| Specifications |
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Publisher: Shubhi Publications, Gurgaon |
| Author Douglas Barrett | |
| Language: English | |
| Pages: 122 | |
| Cover: HARDCOVER | |
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9.5x6.5 Inch |
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Weight 390 gm |
| Edition: 2024 | |
| ISBN: 9788182905474 | |
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HBQ772 |
| Delivery and Return Policies |
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Usually ships in 5 days |
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Returns and Exchanges accepted within 7 days |
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Free Delivery |
THE
sculptures which are the subject of this monograph rank with the Elgin marbles
and the Assyrian reliefs among the great possessions of the Museum: they form
the only major series of early Indian sculpture outside India, yet they have
never been the subject of an official publication. There are reasons for this:
the first that when they became the property of the Trustees in 1880 they had
recently been accorded a full treatment by one of the leading authorities of
the day, James Fergusson, in Tree and Serpent Worship (1st ed. 1868, 2nd ed.
1873). Moreover, in 1887 Dr Burgess, who had been investigating the site, wrote
another substantial account for the Archaeo-logical Survey of India, in which
the Stupa and its decoration, by then better repre-sented in the Madras Museum,
were reconsidered. In these two books practically every piece in the Museum
collection was adequately reproduced; they could be cited from them
conveniently, as they have been in every book on Indian art that has since
appeared. Moreover, the dignified and conspicuous position assigned to the
sculptures on the Main Staircase of the Museum, where they were attached to the
wall behind an immense glass-fronted box, prevented the taking of improved
photographs or the handling of the sculptures. In this century the study of
Indian archaeology, history, epigraphy and numismatics has progressed so far
that the old works are out of date, and the subject is ripe for fresh
treatment. The Amaravati sculptures now preserved in the Madras Museum were studied
afresh in a full scale catalogue by Dr C. Sivaramamurti, in a volume published
in 1942. In it the author has treated at length the subject matter of these
sculptures, both the iconography and the incidental features, dress, weapons,
jewellery and musical instruments, and has in general noted and analysed all
the evidence they contain for life in the Andhradeśa
under the Sätavähanas. In this part of his volume he naturally refers to the
British Museum sculptures, and it has not been judged useful to study this
material again from that point of view. On the other hand, there is still
considerable difference of opinion on the form of the Stupa, and the chronology
of its decoration, and consequently on the stylistic development to be seen in
the sculptures; in which is also involved their relation with other monuments.
These questions have consequently been treated in full, and Mr Barrett has been
at pains to put forward clearly all the facts bearing on the history of the
monument, which can be derived from the sculptures themselves or from the
records of the exploration of the site, from the time of its rediscovery by
Colonel Colm Mackenzie in 1797. In connection with these studies he paid a
special visit to India in the cold weather of 1951-2, during which he visited
the site of the Stūpa, and studied all the sculpture
in Amaravati style in India, as well as all the Sätavāhana
sites m the North-West Deccan. He wishes to express his thanks to the many
scholars with whom he has discussed the problems of this chronology; especially
Dr N. P. Chakravarti, O.B.E., Dr S. Paranavitana, C.B.E., Dr L. D. Barnett,
C.B., Dr J. Allan, C.B., Dr A. L. Basham and Colonel D. H. Gordon, D.S.O. His
chief debt is to Dr C. Sivaramamurti and Dr F. H. Gravely, late Superintendent
of the Government Museum, Madras, who have given him every possible assistance,
while studying the sculptures and preparing this publication. The conclusions
which the author has reached on the history of the Satavähanas and the
chronology of the sculptures may be modified by future dis-coveries through
excavation or numismatic research; but the account of the monu-ment and the
sculpture now in the Museum is securely documented and will stand. It is
regrettable that there is so little in Buddhist literature to throw light on
the special features of cult represented by them, but it is hardly possible
that this gap will ever be filled. The inscriptions on the sculptures have been
recorded in the catalogue with references to their publication; but they have
not been studied anew because Dr N.P. Chakravarti has lately completed a fresh
edition of this material which will be pub-lished shortly. Mr Barrett is confident
that no revision of his chronology will be called for by the amendments there
proposed. The illustrations have been made from fresh photographs especially
taken for the Trustees for the purpose by Mr J. Skeel. The map has been drawn
for the book by Mr C. O. Waterhouse, the plan of the site by Mr Michael
Ricketts.
The
Amaravati Collection, sometimes called the Amaravati Marbles, is a series of
120 sculptures and inscriptions in the British Museum from the Amaravati Stupa
in Amaravathu, Guntur in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The Amaravati
artefacts entered the Museum's collection in the 1880s. The Amaravati
sculptures were sometimes also called the Elliot Marbles on account of their
association with Sir Walter Elliot, who had them removed from the site to
Madras in the 1840s. There are also large collections of Amaravati sculptures
in the Chennai Government Museum, which has the best collection, and at the
site museum at Amaravati, and smaller ones in other museums in India and around
the world.
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