Date:14/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/14/stories/2006021401631000.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Not the Buddha

The two statues in the photograph accompanying the report "Buddha statues unearthed near Chennai" (Feb. 12) are not that of the Buddha. The Buddha icon will have a robe across the torso and an ushnisha (a flame) on top of the head. These two figures are without doubt two different Jain tirthankaras, both featured nude. The triple umbrella over one statue and the lion lanchana on the pedestal of the other clearly show they are tirthankaras. Each tirthankara had a lanchana (sign), which is featured below the statue.

Because all tirthankaras are in the nude, it is the lanchana that would identify the tirthankara. The statue on the right is that of Mahavira, the last of the 24 tirthankaras whose lanchana is the lion. This is clearly featured below the figure. The statue on the left is that of the 22nd tirthankara, Neminatha, whose lanchana, the chank, is featured on the pedestal. It was a common feature in Tamil Nadu to have two or three tirthankaras in worship at a Jain basdi.

S. Theodore Baskaran,
Chennai