highway maps and reliefs of the Buddha that span the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana periods. Bojjannakonda has

Once the Andhran capital and a significant Buddhist centre, Amaravathi is India s biggest stupa (Indian/foreigner 5/100; h8am6pm), measuring 27m high and constructed in the 3rd century BC, when Emperor Ashoka sent monks south to spread the Buddha s teaching. Located 60km west of Vijayawada, all that remains are a mound and some stones, but the nearby museum highway maps (admission 5; h8am-5pm) has a small replica of the stupa, with its intricately carved pillars, marble- surfaced dome and carvings of scenes from the Buddha s life (no photography allowed in the museum). In the courtyard is a reconstruction of part of the surrounding highway maps gateway, which gives you an idea of the stupa s massive scale. It s worth the trip, but many of Amaravathi s best sculptures highway maps are in London s British Museum and Chennai s Government Museum in Tamil Nadu.

and reliefs of the Buddha that span the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana highway maps periods. Bojjannakonda has a two-storey group of rock-cut caves fl anked by dwarapalakas (doorkeepers) and containing a stupa and gorgeous carvings of the Buddha (some restored). Atop the hill sit the ruins of a huge stupa and a monastery; you can still make out the individual cells where monks meditated. Lingalakonda is piled high with stupas, some of them enormous.