Chennai: Students of Bharathidasan University in Trichy discovered a Jain sculpture dating back to the 10th century near a temple in the Pudukottai district recently. The students also found a stone replica of a device used to execute people in ancient times.
According to a report in the Times of India, the students of Bharathidasan University during a trip found the Jain sculpture near the village temple and a Kazhumaram, which is used to torture and kill people at Iraiyur village near Keeranur.
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Following this, the archaeology research forum in Pudukottai conducted a study into the stone sculpture and found out that the sculpture was of a Jain lord.
Further, they studied the sculpture which was 84 cm in height and 54 cm in width, and identified the sculpture as Mahavira or Vardhamana of Jain belief.
The sculpture showed Mahaviramah in a meditating pose with a tree and though the intricacies of the sculpture waded over time the sculpture remained intact.
The university students pursuing MA history identified the sculpture during their field trip and those students who found the sculpture were Mariammal, Rangaraj, Priyanka and Lokesh.
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Even last year, a 3-ft rock sculpture of Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, belonging to the 11th Century AD was found near a temple in Tiruvallur district. The sculpture was first found by a villager who informed heritage activist Sridharan Appandairaj and Jain priest K Jeevakumar who visited the spot and retrieved the sculpture of Mahavira.