Part Of The Great Shrine at Amaravati

This stone relief was part of a larger shrine at Amaravati. The shrine was a stypa, a solid dome contained relics of a renowned religious teacher. At Amaravati there was a particularly large stupa that was built upon and added to over many centuries, with the additions reflecting changes in doctrine over time. People would walk around a stupa clockwise, walked over the cremated ashes of important people (the clockwise motion being considered honourable and auspicious). This sculpture would have been on the stone railing around the walls of the stupa, that would have been seen as people walked around it.这件石浮雕是阿马拉瓦蒂（Amaravati）一处大型神殿的组成部分。该神殿为窣堵坡（stupa），是一座用以供奉知名宗教导师舍利的实心穹顶建筑。阿马拉瓦蒂曾有一座规模尤为宏大的佛塔，其营建与扩建跨越数个世纪，历次扩建均反映了当时教义的演变。信众会以顺时针方向绕行佛塔，途经重要逝者的火葬遗骸——顺时针绕行被视作恭敬且吉祥的仪轨。这件浮雕原本被安置在佛塔周边的石制围栏之上，信众绕行佛塔时便可一览其貌。