1.Dome panel depicting a royal worshipper

  • 2nd half of the 1st century
  • Amaravati mahācaitya, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh
  • British Museum, London

This panel from Amaravati is among the oldest portrait sculptures preserved from Andhra territories. It depicts a Sātavāhana king with his hands in veneration. He is attended by a queen, a general (leaning on a war club), and women holding fly whisks and an umbrella. Although he lacks the other attributes of a Buddhist universal monarch-notably the elephant, horse, Dharma-wheel, and jewel-his royal status as a king at worship is clear. An empty throne in the fragmentary upper register references the Buddha’s presence. The donor inscription records the gift as from a wealthy woman who took spiritual instruction from the monk Budharakhata.