The Amaravati collection in the British Museum consists of over 120 different pieces made from a limestone called Palnad marble; although the material is certainly not marble and the source of the stone in the Palnad quarry not decisively proven.

Most of the figurative sculptures are in relief, with many of the most crowded scenes illustrating stories from the Jataka tales, a large body of literature with complex accounts of the previous lives of Buddha.
 The collection in the museum in Chennai (formerly Madras) has a large number of sculptures in relief, which they have classified by four periods of activity starting in the second century BCE and stretching to the second century CE.
Early interest in the stupa and its sculptures was to some extent because it was wrongly thought to contain early evidence of Christianity in India.

The segments can be divided into a number of categories, including parts of the stupa's toranas or gateways, and the symbolic wall connecting them, and parts of the stone facing of the mound dome of the stupa itself.
 They include pillars, crossbars and copings, drum frieze panels and slabs, pillar fragments, two guardian lions and a number of miscellaneous pieces, some of which date from later periods.
In total, they represent one of the most important collections of ancient Indian sculpture outside the sub-continent.
The Amaravati collection in the British Museum consists of over 120 different pieces made from a limestone called Palnad marble; although the material is certainly not marble and the source of the stone in the Palnad quarry not decisively proven.
Most of the figurative sculptures are in relief, with many of the most crowded scenes illustrating stories from the Jataka tales, a large body of literature with complex accounts of the previous lives of Buddha.  The collection in the museum in Chennai (formerly Madras) has a large number of sculptures in relief, which they have classified by four periods of activity starting in the second century BCE and stretching to the second century CE. Early interest in the stupa and its sculptures was to some extent because it was wrongly thought to contain early evidence of Christianity in India.
The segments can be divided into a number of categories, including parts of the stupa's toranas or gateways, and the symbolic wall connecting them, and parts of the stone facing of the mound dome of the stupa itself.  They include pillars, crossbars and copings, drum frieze panels and slabs, pillar fragments, two guardian lions and a number of miscellaneous pieces, some of which date from later periods. In total, they represent one of the most important collections of ancient Indian sculpture outside the sub-continent.
Amaravati Marbles