Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 261

The Followers of the Ever Growing One
241
name of the god is not given and it was probably a question of an image of a tirtharkara.
The following references all belong to the vast cave-temple of Kalugumalai in Tirunelveli district, where three rows, one above the other, of images of the twenty-four tirthankaras are carved into the rock. The inscriptions, dating back to the Xth and XIth centuries, are to be found in most cases at the feet of the images. It is noteworthy that the majority of kuratti ațigals who came there on pilgrimage are referred to by the name of the place from which they came rather than by a proper name and that no samgha or gana is mentioned. The names of sixteen kuratti adigals have been identified, as also that of their guruni who figures several times in different epigraphs, which testifies to the importance of the person in question. These epigraphs can be arranged into three groups:
In the first group the text tells how such or such a kurattiyār of a certain place had an image carved and erected;303 generally the name of her guruņi and of her ācārya are given. The words used to denote a disicple are: mānākkiyār and mānäkkiga!, while those used to denote statue or sacred image are: tiru-mēni and padimam (from pratimă). We note the names of:
Piccai-kkuratti304 of śirupolal in the district of Idaikkalanādu; Tiruccāraṇatlu-bhatārigal,305 disciple of Miļalūr-kkurattiyār;
303 l.e. this kurattiyâr caused the erection of the statue; this may be understood as meaning either that she herself directly caused the erection or that she had inspired another person to get the task executed. No donor is named and probably the community of śrāvakas had collaborated to meet the expenses of the project.
304 Piccai: alms another example, similar to pattini, of the adigaļs being named after some characteristic of their vocation. Desai aptly remarks on p. 80: "Indications are furnished by the epigraphs to surmise that, as social workers and spiritual teachers, the Jaina monks and nuns came into close contact with the masses who treated them with deference and a feeling of attachment. This may be gleaned from the manner in which Jaina teachers