A group of archaeologists and historians at Kranthi village, Nagapattinam, have found an ancient stone statue of Lord Buddha dating back to the Chola period of the 11th or 12th century.

The statue of Buddha in a meditative pose is 32 inches tall and 22 inches broad.

Historian Dr B Jambulingam of Kumbakonam said the features of the Buddha such as the broad shoulders, long ears, slender fingers and curly hair are of the later Chola period, as is the inscription on the statue.

The district administration is to arrange for a detailed archaeological examination.

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The archaeology department confirmed that they have found the remains of a 2500-year-old city buried 30 km away from the capital, in Durg district. It was a chance discovery when on a visit to Tarighat the deputy director, J R Bhagat found old coins, beads, pottery, bones and structural features on the banks of the Kharun River. Signs of burnt structures indicate that the ancient city may have been completely destroyed in a fire.

The ancient city is believed to have been rich in ceramic culture. Some terracotta figures of humans and animals were also traced.

The Archaeological Survey of India has approved excavation of the area based on the initial findings.

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According to Girija Shankar Agrawal, 80, the historian who claims he found the remains of an astronomy study centre dating back to 1100 AD lying unprotected in Taragarh village in Mandla district, there are over 500 historical structures languishing unprotected that if not preserved will vanish forever.

Agarwal's discovery, the astronomy centre, was built by a Baghel dynasty ruler who reigned from 1188 - 1203 and Agarwal and his team found equipment used in those days for the study of astronomy. History reference books also bear evidence to the astronomy study by experts at the centre at the time.

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The Federal Ministry of Culture has cleared a proposal to accord Malayalam, a language believed to be more then 2300 years old, the classical status.

Malayalam belongs to the family of Dravidian languages and is the only south Indian language not accorded the classical status. Tamil, Kannada and Telugu were given the status a few years ago.

According to the expert panel Malayalam developed as a separate language out of the west coast dialect of Old Tamil during the eighth or ninth century.

Malayalam is spoken by over 30 million people, 3 million of whom live in different states across India and overseas.

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The Treasury of National Jewels managed by the Central Bank of Iran displays countries of origin of the finest precious stones in the world in the world's largest jewel museum, in Teheran.

The museum map identifies the oceans and seas in emeralds and land in rubies. Southeast Asia, Iran, England and France are specified in diamonds. India is shown in pale red rubies.

The museum has diamonds that can be traced to the Golconda mines of Andhra Pradesh and diamonds from India include the famous Sea of Light the world's largest pink diamond, a sister of the world's largest cut diamond, the Koh-i-Noor. Both were taken by Nader Shah, who invaded India in 1730.

The entrance to the museum is breathtaking in the splendour of the collections of jewels, jewellery, embellished swords, brooches, belt buckles crowns and thrones,including the Peacock Throne that the museum official explains is not the Peacock Throne taken from India.

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