CHENNAI : On day five of the International Museum Day celebrations at the Government Museum, Egmore, R Gopu, part of the Tamil Heritage Trust, delivered a lecture about the sculptures of Amaravati. A small village near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati is also called Dipaldinne (hill of lamps). Amaravati is known to have one of the three most flourishing art schools in prehistoric India. “Art is a combination of paintings, sculptures and technology,” Gopu began. His two-hour talk took the audience on a tour of the life and times at Amaravati — from the origin of its sculptors, the Satavahana period to the inscriptions in the sculptures.
“The sculptor knows how to speak to the viewer in such a powerful way that it creates a lasting impression,” says Gopu. Most of the Amaravati sculptures are made of limestone. Today, there are only a few slabs of the stone left in Amaravati. These structures are now replicated with cement. He pointed out that several historically reputed art pieces were taken away to England during the British period. “Even though we are left with the damaged pieces, these are the best pieces among them all,” he said. Chennai’s Government Museum, he said, is the third biggest repository of these extraordinary works of art.
After the lecture, Gopu took us on a walk along the gallery of Amaravati sculptures, narrating a few Jataka tales and life episodes of Buddha. He points to a 200 - 250 AD sculpture, Sadanta Jataka, which had minute details. “It would take at least two hours to explain every character and characteristic in it,” Gopu praises the attention to detail.
Gopu shared a lot of data from historical books like Sivagami Sapadam, and about the technologies used to make historic paintings. The International Museum Day celebrations by the Tamil Nadu Government was much appreciated by historians, archaeologists, history enthusiasts and college students. “I have been attending all the lectures and walks right from the first day. It is exciting to get to know about all this information.And it is very helpful for a history student like me,” said Bhavana, a Government College student, after the event.