Notes on the Amaravati Stupa

Amaravati Stupa deals with the detailed description of the stones; stone excavated by Mr. Sewell, Stones at Bezzwada, addition notes on Amaravati Stupa and lastly. Jaggayyapeta Stúpa. This book has 253 description of stones which are excavated from Amaravati. The stones are not all numbered, nor are they all marked on the plan. To avoid further confusion the numbers on the stones are here followed, and a second series, marked B, is interspersed to designate others requiring notice.

The recent history of the excavations at the Amaravati Tope may be summed up in a few sentences. In 1876 Mr. Robert Sewell, M.C.S., then at Bezwada, obtained a grant of Rs. 1,000 to make excavations at Amaravati, Undavalli, etc., and began work at the Tope in May 1877, which he appears to have carried on with great care and judgment, and in his Report he very correctly states that "The object to be aimed at by any person engaged in excavating these marbles should, I think, be to fix so conclusively the position of each separate stone as it lay embedded in the soil at Amaravati, that, whether they are transported to Madras or to London, or remain exposed where they fell, those interested in the subject and possessing the requisite scientific knowledge may be able to reconstruct the original monument, at least so far as the present position of the remains may enable them to do so. The removal of some stone, by one not possess ing the requisite knowledge of the scientific importance attaching to the position in which it was found, may possibly destroy forever all chance of determining some valuable or interesting question at present doubtful."

**Contents and Sample Pages**