page_title: Nagarjunakonda
section_title: Archaeological research
hierarchical_section_title: Nagarjunakonda / History / Archaeological research
caption_attribution_description: English: This artefact was exhibited as 'Indian Buddhist Art' exhibition from 20 December to 25 December, 2012, at the Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall, Indian Museum, Kolkata.
context_page_description: Nagarjunakonda is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, near the state border with Telangana. It is 160 km west of another important historic site Amaravati Stupa.
  The ruins of several Mahayana Buddhist and Hindu shrines are located at Nagarjunakonda. It is one of India's richest Buddhist sites, and now lies almost entirely under the Nagarjunasagar Dam. It is named after Nagarjuna, a southern Indian master of Mahayana Buddhism who lived in the 2nd century, who is believed to have been responsible for the Buddhist activity in the area. The site was once the location of many Buddhist universities and monasteries, attracting students from as far as China, Gandhara, Bengal and Sri Lanka.
  Because of the construction of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, the archaeological relics at Nagarjunakonda were submerged, and had to be excavated and transferred to higher land on the hill, which has become an island.
  This Nāgārjunakoṇḍa site in Andhra Pradesh is not to be confused with the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa caves near the Barabar Caves in Bihar.
context_section_description: In 1926, a local schoolteacher, Suraparaju Venkataramaih, saw an ancient pillar at the site, and reported his discovery to the Madras Presidency government. Subsequently, Shri Sarasvati, the Telugu language Assistant to the Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy of Madras, visited the site, and it was recognized as a potential archaeological site.
  The first discoveries were made in 1926 by French archaeologist Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (1885–1945). Systematic digging was organized by English archaeologists under A. H. Longhurst during 1927–1931. The team excavated the ruins of several Buddhist stupas and chaityas, as well as other monuments and sculptures.
  In 1938, T N Ramachandran led another excavation at the site, resulting in the discovery of some more monuments. In 1954, when the construction of the proposed Nagarjuna Sagar Dam threatened the site with submergence, a large-scale excavation led by R Subrahmanyam was started to salvage the archaeological material. The excavation, conducted during 1954-1960, resulted in the discovery of a number of relics, dating from the Early Stone Age to the 16th century. Later, around 14 large replicas of the excavated ruins and a museum were established on the Nagarjunakonda hill. Some of the sculptures excavated at Nagarjunakonda are now at other museums in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Paris and New York.
  An archaeological catastrophe struck in 1960, when an irrigation dam was constructed across the nearby Krishna River, submerging the original site under the waters of a reservoir. In advance of the flooding, several monuments were dug up and relocated to the top of Nagarjuna's Hill, where a museum was built in 1966 Other monuments were relocated to the mainland, east of the flooded area. Dedicated archaeologists managed to recover almost all of the relics.
caption: Division of Buddha Relics, Nagarjunakonda
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