Jogulamba Gadwal: Two Buddha sculptures found at Alampur

Jogulamba Gadwal: Two Buddha sculptures were found carved on the ceilings of the maha mandapas of Suryanarayana and Papanaseswara temples in Alampur. The discovery is significant as the temple town of Alampur is considered the western gateway to Srisailam and also the seat of one of the Shakthi Peethas and Navabraheswara temple. Based on the […]

Jogulamba Gadwal: Two Buddha sculptures were found carved on the ceilings of the maha mandapas of Suryanarayana and Papanaseswara temples in Alampur.

The discovery is significant as the temple town of Alampur is considered the western gateway to Srisailam and also the seat of one of the Shakthi Peethas and Navabraheswara temple. Based on the information provided by famous historian late B S L Hanumantha Rao, archaeologist E Sivanagireddy visited Alampur and studied the Buddha sculptures that were found carved on the ceilings of the maha mandapas at Suryanarayana and Papanaseswara temples.

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The sculpture at Suryanarayana temple shows Buddha seated under the Bodhi tree in Dhyanamudra (contemplating meditation) with an attendant sculpture on to and bottom on the left side. It measures three feet in width and height and four inches in thickness carved in relief style, he said.

Similarly, the Buddha sculpture of the same proportion and posture found at Papanaseswara temple rebuilt on the outskirts of Alampur represents Vishnu as one of his ten incarnations (Dasavataras). Based on the iconography and style of these two sculptures, they were identified as Amitabha Buddha sculptures famous in Vajrayana Buddhism, observed Sivanagireddy. He said that some more research needs to be carried out to establish the context in which these two Buddha sculptures were incorporated into the Vaishnava pantheon.

The findings of the two Buddha sculptures in Alampur, interestingly, come on the eve of Buddha Jayanthi which will be celebrated on Monday, he added.

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