Message from the museum |
RELICS OF THE PAST The earliest relics of human activity are stone implements, as first rough but later more highly finished, such as are shown in the gallery of prehistoric antiquities, where are also objects from still later prehistoric times when the greater usefulness of metals had been discovered. The early Indian civilization found at Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus valley belongs to the period when the Stone Age was given way to the Metal Age in that region. Specimens illustrating this culture will be found upstairs. In India, history at present dawns with the rise of Buddhism. The Buddhists were not only the earliest Indian historians but, with the Jains, were the first to develop sculpture in stone, The great Buddhist emperor Asoka, who was politically in touch with the powerful Graeco-Asiatic dynasty known as the Seleucids, seems to have brought skilled sculptors from beyond the north-west frontier to produce his magnificent edict pillars. The art thus introduced was developed by Indian craftsmen on their own lines and within a few centuries had given rise in central and western India to the marvelous sculpture of Sanchi gateway and earlier Buddhist caves, and in southern India to that of the Amaravati stupa on the banks of the Krishna river. Amaravati sculpture is well represented in the adjoining Buddhist gallery. The Sanch and Amaravati sculptures are full of grace, and crowded with an exuberant life that has never since been equaled; but the greater restraint characteristic of the time of the Gupta emperors (AD. 300-600) was needed to bring Indian art to full perfection. Southern India unfortunately has no monuments belonging to the Gupta period. Early monuments in stone can often be recognized as copies of wooden originals, the Buddhist railing being a particularly clear example. Flexible bamboo being extensively used in India for the support of roofs , covers roof-lines have resulted, and form a striking contrast to the universally straight roof-lines of Europe. |
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Adoration of Buddha's feet. Amaravati 150 AD. |
| Adoration of Buddha's feet. Amaravati 150 AD. |
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SATI STONE |
| STUPA |  |
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STUPA with one thousand umbrellas? |
| Old beautiful buildings |  |
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SUBRAMANYA with valli Jambavanodal Undivided Thanjavur District Circa 13th Century AD |
| BUDDHA 10th Century |
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BUDDHA Nanayakkara Street Nagapattinam District Circa 11th Century |
| BUDDHA velippalayam Nagapattinam District Circa 16th Century |
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VARADARAJA with Consorts Tiruppuvanam Sivaganga District Circa 16th-17th Century AD. |
