Pillar Abacus with Elephants Venerating the Ramagrama Stupa in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2023

Title: Pillar abacus: elephants venerating the Rāmagrāma stupa

Period: Satavahana

Date: late 1st century CE

Culture: India, Amaravati Great Stupa, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh

Medium: Limestone

Dimensions: H. 12 13/16 in. (32.5 cm); W. 25 3/4 in. (68 cm); D. 16 9/16 in. (42 cm)
Display module with collar: H. 22 1/2 in. (54 cm); W. 33 1/4 in. (84.5 in.) D. 21 1/3 in. (54 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Lent by British Museum, London

Object Number: TS.014

Rights and Reproduction: © The Trustees of the British Museum

This architectural element likely served as a pedestal for a seated lion, found atop commemorative pillars marking stupa entranceways. On its face is a herd of elephants venerating the Great Stupa at Ramagrama, where the eighth portion of the Buddha’s corporeal remains was interred. The scene reflects the account of the fifth-century CE Chinese pilgrim-monk Faxian, who retold the story of a group of elephants that regularly cleaned the stupa with water from their trunks and offered flowers. According to the inscription, the panel was gifted by two monastics, “the venerable Budhi and his sister, the nun Budha.”

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/761619