Buddhist Art of Nagarjunakonda

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International fame Nagarjunakopda, the ancient Vijayapuri, in the Palnad taluk of the Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, is an isolated valley, now engulfed with the mighty waters of the Nagarjuna Sagardam. It was once the spectacular capital seat of the Ikshva Ku dynasty of the 3rd-4th centuries A.D. spurting the aroma and hues of life that thrived. Nagarjunakonda is the veritable treasure house of the Buddhist sculptures in which the excellence of artistic standards seeking a finite expression of ineffable grace and towering majesty in exquisite blend is echoed. Its reliefs in all their magnificent architectural and artistic ethos and grandeur are characterised by the same stylistic beauty, idiom and technical precision that marks those of the consumate Amaravati sculptures. Nagarjunakonda Buddhist art, infact represents the culmination of an aesthetic experience and technical execution of more than 300 years of devotion to the sculptural art in the Andhra Pradesh. Indeed the Nagarjunakooda art is a glyplic resplendent expression of National significance. The Nagarjunakonda sculptors whatever they carved, either Buddhist philosophy or religion carved them truely, to the exactitude of the details drawn from the leaves of the Buddhist literature such as Lalitavistara, Buddhacarita, Divyavadana, Jatakas etc. This beautifully and profusely illustrated magnificent document projects to the scholars and connoisseurs of art and architecture an indepth authentic account of the diverse subjects of the Buddhistic thought impeccably delineated in the Nagarjunakonda sculptures. The immaculate scholarship of Dr. Rama is radiated in the pulsating chapter on the significant life events of Buddha. The dexterous treatment of the symbolism of the Buddhist art and her assiduous and critical analysis of the origin of the Buddha image, and minor deities usually associated with Buddhism stand out brilliantly Dr. Rama’s efficacious exposition of the philosophical and theological doctrines transmuted in the Nagarjunakonda sculptures is simply superb. The popular Jatakas the veritable stone-pages of Nagarjunakonda get splendid attention. This cogently and lucidly written book is a fine expression of aesthetic sensibility and bound to remain a standard work on the Buddhist sculptural art, philosophy and religion for a long time to come. No student of art and Buddhism can afford to miss this great master-piece of the recent times.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR K Rama

Dr. (Mrs.) Rama was born on 17-5-1961, at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. She had a brilliant career throughout. She had her schooling at Nagpur and Delhi. She took her B.A. degree in first class and stood College first in 1982. She did her B.A. from Arts and Science college for women, Hyderabad. She was a recipient of the award of Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh memorial prize for attaining highest marks in B.A. She obtained her M.A. degree in first class in 1984 from Osmania University, Hyderabad. She was awarded Ph.D. degree by the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi for her outstanding thesis â€˜Buddhist Art of Nagarjuna Konda in 1992. The thesis has the approbation of the examiners for its high academic value. Her thesis was published in 1995. Her zeal for research, keeps her busy in pursuing the Buddhist studies as a part of her Post doctoral work. From the very beginning Dr. Rama has been inspired by her father Prof. Dr. K. Krishna Murthy,. An eminent scholar of Buddhism and a distinguished Archaeologist, for the researches in the Indological studies. Presently, she is residing at Guwahati where her husband Shri N. Sivaram, Deputy Director of Inland Water Ways Authority of India works.