சோழ நாட்டில் பௌத்தம்

During the first week of September 2018, there were news reports about the finding of a Buddha sculpture in a temple tank at Peravurani in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. The sculpture was in sitting dhyana posture.      On iconographical aspects, the Peravurani Buddha differed from the Nagapattinam Buddha bronze found in the Chola country comprising of composite Thanjavur, composite Trichy and Pudukottai district. The age of the sculpture has to be ascertained. M y comment on Peravurani Buddha appeared in the  Times of India, 11th September 2018.    1940 For granite Buddhas, historian Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy’s “Bouthamum Tamilum” (1940) was the primary source. In  his work he cited about the prevalence of 10 granite Buddhas in the Chola country comprising composite Thanjavur, composite Trichy and Pudukottai district in his work. 1954 For Nagapattinam Buddha bronze T.N.Ramachandran’s “The Nagapattinam and other Buddhist bronzes in the Madras Museum