Tanjore
temple Buddha!
Built by Rajaraja the great of medieval cholas, this 1000 years old temple is still standing and praising his name…Tanjore temple is historian’s paradise where you can get a visual treat of historical and architectural wonders …recently got a chance to visit the chola heartland and especially this architectural grandeur…this time got an interesting depiction just near the left side entrance of main temple…
Its Buddha..yeah clearly the depiction shows its Buddha, excited and
took some pics of the same, I saw two depictions of Buddha, first one
is Buddha meditating under a tree ( possibly Bodhi), the next one is
Buddha standing under the same tree while others praying…
The depiction is Buddha, not a tirthankar because, tirthankars mostly
accompanied by yaksha/yakshis and they won’t cover their bodies
with clothes…
Just searched about these depictions but no clear explanations
available, these are some popular theories I got (the below things
are various theories which may be historically incorrect too…)
1) Rajaraja is famous for his religious tolerance as he supported
many religions (he grant permission for chudamani vihara in
Nagapattinam needs to be consider) so no wonder that Rajaraja
depicted this Buddha at the same time no tirthankars depiction in the
temple which is answerless
2) This theory is quite interesting and can be possibly true. Because
some puranas says this type of stories, you can notice that the
entire stretch of the left side circumbulation is full of
“Tripuranthaka” depictions and tripuranthaka episodes..the story
goes like this three demons sought three forts, one of pure gold,
another of silver, last of iron and each could fly as boon , they can
be killed only if they aligned in a same point, as years passed they
became a challenge to devas…But devas found that they can be killed
only if they leave the rituals and worship of gods, so they sought
the help of vishnu , vishnu took a form of maya buddha and led themout
of that vedic faith, this reduced the power of demons later shiva
ended the task …The Devas with the help of Visvakarma
constructed the chariot of the earth, the Sun and the Moon became its
wheels, the bow was the Mount Meru itself and Vasuki the Bow string.
Vishnu himself became the arrow. Brahma became his charioteer and he
led the Deva army along with Ganesha, Skanda and Mahishasuramardhini…
This story is something new to all of us but this is reffered in
different forms in different purans…so in connection with
tripurathanka depictions this Buddha depiction also made…But some
historians says that this puranic buddha is different from sakyamuni
buddha…
3)one of the controversial theory is that tripuranthaka depiction
itself denotes the supremacy of saivism over three elements of
buddhism or three jewels of buddhism ( Buddha, Dharma and sangha) but
this is pointless because the king himself patronized many buddha
viharas and jain pallis
The depiction of buddha in tanjore temple is one of the interesting
facts that revolves around this mighty monument.......
