AMARAVATI, a ruined city of India in the Guntur district of the Madras presidency, on the south bank of the Kistna river, 62m. from its mouth, a centre of the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Vengi, with a famous stupa (sepulchral monument). Its elaborate carvings illustrate the life of Buddha. Some are preserved in the British Museum; others in the museum at Madras. Amaravati has been identified with Hsuan Tsang's To-na-kie-tse-kia and with the Rahmi of Arab geographers. Subsequent to the disappearance of Buddhism from this region the town became a centre of Sivaism.