While gearing up for the foundation ceremony of its new capital city Amaravati, the Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to try to bring back ancient sculptures excavated in the 18{+t}{+h}century and transported to the British Museum. Chief secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao recently visited the Amaravati gallery in the British Museum in London.
Several of the priceless sculptures date back to the second century BC. They were rediscovered in excavations carried out in 1779 by Colonel Colin Mackenzie, a Scottish army officer of the British East India Company who became the first Surveyor General of India. The sculptures are a bunch of reliefs with complex accounts of the previous lives of the Buddha. They are classified into four periods ranging from the second century BC to the second century AD.
Mr. Krishna Rao said the collection includes over 100 different pieces made from limestone called Palanadu marble. They represent the most important collection of ancient Indian sculptures outside the sub-continent. A letter from the chairman of Amaravati Development Authority Veeranjaneyulu Jasthi to the Chief Secretary about the renowned Amaravati sculptures and inscriptions on display in the British Museum set the process in motion. The sculptures and inscriptions once adorned the Great Stupa at Amaravati. While some sculptures remain at Amaravati, many are scattered in various museums across the world. But the two principal collections are held at the Government Museum in Chennai and the British Museum in London.
Mr Jasthi had earlier petitioned the Prime Minister, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu and the Archaeological Survey of India about recovering the Amaravati collection. The Prime Minister’s Office forwarded the representation to the Department of Culture.
The Chief Secretary made a presentation on the Amaravathi collection in the recent Cabinet meeting.
While the State Government will write to the Centre and the British Museum requesting it to return the invaluable sculptures, a special video on the collection will be screened at the Amaravati foundation ceremony on October 22.
Govt. to urge to the British Museum to return the sculptures excavated from Amaravati in
the 18{+t}{+h}century
