Svasti

SR No.: 007006
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 446
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 46

Early Jainism in Tamilnadu New Epigraphic Evidence
Iravatham MAHADEVAN
The decipherment of cave inscriptions in Tamilnadu has produced new evidence proving conclusively the association of Jainism with the caves. There are no vestiges of Buddhist or Ājīvika occupation of the caves. The hitherto unsuspected influence of old Kannada on the language of the cave inscriptions from the earliest period has shown that Jainism reached the Tamil country through Karnataka at a very early date not later than about the third century B.C.. This paper is a brief summary of the new epigraphic evidence which has been presented in detail in my book Early Tamil Epigraphy (2003). To the earlier investigators of the Tamil caves, the Brāhmi inscriptions in characters resembling those of the Asokan edicts suggested Buddhist association even before the inscriptions could be properly understood. However, the texts of the Tamil-Brāhmi inscriptions which have now been fully deciphered, do not reveal any internal evidence for associating the Buddhist faith with the Tamil caves.
Early phase of Jainism in the Tamil country
Bhadrabahu-Chandragupta legend The advent of Jainism in South India is traditionally traced to the migration of Chandragupta Maurya and his preceptor Bhadrabahu to Sravanabelagola in Karnataka. According to the legend, when foretold of a terrible famine in Magadha which would last twelve years, the Jaina Samgha led by Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta migrated to South India and settled down at Sravanabelagola. Višākha Muni, the disciple of Bhadrabahu, went further south to the Tamil country and preached in the Cola and Pāntiya kingdoms. As the Bhadrabahu-Chandragupta legend is found only in relatively late sources, scholars have been hesitant to accept it as a historical event. The TamilBrāhmī cave inscriptions, now known to be the earliest Jaina records in South India, provide indirect corroboration of two key elements of the legend. The palaeography of
'Iravatham Mahadevan 2003. Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. Cre-A : Chennai, India & the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, USA (Harvard Oriental Series No. 62).