Jatakas in South Indian Art Early Buddhist monastic establishments of South India between 2nd century B.C., and 5th century A.D. were embellished with sculptural paneis depicting the life events of the Buddha and his former births. These visual narratives were created with a view to educate the pilgrims, patrons and also general public about the morals and ethics contained in them. Though the sculptural panels depicted with Jatakas recovered from various sites were published in different journals and excavation reports, some of them were left untouched and unidentified perhaps due to lack of interest and research on this particular aspect. The book entitled ‘Jatakas in South Indian Art’ is first of its kind in which the author has made a sincere attempt to corroborate the panels with original textual sources and identified the Jatakas untouched by the earlier scholars. Fresh discoveries are also incorporated. An attempt is also made to compare the Jatakas of South India with those found in the North Indian sites in order to obtain a clear picture regarding the distribution and their diffusion to distant lands. Attention is also drawn to the ethics and morals from the Jatakas. The book critically examines already published data in addition to the fresh discoveries reported from South Indian sites. The publication is thoroughly supported by good illustrations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR B. Subrahmanyam
Born on 27.08.1950 at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Dr. B. Subrahmanyam had pursued his post-graduation in ancient Indian History and Archaeology in the P.G. Centre at Guntur and took his M.A. degree in 1974 from Andhra University, Waltair. He joined in State Archaeological department as Technical Assistant in 1975. Since then, he actively participated in explorations, major excavations and transplantation of temples. He took his Ph.D. degree from Mysore University, Mysore in 1986. He also obtained P.G. Diploma in Public Relations from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad in 1993. at present he is working as Research & Training Officer in the State department of Archaeology & Museums, Hyderabad. He contributed a good number of research papers to various reputed journals and also to Indian History Congress, A.P. History Congress etc. He discovered a good number of new Buddhist settlements in North-Coastal Andhra Pradesh and conducted excavations at famous Buddhist sites, namely, Dantapura, Thotlakonda, Bavikonda, Dharapalem, Gopalapatma,. Amalapuram, Pavurallakonda, Majeru etc., and brought to light fresh information hitherto unknown. Apart from his participation in numerous seminars, he has to his credit published works, namely, Thotlakonda: A Buddhist Site in A.P. (1992), directory of Monuments: Antiquarian remains in Ananthapur district; A.P. Vol. I (1993), Pre, Proto and Early Historic Cultures of Krishna-Tungabhadra valley (1997), Andhra desamulo Buddha dhatu peteekalu (Telugu, 1997) etc. For his outstanding discovery of Buddhist relic caskets from Mahachaitya at Bavikonda (a Buddhist site in Visakhapatnam, A.P.) he has been awarded incentives in 1994 besides, personal appreciations by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
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