After the Buddhist Temple Caves at Undavalli, we drove on to the nearby town of Amravati, which was an important Buddhist center in the 2nd and 3rd Century BC, and has a number of important relics from that period. But first, a bit of the lovely Andhra countryside, on the route from Undavalli to Amravati on narrow country roads...
A field of ladyfingers!! Did you know ladyfinger plants look so pretty?
OK, enough of the landscape. The biggest place of Buddhist attraction is the Buddhist museum at Amravati, which houses many of the relics dug up from 2-3rd century archaeological sites in the neighborhood. It has some magnificent stone carvings on display. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed. Here are pictures of the forecourt of the museum, with a few of the relics, where photography is allowed.
But we couldn't help taking one photo inside the museum - there was a magnificent statue of the Buddha on display. Blandine sneaked out her camera and took this shot when no one was looking...
Right behind the museum is this enormous stupa, called the Amravat Maha Stupa. Only the brickwork remains. In its heyday, it was an enormous white hemisphere with carvings all around. Those white things stationed around the stupa are bits of the carving that have survived. You can see more of the carvings in the above photos, displayed at the museum.
A close up of a carving...
An enormous statue of the Buddha looms behind the stupa. This is a new Buddhist temple - it is called the Dhyan Buddha Statue
A close up of the Dhyan Buddha Statue.
More pics of the landscape, on the way back...
A field of ladyfingers!! Did you know ladyfinger plants look so pretty?
