Chennai, Feb 12: In a major discovery, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials have excavated two Buddha statues and ornamental pillars, believed to be dating back to 10th Century AD, from a village near here proving the visit of a king of Sumatra, now part of Indonesia, to the temple.
The two statues in meditation pose and pillars were excavated from near a Siva temple at suburban Kolapakkam and has inscriptions in Tamil, T Satyamurthy, superintending engineer, ASI, told reporters today.
According to the inscriptions, the statues were donated by Sumatran King Sri Vijaya Maharaja. It also confirmed the king's visit to the small temple near Chennai, he said.
Describing the finding as historic, Satyamurthy said "epigraphically and structurally, these were important finds."
The king also donated land to the Agastheeswarar temple, from where the statues were unearthed, he revealed.
The face of Buddha had Mangoloid features, which showed the South East Asian influence, he said.
One of the ornamental pillars had a human face, with a headgear, which also indicated South East Asian influence.
Sri Vijaya Maharaja was a contemporary of famous Chola King Raja Raja Chola, Satyamurthy said, adding the findings clearly revealed the exchange of visits by heads of states in the 10th century itself.
Donating some land to the temple also revealed the secular character of the kings in those days, Satyamurthy said.
The king was a guest of Raja Raja Chola and requested the Chola King, who built the Big Temple at Thanjavur, to donate land at Nagapattinam to construct Buddha Vihars there, Satyamurthy said.
Kolapakkam village came under Tondamandalam, ruled by Pallava dynasty and had lot of Buddhist influence. Kancheepuram, the capital of Pallavas, had a Buddhist university in the early part of eighth century.
The statues unearthed were three feet tall and the ornamental pillars were made of granite. (Our Correspondent)