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the stupa inside, which is afterwards adopted by most of the units in the valley. • It does not have the chetiyaghara with the image of Buddha. • It has the Bodhi tree pasado which is not seen or mentioned in any other monastic units in the valley. • It has the inscription which states that the chetiyaghara is the donation from an upasika Bodhisiri. Surprisingly it is not the donation of the royal female member of the Ishavaku dynasty, since almost all other donatory inscriptions to the Buddhist Sangha are from the royal Ishavaku female members. • Site-43 shares the architectural characteristics with Site-38. The similarity is again established with the help of inscription and the existence of the Bodhi rukkha pasado and the Buddhapada in the units. Taking into consideration all the above observations regarding the study of the Site-43 and Site-38, these are some of the questions arisen • Is Sinhala vihara one of the earliest monastic units in the valley? • Is Sinhala vihara the only monastic unit from Srilanka in the valley? • If Sinhala vihara is the unit which took the initiative to adopt the apsidal planned chetiyaghara in the valley, then why there is no apsidal planned chetiyagharas seen in the architecture of Srilanka of that period? Thus in conclusion observation, we can say that Nagarjunakonda is the only one site known to us, where the interface between India and Sri Lanka is seen taken place in the 2nd-4th CE. Though the valley was secluded and had its own peculiarities it was in a way –way ahead of the other architectural features of India and in a way far behind of the general trend. Here the Sinhala vihara continued with their features of boddhirukkha pasado and Buddhapada samghada and also adopted the first ever apsidal chetiyaghara with the stupa inside which is not the traditional architectural feature of Sri Lanka. But unfortunately we do not see the Sri Lankans continuing the apsidal planned chetiyaghara with the stupa inside, in Srilanka in the future. Scholars termed the Sinhala Sangha as Theravadins and traditionalists on the basis of the absence of chetiyaghara for the Buddha image. They are probably the Mahaviharavasin of Srilanka settled at Nagarjunakonda. The Sinhala monks who are the delighters of the different places came and settled down in the valley and started a monastic unit which is copied and multiplied. They were traditionalists and still worshiped the Buddha in the stupa form, in the Bodhi tree form or in the Buddhapada form. They were yet not in the mindset to adopt the image of the Buddha for worship, but probably they did it in the end. Nagarjunakonda is the apsidal planned chetiyaghara, stupa and traditional four-winged vihara. This is the architecture seen in the Deccan in the early phase. The apsidal planned chetiyaghara represents the practice of the vipassana meditation and its influence. Therefore we can say that the architecture of Nagarjunakonda is representating the early Buddhism and not tending towards Mahayana. Presence of image of Buddha in the chetiyaghara cannot make the architecture Mahayana, as it has been observed that the Theravadins or the traditionalists also adopted the image of the Buddha. The architecture in the 2nd CE in the Deccan has undergone considerable changes. The Chetiyaghara has changed from apsidal to rectangular with flat roof, the vihara is changed and a new concept with Chetiyaghara+vihara has been adopted. These are the changes which indicate the trend towards Mahayana which is absent in the Nagarjunakonda. Thus we can say that there is a possibility of the Sinhala vihara to be the first in the valley with the traditional construction techniques. The other schools adopted the architectural technology of the wheel based stupa or swastika based stupa. Sinhala vihara being a traditionalist understood the importance of the meditation and vipassana and adopted the chetiyaghara and sort of revived the Buddhist architecture at that time. This revival helped the Theravadas and the other schools went ahead and adopted the Buddha image instead of the Boddhirukkha or the Buddhapada but all they were traditionalist never the less. Thus we can say that the Nagarjunakonda played a significant role in the revival of Theravada Buddhism in India and the key role was played by the Sinhala vihara of Tambapanna. Bhavatu sabba mangalam Reconstructed Chetiyaghara donated by Upasika Bodhisiri- Site 43 As the scholars are of the opinion that here at Nagarjunakonda we see the transition from the Theravada to the Mahayana phase which according to our observation is not completely correct. The valley was totally traditionalist and followed the Theravada tradition even the offshoots of the Mahasanghikas- the Aparamahavina-seliya alongwith the image of the Buddha. The reason to say this is -the architecture in the valley of Reconstructed Chetiyaghara donated by Queen Chamtasiri-Site-1 53
Stupa inside the chetiyaghara-Site 43 Stupa inside the chetiyaghara Site-1 Buddha image inside the apsidal chetiyaghara- Site 4 Mahastupa of the Mahavihara Site-1 Swastika stupa- Site 59 54
Page 1:
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ORGANIZED BY Th
Page 4 and 5:
Message by His Excellency the Presi
Page 6:
Message from His Excellency the Pri
Page 9 and 10:
CONTENTS 01 02 07 09 11 14 16 20 27
Page 11 and 12: International Buddhist Conference O
Page 16 and 17: Remarks by the High Commissioner of
Page 18 and 19: Remarks by Shri Suresh K. Goel, Dir
Page 20 and 21: Remarks by Prof G.L.Peiris, Hon’b
Page 22 and 23: placed the highest priority on that
Page 25 and 26: Contemporary Indian Interpretations
Page 27 and 28: comparison as an indication of the
Page 29 and 30: Buddha’s Dhamma as the Foundation
Page 31 and 32: why it recommends deconstruction of
Page 33 and 34: The Buddhist ultimate goal is to do
Page 35 and 36: programme by ethically transforming
Page 37 and 38: national symbol became the lion. Th
Page 39 and 40: “Watha deranatha nohera dakva aka
Page 41 and 42: of China political influence. Most
Page 44 and 45: Influence of Buddhism on Sri Lankan
Page 46 and 47: Indo-Sri Lankan Literary Ties Mahes
Page 48 and 49: Indian Influence on Sinhalese Langu
Page 50 and 51: Bibliography Deokar, Mahesh. (2011)
Page 52 and 53: Some time before and after the comp
Page 54 and 55: NAGARJUNAKONDA: THE SITE OF INTERFA
Page 56 and 57: Buddhist Architecture of Nagarjunak
Page 58 and 59: Unit with both, chetiyaghara with s
Page 60 and 61: Dham….vihāre sela-ma[m]davo [a s
Page 64 and 65: Buddhist Philosophy Ven. Sok Buntho
Page 66 and 67: The cultural heritages are the tang
Page 68 and 69: conditionality of all physical and
Page 70 and 71: from lying or evil speech) and(5) S
Page 72 and 73: Buddha's teachings were recorded in
Page 74 and 75: schools of alien and Indigenous tra
Page 76 and 77: ̣ It was regulated by Vajrayanic t
Page 78 and 79: esponsibilities to society; they go
Page 80 and 81: might try to stop making things wor
Page 82 and 83: start this analysis with an introdu
Page 84 and 85: subcontinental developments, in the
Page 86 and 87: 136 by the Vedic Aryans in India ca
Page 88 and 89: 170 presents his material as a well
Page 90 and 91: the Christian era up to the end of
Page 92 and 93: Bodhi tree because there is no othe
Page 94 and 95: that every year the Dhammadhatu be
Page 96 and 97: 292 cast themselves in the role of
Page 98 and 99: Role of Sanskrit in the Cultural in
Page 100 and 101: Pali poetic compositions of Srilank
Page 102 and 103: The Buddhist historiography of Sri
Page 104 and 105: of a system of dynamic mutual relat
Page 106 and 107: commentaries. On finding a text for
Page 108 and 109: misconduct' and 'achievement as the
Page 110 and 111: eing of the society. It is the dham
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