A head of a Buddha statue was found at Keezha Pazhayarai near Patteesvaram in Kumbakonam Taluk, Thanjavur district.
According to B. Jambulingam, Retired Assistant Registrar, Tamil University and historian, the statue was spotted during field work bring carried out along with Pulavar Selvasekar of Patteesvaram recently.
The statue, around 50 cm in height, was found in a mango grove at Keezha Pazhayarai near Patteesvaram, Kumbakonam Taluk, Thanjavur district and it belonged to 10-11th century AD. The statue has the iconographical features of the granite Buddhas of the Cholanadu.
They include half-closed eyes, elongated ears, smiling lips, coiled hair over the head with a flame atop, and a tilak mark on the forehead. The nose and lower parts of the ears are found broken. This statue in full form might have been worshipped in the Buddha vihara or Buddha temple in Pazhayarai in the past, he added.
Stating that more than 60 granite Buddha idols have been spotted in the Cholanadu comprising the composite Thanjavur district, composite Tiruchi district, and Pudukottai district so far, he claimed that finding Buddha statues in Cholanadu region indicates that Buddhism had flourished in this region.
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