July 30, 2007

Buried Heritage

K.T. Gandhirajan, specialist in art history has been trying to trace the history of a beautiful Jain sculpture half buried in a small mound at Pasumpon village in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district. [The Hindu]

An interesting aspect was that Muthuramalinga Thevar, Forward Bloc leader, used to lead the villagers in offering worship to the image on Tamil new year day in April every year. The sculpture used to be anointed with oil and bathed with water. The practice stopped after Thevar died in 1963.

Specialists in the study of Jainism and Buddhism including D. Ravikumar, Dalit Panthers of India legislator, and Mr. Gandhirajan said scores of sculptures of the Buddha, Adinatha and Mahavira were lying on fields in different parts of Tamil Nadu and they wanted the Government to protect them.

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