Nagarjunakonda

Nagarjuna Konda
Ruins of the site
Ruins of the site
LocationMacherla mandal, Palnadu district, Andhra Pradesh, India
Coordinates16°31′18.82″N 79°14′34.26″E / 16.5218944°N 79.2428500°E / 16.5218944; 79.2428500
Governing bodyArchaeological Survey of India
Nagarjunakonda is located in India
Nagarjunakonda
Location of Nagarjuna Konda in India
Drum panel depicting a stupa with the Buddha's descent from Trāyastriṃśa heaven, second half 3rd century.[1]

Nagarjunakonda: Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.[2][3] 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.[citation needed] There are ruins of several Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu shrines.[4] 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".[5] There is also a palace area, with secular reliefs, that are very rare from such an early date, and show Roman influence.[6]

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 Nāgārjunikoṇḍa) site in Andhra Pradesh is not to be confused with the Nāgārjuna (or Nāgārjuni) caves near the Barabar Caves in Bihar.

  1. ^ [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38238 MET museum page
  2. ^ Longhurst, A. H. (October 1932). "The Great Stupa at Nagarjunakonda in Southern India". The Indian Antiquary. ntu.edu.tw. pp. 186–192. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  3. ^ Syamsundar, V. L. (13 February 2017). "Palnadu aspires for separate district status". www.thehansindia.com. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. ^ T. Richard Blurton (1993). Hindu Art. Harvard University Press. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-674-39189-5.
  5. ^ Rowland, pp. 209-214
  6. ^ Rowland, 212