Two Buddha sculptures have surfaced at the Navabraheswara temple complex in Alampur, a temple town in Jogulamba-Gadwal district, according to E. Sivanagireddy, Archaeologist and CEO, Pleach India Foundation.
Alampur is considered as the western gateway to Srisailam and is also seat to one of the Sakthi Peethas. Based on the information provided by famous historian late B S L Hanumantha Rao, Dr. Reddy visited Alampur and studied the Buddha sculptures and carvings on the ceilings of the mahamandapas of Suryanarayana and Papanaseswara temples in detail. According to him, the sculpture at Suryanarayan temple has Buddha seated under the Bodhi tree in Dhyanamudra (contemplating meditation) with an attendant’s sculpture on the bottom left side. It measures 3 feet in width and height and four inches in thickness and was carved in relief style.
A similar Buddha idol of the same proportions and posture has been found at Papanaseswara temple rebuilt on the outskirts of Alampur and represents Vishnu as one of his ten incarnations ( Dasavataras) . Based on the iconography and style, these two have been identified as Amitabha Buddha sculptures famous in Vajrayana Buddhism.
Dr. Sivanagireddy opines 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 two Buddha sculptures from Alampur assume greater significance on Buddha Jayanthi day, he added.
