Preface
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the study of Indian archaeology, history, epigraphy and numismatics has progressed so far that the old works are out of date, and the subject is ripe for fresh treatment.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.
About The Book
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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