworthy.", in According to an inscription in Nagarjunakonda, a garrison of Scythian guards employed by the Andhra Ikshvaku Kings may also have been stationed there."The Iksvakus Kings employed Scythian soldiers as their palace guards, and also an inscription hints that a colony of Scythians existed at Nagarjunakonda.", in
The inscriptions are either in Prakrit, in Sanskrit, or a mix of both, and are all in the Brahmi script. The Nagarjunakonda inscriptions are the earliest substantial South Indian Sanskrit inscriptions, probably from the late 3rd-century to early 4th-century CE. These inscriptions are related to Buddhism and to the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism, and parts of them reflect both standard Sanskrit and hybridized Sanskrit.
The spread of the usage of Sanskrit inscriptions to the south can probably be attributed to the influence of the Western Satraps who promoted the usage of Sanskrit in epigraphy, and who were in close relation with southern Indian rulers: according to Salomon "a Nagarjunakonda memorial pillar inscription of the time of King Rudrapurusadatta attests to a marital alliance between the Western Ksatrapas and the Andhra Ikshvaku rulers of Nagarjunakonda". According to one of the inscriptions, Iksvaku king Virapurushadatta (250-275 CE) had multiple wives, including Rudradhara-bhattarika, the daughter of the ruler of Ujjain ( Uj(e)nika mahara(ja) balika), possibly the Indo-Scythian Western Kshatrapa king Rudrasena II."Another queen of Virapurusha was Rudradhara-bhattarika. According to D.C. Sircar she might have been related to Rudrasena II (c. a.d. 254-74) the Saka ruler of Western India" in
Faxian, in his travelogue A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms, mentions a five storey monastery on top of the hill, dedicated to Kassapa Buddha. He describes each storey as being in the shape of a different animal, with the uppermost being in the shape of a pigeon. Fa-Hien refers to the monastery as Po-lo-yue; which has been interpreted to mean Pārāvata, meaning "pigeon" (hence the name "Pigeon Monastery"), or Parvata, meaning "hill" in Sanskrit (although the latter is considered to be the correct name).
When Hiuen-Tsang travelled to Andhradesa c. 640 CE, he also visited this place. He has referred to Parvata as Po-lo-mo-lo-ki-li or "Mountain of the Black Bee" in his book Great Tang Records on the Western Regions; as it was then known as Bhramaragiri ( bhramara means "bee", giri means "hill" or "mountain" in Sanskrit), because it had a shrine of Bhramari (a form of goddess Durga). However, many scholars believe that Po-lo-mo-lo-ki-li was actually Parimalagiri alias Gandhagiri (Gandhamardan hills) in Odisha.
Etymology
The modern name of the site originates from its presumptive association with the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna ( konda is the Telugu language word for "hill"). However, the archaeological finds at the site do not prove that it was associated with Nagarjuna. The 3rd–4th-century inscriptions discovered there make it clear that it was known as "Vijayapuri" in the ancient period: the name "Nagarjunakonda" dates from the medieval period. The Andhra Ikshavaku inscriptions invariably associate their capital Vijayapuri with the Sriparvata hill, mentioning it as Siriparvate Vijayapure.
Nagarjunasagar Dam
The Nagarjunasagar Dam is the tallest masonry dam in the world, constructed between 1955 and 1967. The excavated remains of the Buddhist civilisation were reconstructed and preserved at a museum on the island situated in the midst of the man-made Nagarjunasagar Lake The site has a 14th-century fort, medieval temples and a museum constructed like a Buddhist vihara. The museum houses a collection of relics of Buddhist culture and art These include a small tooth and an ear-ring believed to be that of Gautama Buddha. The main stupa of Nagarjunakonda named Mahachaitya is believed to contain the sacred relics of the Buddha. A partly ruined monolithic statue of the Buddha is the main attraction at the museum. It also houses historic finds in the form of tools from Paleolithic and Neolithic times, as well as friezes, coins and jewellery.
Tourism
Located in the Guntur district, Nagarjunakonda Island is not directly accessible on the State Highway.
The nearest train station is at Macherla, 29 km away.
The island is mainly connected by a ferry to the mainland.
The area is also known for panoramic views of the valley from a viewing area near the dam, and is also the site of the Ethipothala Falls, a natural waterfall that cascades down 22 m into a blue lagoon that is also a breeding centre for .
The nearby Srisailam wildlife sanctuary and the Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve are refuge for diverse reptiles, birds and animals.
Srisailam, which sits on the shore of Krishna in the Nallamala Hills is a site of immense historical and religious significance, including a Shiva temple that is one of the 12 sacred .
Bibliography
External links
Categories: Archaeological Sites In Andhra Pradesh, Buddhist Pilgrimage Sites In India, Buddhist Sites In Andhra Pradesh, Buddhist Universities And Colleges, Buildings And Structures In Guntur District, Stupas In India, Tourist Attractions In Guntur District, Underwater Ruins, Buddhist Archaeological Sites, Buddhist Sites In India, Ancient Indian Cities, Hindu Holy Cities, Former Capital Cities In India
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