WD2242-2283

MURUGESA MUDALIYAR, fl. c.1855

P.Murugesan Mudaliyar was a Tamil draftsman who was employed to draw the Amaravati sculptures deposited in front of the College of Fort St George in 1854. He was paid Rs 300. The drawings were sent to the Court of Directors in London, and are now catalogued as WD2242-2283. In 1859 all of the Amaravati sculptures depicted in the drawings were sent to the British Museum.

WD2242-2283

42 sheets (89 drawings) depicting sculpture from Amaravati and S. India reproduced at one third the natural size.

Inscribed with numbers 2 to 90 (1 is missing) and with measurements; signed:’ P. Mooroogasa Moodr’. 1851 and 1852 water-marks.

Wash; sizes varying from 19 by 24 to 27 by 40 ins.

Deposited c.1855.

Note: In 1845 Sir Walter Elliot uncovered sculptures at Amaravati and sent them to Madras where they were left exposed on the green in front of the College. In 1853 the Court of Directors made enquiries about their condition and they were moved into the front entry of the newly founded Central Museum, Madras. Edward Balfour, the officer in charge of the Museum, commissioned the Rev. W. Taylor to report on them. In 1854 P. Murugesan Mudaliar was paid Rs.300 by the East India Company to produce drawings of these sculptures. The drawings were sent to the Court of Directors in London to help them decide whether the Amaravati sculptures at Madras should be sent to London. In 1859, one hundred and twenty-one Amaravati sculptures were sent to London, including those depicted in the Murugesan Mudaliar drawings.

Bibliography: ‘Selections from the records of the Madras Government, xxxix. Report on the Government Central Museum for 1855-6’ (Madras, 1857); J. Burgess, ‘The Buddhist stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta in the Krishna district, Madras Presidency, surveyed in 1882. New Imperial Series,’ VI (London, 1887); D. Barrett, ‘Sculptures from Amaravati in the British Museum’ (London, 1954); J. Howes, 'The Colonial History of Sculptures from Amaravati Stupa'. In A. Shimada (ed.) 'Buddhist Stupas in South Asia' (OUP Delhi, 2009); R. Knox, 'Amaravati: Buddhist Sculpture from the Great Stupa.' (London, 1992).