Q) Cultural contribution of Ikshvakus, Discuss?
Ans:-
Ikshvakus ruled andhra desha in between 200-275A.D. Eventhough, they ruled for 75 years only, their contribution to the culture is immense.
Sri Santhamula — He is the founder of the dynasty. He is staunch follower of the hinduism and performed ashvamedha and rajasuya yagas.
His sister, Santha Sri was staunch follower of buddhism and gave immense contributions in constructing viharas and chaityas at Nagarjuna Konda.
Veerapurusha Dutta — He is the staunch follower of Buddhism and constructed first Buddhist University in the world, Sriparvatha University at Nagarjuna Konda.
 |
| Mandata Sculpture at Jaggayyapeta, A.P |
Under his rule, Sriparvatha university reached zenith—
- Acharya Nagarjuna, founder of this university was staunch follower of “Mahayanism” and he wrote “suhrlekhanam”, “Madhyamika Karika”, “Sunyatasaptati”, “ratnavali”, e.t.c.,
- “Arya Sangha”, who succeeded Acharya Nagarjuna wrote “Sutralankara”
- “Buddhagosha”, who is staunch follower of the Hinayanism wrote authoritative text “Visudhi maga”.
Ehuvala Santhamula:- He was one of the last important king that gave immense contributions to culture.
His wife constructed Ashtabujaswamy temple and his commander, sakasena constructed pushpabhadra swamy temple. Both are at Nagarjuna Konda.
These temples became the basis for the subsequent development of the Dravida Temple style of architecture in India.
During Ikshvakus reign:-
During their reign, Shakti is worshipped as “Hariti”, whereas Lord Vishnu is worshipped as the Pushpabhadra swamy, Ashtabuja swamy and Kartikeya.
Sculpture Style:-
Ikshvakus reign became the symbol the Sculptures. Not only religious, even secular sculptures are carved. Due to this tradition, we came to know the “Veeragal Tradition”, according to which, veeragal, soldiers that lays down their life for the sake of their King.
One of the important Sculpture is Mandata Sculpture that is found in Jaggayapeta. It depicts the “Maharaja” for the first time in entire India.
Architecture:-
Amaravati style of architecture reached its zenith under ikshvakus. Intricacies in design and way of depicting the motions and feelings and extreme delicacy in picture reached perfection under this dynasty.
Due to these evidence, we can surely say that Ikshvakus were torchbearers for Culture of Andhra. Their cultural contributions are still evident in the form the religion, art and architecture.