Demarcating Sacred Space The Jina Images at Kalugumalai

SR No.: 007302
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Lisa N Owen
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 28
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

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however, often not recognized by scholars as the site continues today to be described as exhibiting three separate phases: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain. This is unfortunate, as many of India's ancient and medieval sites, particularly rock-cut monuments, clearly demonstrate multi-religious interests in their artistic expressions.20 This also seems to have been the case at Kalugumalai.
Prior to the carving of Jina images at the site, a monolithic temple dedicated to Śiva was excavated into the northern slope of the hill.21 The temple is often compared to the mid-eighth-century Kailāsanātha temple at Ellora as it exhibits a similar process of excavation; namely, it is carved from the top of the vimāna down to its base. This rockcutting technique is quite evident at Kalugumalai as parts of the temple exterior near the base and the main hall itself are left unfinished. The figural style of the imagery found on Kalugumalai's vimāna has also invited comparisons to Ellora's monolith and has prompted scholars to date the Kalugumalai temple (locally known as Vetuvankovil/Vattuvānkovil) to the eighth or early ninth century (Sivaramamurti 1961: 18-26; Meister & Dhaky 1983: 82-6). Though the exterior of the temple was never completed, worship practices could have been performed in the inner sanctum that is at least partly excavated.
With the creation of the siva temple, local Jain communities may have felt the need to establish a recognizably Jain devotional space. Of significance, Kalugumalai seems to have served as an important Jain center long before the eighth or ninth century, as some of its surrounding hills are carved with rock-cut beds dating to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. These beds, according to their Brahmi inscriptions, were used by a significant number of Jain ascetics (Desai 1957: 64). Moreover, in ancient times, Kalugumalai may have also served as an important site to Buddhists (Dundas 1992: 108). The name Kalugumalai literally means "Vulture Peak” which suggests that it was named after the hill outside of Rajagriha (Rājāgrha) where the Buddha preached a number of sermons. Though there are no extant Buddhist remains at Kalugumalai, the hill and its natural caverns may have served as residential quarters for Buddhist monastic communities in addition to Jains.
19 See for example Dhavalikar (2003) where the caves are examined in separate groups and the Jain caves are described as constituting their own phase of activity.
20 For shared notions and articulations of sacred space between the Jain Chotā Kailāsa and the Saiva Kailāsanātha temple at Ellora see Owen (2010a).
21 For illustrations see Sivaramamurti (1961).
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