Buddhist Centres

Buddhist Centres in Tamil Nadu

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• Buddhism flourished in Tamil Nadu in two main phases: firstly in the early years of Pallava rule (400–650 CE), and secondly during the Chola period (mid-9th to early 14th century CE).
  • Prominent centres of Buddhism in Tamil Nadu during this time included Kanchipuram, Kaveripattinam, Uraiyur, and Nagapattinam.

Nagapattinam

• The heritage of the town of Nagapattinam is recorded in a Burmese historical text of the 3rd century BCE, which provides evidence of a Buddha Vihara built by King Ashoka.
  • An inscription from Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, dated to the 2nd century BCE, records the association of Tamil merchants with this Buddhist institution.
• Ancient ruins of a 4th–5th-century Buddhist monastery, a Buddha statue, and a Buddhapada (footprint of the Buddha) were found in another part of the ancient city, at a site now known as Pallavanesvaram.
• Nagapattinam was a Buddhist centre from the 4th–5th century CE, and its stupa dates to this era.
  • Buddhism disappeared from the city at an unknown date but was revived from the 9th century onward.
• In the 11th century, the Chudamani Vihara was built by the Javanese king Sri Vijaya Soolamanivarman, with the patronage of Raja Raja Chola I.
• The “Animangalam Copperplate” of Kulothunga Chola records that “Kasiba Thera” (a Buddhist monk) renovated a Buddhist temple in the 6th century, with the help of Buddhist monks of “Naga Nadu.”
  • This “nagar annam vihar” later came to be known as “Nagananavigar.”

Kanchipuram

• The Chinese Buddhist monk-scholar Hsuan Tsang, who visited India in the 7th century CE, described Kanchipuram as a flourishing city, noting that most of its population was Buddhist.
  • He recorded over 100 Buddhist monasteries and over a thousand Buddhist monks, and also mentioned the presence of 300 monks from Sri Lanka in the monastery in the southern sector of Kanchipuram.
  • The Pallava king Mahendravarman, in his Sanskrit work Mattavilasa Prahasana, refers to the existence of many Buddhist viharas, the chief among them being the Raja Vihara.
    • Among the notable Buddhist scholars who were either natives of, or resident in, the city, Hsuan Tsang mentions Rev. Dharmapala, rector of Nalanda University and a native of Kanchipuram, as well as Anuruddha Thera, author of the Abhidhammattha-sangaha.
    • Though there is evidence that Ven. Buddhaghosha resided in Kanchipuram for some time, it remains uncertain whether he was a native of the city — though he was, in all probability, from the Tamil country.
  • Hsuan Tsang, who visited the city in the 7th century, described it as 6 miles in circumference, with people renowned for their bravery and piety, as well as their love of justice and reverence for learning.
    • He further recorded that Gautama Buddha himself had visited the place.
    • It was during the reign of the Pallava dynasty (4th to 9th centuries) that Kanchipuram attained its greatest prominence.
• The city served as the Pallava capital, and many of its well-known temples were built during their reign.
  • According to Tamil tradition, the founder of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidharma, was born here.
• Manimekalai, one of the epics of the post-Sangam age, is a work of Buddhist literature, and contains an elaborate description of Kanchipuram.