சோழ நாட்டில் பௌத்தம்

-Dr.B.Jambulingam The study on the prevalence of Buddhism  in Tamil Nadu began in 1940s. Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy (1940), Ramachandran (1954), Srinivasan (1960), Minakshi (1979) and Vasudeva Rao (1979) have identified more than 20 places in the Chola country where Buddha statues were  present or Buddha  viharas possibly existed. French Institute of Pondicherry has,  in its collections,  the photographs of 16 granite Buddhas belonging to the Chola country, In the work entitled Tamil Nattu Varalaru : Chola Peruvendar Kalam (900-1300 AD), (Tamil) (Vol.II), (1998), published by the Government of Tamil Nadu, 19 places with Buddha statues are mentioned. So far, 65 Buddha statues have been found by the author, during field study from 1993 to December 2009, in the Chola country comprising of the present Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Thiruchirappalli, Karur and Perambalur  districts (Jambulingam, 2002).    This article deals with the ...