In the fourth episode in this series Namit Arora looks at the successors of the Mauryan kingdom in the south, the Satavahanas and the Ikshvakus. It was under these kingdoms that most of the great Buddhist art of the classical period were produced, such as the rock caves in Mahārasthra, the magnificent stūpas in Amarāvatī and elsewhere.
It also looks at the capital city of the empire at Vijayapuri, better known as Nāgārjunakoṇḍa today. This was a truly cosmopolitan city having connections all over the ancient world. Unfortunately in the 60s this site was submerged under the waters of a dam, and only parts were moved to an island in the middle of the dam.
Namit has some sobering thoughts about the heroes of Hinduism, such as Rāma and Krishna; and a few about Buddhism too, which shows that despite patronage enabling large monumental works coming from the centralised power, the people in the countryside were probably less influenced by these sophisticated religions, and were still attached to their local belief systems.
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