Chola temples and their Buddhist and Jaina Connections

தமிழ்ப் பாரம்பரியம்

(Tamil Heritage Trust)

presents

Chola temples and their Buddhist and Jaina Connections

சோழர் கோயில்களும் பர சமயமும்

by 

Mr. Sreegururaj

at 5.30pm on Saturday, May 4th, 2013

at Vinoba Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vidyalaya, T Nagar.

About the speaker:

Buddhism and Jainism have had a long standing relationship with Tamilnadu, with their influence seen spanning different areas like literature, drama, art, religion, politics and architecture. Ironically, barring a very few caves and some small shrines, no major architecture has ever been discovered in Tamilnadu. But curiously, in the last four plus decades, large sized statues of the Buddha and the Jaina pantheon have been unearthed in isolation or in proximity to Hindu temples, in several districts of Tamilnadu, without the supporting architecture. So what happened to the temples and the architecture that supported these primary deities?

This lecture shall take us through an interesting journey of what could have happened to the supporting architecture and the role Chola temples play, in identifying the vestiges. Backed by several strong photographic evidences, this shall also narrate the saga of how the so called “Pira Samayam” (other religions) started to be looked at as the “Para Samayam”, backed by the politico-religious policy of the Cholas, who were mighty temple builders themselves.

About the speaker:

An engineering researcher by profession, Sreegururaj is an artist and an avid heritage enthusiast. He hails from a family of artists with his father and grandfather being listed in India’s “Who is Who” of artists. His grandfather is credited with designing the Government emblem of Tamilnadu.

Gururaj has travelled widely across the globe studying Western and Indian art. He is a permanent member of the Tamilnadu arts and crafts improvement association and has participated in several art camps. His interests include Dravidian art & architecture, Indus and the Tamil Brahmi script. He holds a Masters in electrical engineering, physics and psychology and is also an amateur astronomer.

RSVP:

A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre - gandhicentre@gmail.com; 94441-83198

Badri Seshadri: Kizhakku-p-padippakam - badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566

S. Kannan: Bank of Baroda - 2498 5836

S. Swaminathan - sswami99@gmail.com; 2467 1501

R. Gopu, writergopu@yahoo.com, 98417-24641

T. Sivasubramanian, siva.durasoft@gmail.com, 98842-94494