Amaravati - from Satavahanas to Andhra Pradesh
- In History & Culture
- 10:05 PM, Nov 10, 2015
- Shashank Davanagere
Throughout the history of South India, with so many dynasties and kings, many cities had the opportunity to serve as “Capitals”. Many cities were plundered, or just lost their sheen and are today relegated to history books or legends. Very rarely do we have a city, which served as the Capital city for one of the greatest dynasties, two thousand years ago; regained its prominence once again as the Capital of a State.
Amaravati is one such city. Its history stretches over 2000 years. It served as the capital for the first Andhra kingdom of the mighty Satavahanas, who ruled from Pataliputra (Patna) to present day Tamil Nadu. [For history of Satavahanas please refer to posts by Ramana Muppala here:1, 2, 3] Amaravati was also known as Dhanyakatakam [dhAnyakaTakam] or Dharanikota [dharaNikOTa].
This place is ripe with history. The second oldest evidence of Paleolithic settlements has been found in Guntur at Karampudi, Nagarjunakonda. It is the birthplace of the Andhra race as per the Mahabharata, when many tribes like the Telagas, Nagas, Mandaris came together. Legend has it that there was once a great warrior king by the name of Andhra Vishnuvu who ruled this part of the country. It is believed that King Andhra Vishnu constructed a huge wall that connected Sri Sailam, Bheemeshwaram and Kaleshwaram [tri-linga desa and the bhasha which, eventually, was called Telugu] and that Lord Shiva Himself resided within the walls. The king was considered an amsa (avatar) of Lord Vishnu and a temple – Srikakulandhra Vishnu - was built for him at Srikakulam Village (Ghantasala Mandal, Krishna district). The main sanctum of the temple has been intact since 2nd or even 3rd century BCE even though the temple has been rebuilt many times since then. It is believed that it because of this king that people from the area are called “Andhra”. An ancient inscription at Mydavolu near Guntur city, dating to 3 AD, claims Dhanyakatakam as Andhra Padha[2].
History of Amaravati
Amaravati served as the crest jewel of Buddhism in the south for a considerable amount of time. It is said that Samrat Ashoka had sent bhikshaks (monks) to various parts of the world to spread Buddhism. As part of it, "mahAdEva bhiksha" made Dhanyakatakam as his home and preached the Buddha’s teachings from there. He was from Pataliputra and belonged to the mahAsAngha sect of Buddhism. In course of time, he started a new branch of Buddhism called "chaityakavAda".
These details have been gleaned from the Amaravati Stupam. The Amaravati Stupa was one of the largest religious structure built in South India during those times. It was built somewhere around 200 BCE and for the next 500 years served as an icon for Andhra prathiba [splendor] and Buddist thoughts.
The Buddhists established many stupas and viharas in and around Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, Jaggayapeta, Bhattiproolu, Ettipootala, Ghantasala etc. some of which have survived till today.
It is said that after the Buddha passed away, his bones were interred in 8 stupas in differemt parts of India. Ashoka got 7 of them opened and then had the bones broken further into 84000 pieces and built those many stupas. The stupa in Nagarjunakonda and the one at Amaravati is said to have one of those pieces.
Amaravati was also the place of a very famous university in those days. There is historical evidence of students from many countries coming there to gain knowledge. Inspired by this university a new one named as "thApang" near Lhasa in Tibet was started; thApang means "dhAnyarasi" in Tibetan language. As mentioned earlier, Amaravati was known as Dhanyakatam. It is said about 7700 students could study at ThApang University.
Nagarjunachara, who is probably the most important thinker of Buddhism after the Buddha, was supposed to have taught at the Amaravati University. Nagarjunacharya built the fence around the stupa. It was about 3 m in height with tales from Jatakas etc. inscribed on them. His suhrullekha (suhrut – friend + lekha - letter) to the Satavahana King Satakarni explaining the teachings of Buddha is probably first of its kind and is still considered very highly in literature [3].
There is also some evidence that when a stupa was to be constructed in Simhaladweepa, a Buddhist monk by name Pallavabhogamani took with him 4 lakh 60 thousand Buddhist bhikshaks (monks) with him.
Amaravatireeti (amarAvati-rIti)
Apart from being a “nidhi” [treasure] of knowledge, Amaravati was also known for silpas [statues]. So much so that the "Amaravati sculptures" was considered a branch in itself. A village called "pentOTa" gained a lot of prominence due to the presence of these shilpis [stonemasons]. The stupas and other temples in Amaravai, Nagarjunakonda were done by these shilpis. The Viswakarma Puranam gives evidence of this place producing many great shilipis. Apparently, even to this date there is a title called "pentodi puravarAdhIswara" which is given to shilpis [4].
Due to the tantrism which crept into the Buddhist thoughts, and due to the changing political landscape of the 4th century CE, this Amaravati culture got lost in the annals of time.
On the other hand, kumArilabhattu, Adi Shankaracharya etc. with their teachings resurrected Sanatana Dharma which caused further weaning of Buddhism. When Hsuan Tsang visited Amaravati in 7th century CE its better days were already in the past. During all these time the one constant in Amaravati was devotees flocking for a darshan of Sri Amaralingeswara Swamy.
Pancharamams & Amaralingeswara Swamy Temple
Amaravati is one of the Pancharamams [pancha-Aramams]. Legend is that, Tarakasura, one of Lord Shiva’s devotees, prayed to Him, and got a Shivalingam, that would protect him from any weapon. When Shiva’s son Kumaraswamy attacked Taraka, the Shiva Linga around his neck, protected him. Even when Kumaraswamy used the Shakti Ayudha, Taraka’s body split into pieces but was again rejoined due to the power of Shiva Linga. That was when Lord Vishnu suggested to Kumaraswamy, that he needed to break the Shiva Linga which Tarakasura was wearing, and only then he could kill the Asura. Kumaraswamy did as instructed, and the Shivalinga broke into 5 pieces, and fell on earth. Lord Surya immediately fixed them and built a temple over each to prevent the pieces from re uniting, and Kumaraswamy was able to kill Taraka. The 5 places were the Shivalinga fell were called as the pancha+aaramas- 5 places of rest. Amaravati, was one of them, the others were Draksharama, Kumararama(at Samalkota) in East Godavari district, Ksheerarama( at Palakollu), Somarama( at Bhimavaram) both in West Godavari district [2].
The Amaralingeswara Swamy temple no doubt is very old. It has been rebuilt and there are plaques of Ikshvakus, Kakatiyas, Reddy Rajus and Sri Krishnadeva Raya visiting the temple and performing Jeernoddharana Kumbabhishekam. [Jeernoddharana Kumbabhishekam is done after temple has been renovated].
Walking into the future
Amaravati has seen its share of crests and troughs through the ages. After being in the sidelines for the better part of the last thousand years, Amaravati is now back in the news. It was the first Andhra Capital and now it is back to being the capital of the Sunshine state of Andhra Pradesh. When N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the new capital will also be called Amaravati, he in fact, connected the past to the future. One can only hope that this time around Amaravati remains at the forefront for all times to come.
References
1. Amaravati – By Sri Konduru Veera Raghavacharyulu, Shilpakala Parishat, 1950
2. https://historyunderyourfeet.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/amaravati-the-new-capital-of-andhra-pradesh/
4. I haven’t been able to cross verify either the name of the town or the title that’s given to Viswakarmas.
5. Amaravati krotta Satavahana Silpalu [Amaravati new sculptures of the Satavahanas] – By Sri P Sitapati, 1988
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