The Stupa of Kanaganahalli: Art historical and religious historical analysis of the illustrations along the circambulation path

Kanaganahalli的佛教遗址及其巨大的中央佛塔从前基督教时代一直存在到公元4世纪。就其重要性而言，它必须与其他两个早期佛教艺术的经典遗址——巴胡特（Bharhut）和桑奇（Sanchi）——进行比较，它的发现被视为20世纪印度最重要的考古发现之一。令人遗憾的是，印度对该遗址的记载与其重要性不符；到目前为止，只有这些铭文在2014年的一份出版物中得到了充分的处理。第一个项目是专门研究曾经覆盖在佛塔圆顶上的大型浮雕板，这些浮雕板可以追溯到公元头几十年。对这些石板上的场景进行了描述和分析，对其内容进行了鉴定，然后与来自印度其他地区的相同主题的描绘进行了比较。这项研究快完成了。研究结果将卡纳根纳哈利置于印度早期佛教艺术的发展之中，并证明了该遗址对我们了解印度佛教的重要性。佛塔上的许多图像都是独一无二的，其中包括Satavahana国王的雕刻肖像，但也有记载佛陀生活的铭文，这些铭文没有在文学传统中流传下来，还有关于佛陀前世的故事的标题，与目前已知的不同。目前的申请完成了项目和对卡纳格纳哈里雕塑材料的研究；它将重点关注曾经覆盖佛塔下部的浮雕，这些浮雕是游客在绕佛塔进行仪式时近距离看到的。这些浮雕并不描绘叙事场景；更确切地说，他们用与佛陀传说有关的圣地的图像，以及对佛陀存在的象征性描绘，以及像nagas和yaksha这样的人物，创造了一种“神圣的地理”，这将在项目的过程中进一步研究。在大约公元120年加装到佛塔上的四个突出的平台上，描绘了佛陀的生活场景。这32个场景，其中一些是重复的，是卡纳格纳哈里和安得拉邦其他艺术中心相互影响的绝佳例子。该项目还包括环绕区域内的三维雕塑，其中包括八个“历史”佛像的雕刻系列，包括弥勒佛，以及装饰物。其中包括许多与印度以外的艺术地区密切接触的例子，特别是与罗马。在萨塔瓦哈那帝国和地中海之间的贸易往来之后，这种密集的交流蓬勃发展，最引人注目的例子是佛教法轮的狮子头中心的代表，这是从罗马战车中众所周知的。

The Buddhist site of Kanaganahalli with its large central stupa existed from the pre-Christian era until the 4th century CE. In its importance it has to be compared with two other classic sites of early Buddhist art, Bharhut and Sanchi, and its discovery is seen as one of the most important archaeological findings of the 20th century in India. Regrettably, the documentation of the site in India does not correspond with its importance; so far only the inscriptions have received an adequate treatment in a publication in 2014. A first project was dedicated to the study of the large relief slabs that once covered the dome of the stupa and can be dated to the first decades CE. The scenes on these slabs have been described and analyzed, their contents identified and then compared with depictions of the same themes from other regions of India. This study is nearly finished. Its results place Kanaganahalli within the development of early Buddhist art in India, and they demonstrate the importance of the site for our knowledge of Indian Buddhism. Numerous images from the stupa are unique, among them the inscribed portraits of the Satavahana kings, but also inscriptions documenting episodes from the life of the Buddha that have not been passed on in the literary tradition, and titles of stories about previous births of the Buddha that differ from the ones presently known. The present application completes the project and the study of the sculptural material from Kanaganahalli; it will focus on the reliefs that once covered the lower part of the stupa and were seen close-up by the visitor during her/his ritual circumambulation of the stupa. These reliefs do not depict narrative scenes; rather, with images of sacred sites related to the Buddha legend, but also with symbolic depictions of the Buddha's presence and with figures like nagas and yakshas, they create a kind of 'sacred geography' that will be examined further in the course of the project. On the four projecting platforms that were added to the stupa at around 120 CE, scenes from the life of the Buddha are depicted. These 32 scenes, some of which were repeated, serve as excellent examples for the mutual influences between Kanaganahalli and other art centres in Andhra Pradesh. The project furthermore encompasses the three-dimensional sculptures within the area of the circumambulation, among them an inscribed series of the eight 'historical' Buddhas including Maitreya, as well as the ornamental objects. These include a multitude of examples for the close contacts of the site with artistic regions outside India, notably with Rome. The most remarkable example for this intensive exchange that flourished in the wake of trade contacts between the Satavahana empire and the Mediterranean is the representation of the Buddhist wheel of law with a lion-head hub as it is known from Roman chariots.