A milestone in Tamil historical and Buddhist studies: Dr Arangamallika
I express my sincere thanks to Dr. B. Jambulingam for his patience in waiting for my review of his outstanding work, Buddhism in Chola Nadu (Pudhu Ezuthu, Kaveripattinam). It is both my pleasure and privilege to read this book and write a note on it. Dr. B. Jambulingam is an erudite scholar who served as an administrative staff at Tamil University, Thanjavur, for nearly three and half decades. His devotion to and in-depth knowledge of Buddhism are highly remarkable. His continuous contributions to the study of Buddhism, particularly during the Chola period, are both authentic and valuable. The book reflects his keen interest in exploring Buddha statues, reviewing historical literature, examining historical accounts, and analysing references from the travelogues of the Chinese pilgrim Yuan Shuang. His documentation of Buddhist temples and viharas discovered across Tamil Nadu is exemplary. Through Dr B. Jambulingam' s extensive field research, he identified numerous Buddha st...
