Salihundam Stūpa and Museum Site
high-definition creative commons photographs from the Salihundam Stūpa and Museum Site together with further information.
The Stūpa Site
The Salihundam (Śālihuṇḍam, Pile of Rice) site, which used to be known as Śālipetaka (Rice Market), lies on the right bank of the Vamsadhara river in Srikulam district in Andhra Pradesh, which was earlier a part of Kalinga. It is a large site built over a hill alongside the river. It was active from the 2nd-12th centuries, and seems to have covered all three stages of Buddhism: Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna.
The site seems mainly to have been used for devotion, having numerous stūpas, including a Mahā Stūpa on the top of the hill, and Chaitya Halls, and many votive stūpas. The site reportedly has vihāras there also, but they must have been few, as they escaped my attention. The stūpas do not have the āyaka form at the cardinal directions, and seem to predate that innovation.
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The Site Museum
The on-site museum is a small and rather leaky building, making it seem like it was in a state of disrepair. It contains numerous scultpures in-the-round from the site, including one of the earliest sculptures of the Vajrayāna deity Mārīcī. Also in the site were sculptures of Jaina Tirthaṅkaras and Durgā, showing that it was probably taken over by Jaina and Hindu groups for some time after Buddhism had declined.
Photographs by Anandajoti Bhikkhu
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