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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA NAGARJUNIKONDA IMAGE INSCRIPTION (1 Plate) H. K. NARASIMHASWAMI, MADRAS The sculpture bearing a short one-line inscription engraved at its base, which is published below, was discovered in 1940 at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, Guntur District, Andhra State, by Mr. K. Ramamurti, the Senior Conservation Assistant in the office of the Superintendent, Department of Archaeology, Southern Circle, Madras, who was then in charge of the Archaeological Museum at that place. It is a mutilated image in high relief on a white marble slab that was found half buried in the debris of rubble and stones on the northern slope of the Nāgārjuna hill, overlooking the river Kṛishṇā. In the process of clearing the debris, Mr. Ramamurti discovered traces of a large many-pillared hall, at the extremity of which the image under review was found. The partly exposed pillars of this hall are made of marble similar to that used for the other monuments of this place. The building, of which these pillars are the survivors, perhaps enshrined under its roof the very image which forms the subject matter of this article. A search for the missing portion of the image round about the region proved of no avail. The image is now kept in the Archaeological Museum at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa itself. When I visited this place _________________________________________________
[1] Above, Vol. XIX, p. 264. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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