ANDHRA SCULPTURE                  Dr.Sanjiva Dev
  
   

The satavahanas constructed stupas and chaityas at amaravati.under the reign of gowtamiputra sri satakarni, vasishtiputra sri pulamavi and yagna sri satakarni, amaravati scluprit that was Buddhist, flourished abundantly. The celebrated founder of madhyamika philosophy in Mahayana. Acharya nagarjuna is believed to have lived in the reign of the last satavahana kings. Satavahanas reign was not confined to Andhra alone; it extended to religions outside Andhra.

A symbol is more potential than an image. In an image we behold the familiar form whereas in a symbol no familiar form is noticeable. An image is an end in itself while a symbol leads us to something other than itself and yet which it represents. That is why the primitive art as well as the modern art are rather symbolic. Indirect expression is more aesthetically felt than the direction expression.

The Hinayana sculptor in amaravati had adopted the symbolic method for sculpting the life of Buddha in stone. They were wise enough to choose four principal events from the life of Buddha they took every care not to sculpt the image of Buddha. On the column of a chaitanya they sculpted, in a symbolic way,the birth of Buddha,the enlightenment,the first sermon and the maha-parinirvana or the death of Buddha.

They suggested the birth of Buddha in the form of a lotus creeper emerging out of a vessel.The enlightenment was depicted placing the forms of a throne and the footprints under a tree. The first sermon was symbolized by creating a wheel over a pillar, for the first sermon was called ‘dharma chakra pavattana’ or the revolution of the wheel of righteousness.While

 

departing for benaras for delivering his first sermon, Buddha uttered “dharma chakra pavattetum gacchami kansinam puram”, which implies “I am going to benaras for revolving the wheel of righteousness”.Eventually,the fourth and the last event in the life of Buddha’s death was suggested by sculpting the form of a stupa by which were seated the adorers. A stupa is a symbol of death and that was why the form of stupa was depicted for suggesting the death of Buddha. Thus the Hinayana sculptors were able to create in stone, the life of Buddha without showing the image of Buddha. The Andhra satavahana artists executed even some of the exquisite sculptures of the gateways of sanchi.

The Mahayana sect of Buddhism,which emanated in the second century A.D. commenced producing the image of Buddha in sculpture,for there was no ban on worshipping the image of Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism. Lord Buddha had objected to worship either his person or his image during his life-
time. The Hinayanists continued the tradition of non-worship of the image of Buddha for centuries and that was why the hiragana sculptors did not venture to sculpt the image of Buddha. But with the advent of Mahayana the worship of the Buddha image came into existence, and hence the Mahayana sculptors began to create images of Buddha to their self-contentment. The first images of Buddha were produced in gandhara and mathura.later the Andhra artists of avadavattoo followed the northern artists in producing the Buddha images.

The amaravati relief sculpture is indeed exquisite poems in stone. A relieve depicting the worship of Buddha by a woman is one of the masterpieces of

 
amaravati sculpture. The rhythmic curves of form, the charm revealed in the posture, the cadence of the vibrations of life in the figures is ench-anting indeed!There is another sculpture, depicting a toilet scene, which is both at amaravati and nagarjuna-konda.This piece too is a masterpiece. The figures carved in the later period of amaravati sculpture are different from those done in the early period. The figures of the later period are subtler than the early ones; these are more advanced in treatment, style and technique. Some novel types of ornaments are to be found in those later ones. Among these ornaments there is a long yagnopaveeta stringed in pearls. It was the first time that the pearl-stringed sacred thread was introduced in the sculpture of that period.The same type is to be found in ghantasala,nagarjunakonda, gumma-didurru and goli.The special characteristics of Buddhist sculpture have been the depiction of secular subjects apart from the religious ones. In these sculptures are seen the forms of humans, animals, birds, trees, etc., instead of those of gods and goddesses. The Buddhist artists sought delight in giving form, in stone, to common scenes of every day life. They never belittled the common aspects of the daily life of man. Love and hatred separation and union,amity, song and dance, sorrow and suffering, sport and toilet, birth and death etc. did not escape the aesthetic vision as well as the artistic creation of the Buddhist of those times. The stupa built by the satavahanas in amaravati gradually grew and came into prominence in the reign of vasis-htiputra pulamavi.The history of the Buddhist sculpture under the satav-ahanas can be divided in to two one belonged to B.C, and other to A.D. there is some difference between these two sculptural styles of these two periods.
 
 
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