The Buddhavanam Replica Stupa in Telangana

Abstract

The Sri Parvata Arama, or the Buddhavanam, is a Buddhist theme park near the banks of the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir in Telangana. Sponsored by the state government, this park features at its center a full-scale replica of the Amaravati stupa. While this replica stupa might seem to revivify the largely destroyed stupa at Amaravati, this article also examines how the Buddhavanam engages with a wide-ranging visual archive in order to create a home at which every imaginable visitor—foreign and local—will encounter familiar imagery. The stupa's sculptural adornment primarily takes inspiration from limestone sculptures that once adorned ancient Buddhist sites along the Krishna River Valley. However, additional scenes on the stupa are drawn from disparate sources: reliefs carved from photographs of M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, and the current chief minister of Telangana appear alongside stone versions of paintings from the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and Alchi in Ladakh. This article examines how this replica stupa and the surrounding theme park allow the new state of Telangana not only to articulate its claim to the Buddhist heritage that is now shared with the state of Andhra Pradesh but also to participate in a boom in state-sponsored religious monuments across India.