Buddhism and Tamil

Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy, S Thillainayagam, Aadhavan Pazhani , G. Udhayaraj

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English

Routledge
06 May 2025

History of religion; Hinduism; Ethnic studies; Sociology; Anthropology

First published in 1940, Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy’s Buddhism and Tamil was one of the pioneering attempts to trace the history of Buddhism in the Tamil country. With judicious exploitation of archaeological, linguistic, and historical sources, Venkatasamy delineates how Buddhism flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 13th century CE and traces its residual presence in contemporary Tamil culture. The book challenges the then-prevalent belief that Tamil is synonymous with Saivism and problematises the simplistic understanding that Hinduism had always been the religion of India. Venkatasamy’s stylistic and literary analysis of Pali and Tamil texts, his careful study of inscriptions, and his extensive fieldwork identify the role of Buddhism in shaping the language, literature, and ethics of Tamil society.

By: Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy
Translated by: S Thillainayagam, Aadhavan Pazhani, G. Udhayaraj
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 470g
ISBN: 9781032482286
ISBN 10: 1032482281
Pages: 152
Publication Date: 06 May 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. The Life of Gautama Buddha 2. The History of the Tripitaka 3. The Buddhist Philosophy 4. Buddhism Arrives in the Tamil Country 5. Buddhism Flourishes 6. Buddhism Declines 7. Buddhist Centres in the Tamil Country 8. Buddhist Doctrines in Hinduism 9. Buddhists and Tamil 10. The Manipravalam Style 11. The Tamil Buddhist Sages 12. Texts of Tamil Buddhism 13. Pali Words in Tamil Appendices 1. Saathanar-Iyyanar 2. Manimekalai: The Sea Goddess 3. Ajivikas 4. The Period of Manimekalai 5. Buddhist Stories in Thiruvilayadal Puranam 6. Tamil Buddhism: Convergences between Pandit Iyothee Thass and Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy 7. Buddha Statues in the Buddha Statues in the Chola Country in the Chola Country 8. The Madras High Court Verdict on Thalavetti Muneeswara Temple Bibliography Translator's Bibliography

Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy (1900-1980) was a prominent Tamil scholar known for his interdisciplinary research in history, literature, and religion. Some of his renowned works are Christianity and Tamil (1936), Samanam and Tamil (1954), Tamil Literature in the Nineteenth Century (1962), History of the Kongu Region (1974), and Tamil Country under the reign of the Kalabhras (1976). In honour of his contributions to Tamil Studies, the Tamil Nadu government nationalised his works in 2000. S.Thillainayagam, a retired professor of English, has authored a book containing precise and easy-to-understand meaning for the Thirukural couplets in Tamil and English. Besides editing Sundara Ramasamy’s Selected Essays and translating Vallikannan’s Tamil Prose after Bharathi (Routledge), he has several Tamil to English translations to his credit. His translation of Pichamurthy’s Selected Short Stories won him the Nalli-Thisai Ettum Award for the best Tamil to English translation of the year 2019. He is the recipient of A.Muttulingam Translation Award 2024 for his contribution to Tamil to English translation. Aadhavan Pazhani is a doctoral candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London, working on the emergence of modern Tamil prose and the novel in nineteenth-century Colonial Tamil Nadu. His writings and translations in English and Tamil have appeared in The Indian Express, Pudhiya Panuval, Kalachuvadu, and Neelam. He is currently editing a volume of Stalin Rajangam’s translated essays in English. G.Udhayaraj is Assistant Professor of English at Madras Christian College. Specialising in New Historicism, regional literature, and translation, he is pursuing his PhD in the cross-cultural study of Enlightenment.