Place · Buddhist rock-cut caves · India
Guntupalli caves, Eluru
Also known as Eluru, Guntupalli caves, Guntupalli chaitya
The Satavahana-period Buddhist rock-cut chaityagriha at Guntupalle in Eluru district, Andhra Pradesh — a 2nd-century BCE to 3rd-century CE Buddhist cave complex with the unique distinction of being the only rock-cut circular (chaitya) shrine in India. The chaityagriha was cut from a natural rock-formation imitating the design of a free-standing timber circular shrine (the type of shrine Daya Ram Sahni excavated at Bairat in 1935). The 25 excavated monastic cells, three stupas, and a rock-cut chaitya hall together document the Satavahana Hinayana Buddhist tradition. The site's distinctive wooden-form imitation in stone (with vault ribs cut to resemble wooden roof-timbers) is a key document of the early Buddhist architecture's transition from timber to stone construction. ASI protection since 1917.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 17.078, 81.082
Connections (2)
- Site adjacencyGuntupalli
Guntupalli is one site with two kinds of architecture: a rock-cut apsidal chaityagriha whose stone roof imitates timber ribs, and a brick monastery and stupas built in the open on the same hill. The vaulted hall is close in date and form to Bhaja and Kondane in the western Deccan, which puts the two coasts' cave traditions within a generation of each other.
- Site withinEluru
The 2-century BCE Guntupalli Buddhist rock-cut caves — the only rock-cut circular chaityagriha in India — sit within the Eluru-district administrative zone of Andhra Pradesh (40 kilometres from the Eluru city centre). The Satavahana-period Buddhist monastic site documents the Eluru region's pre-urban Buddhist history preceding the Eastern Chalukya Vengi capital at Pedavegi, 13 kilometres from the modern Eluru city.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Guntupalli Group of Buddhist Monuments”. Archaeological Survey of India and State Archaeology monument records, and the standard regional literature.
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