Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs

SR No.: 011025
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 495
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 33 MB

Page 93

8. JAINISM IN TAMIL NAD
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But more interesting and conspicuous are the lady teachers who figure prominently and in a large number in these epigraphs. Like other donors of the images these also hail from different places and they are generally mentioned with reference to the places to which they belonged. In several instances the preceptors and the disciples of the lady teachers are specified; and from this we can make the following observations: i) The lady teachers as a rule had ladies for their teachers as well as for pupils. ii) But instances are not rare to show that men also had their share in both the rôles. iii) In one instance the parentage of the lady teacher is mentioned. iv) The lady teachers are invariably named as Kuratti which is Tamil feminine form of Sanskrit guru. I may illustrate these statements by citing the following instances. The references are to the numbers of inscriptions from South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. V. 1) Tiruchcharaṇattu Kurattigal: She figures in two epigraphs Nos. 324 and 326. Tiruchcharanam is the name of a hill in the Travancore area. I shall presently deal with this place in detail. 2) Pichchai Kuratti of Chirupolal (No. 319): Pichchai, we may note with interest, is a nick-name conveying the sense of begging. Compare Sanskrit bhiksha. 3) Sangakkurattigal: Her lady disciple was named Siriviśaiyakkurattiyār (Nos. 322-23). Sanga is equivalent of Sanskrit Samgha. This teacher was, possibly, the leader of a Jaina Samgha. 4) Mammai Kuratti: She had a lady disciple named Araṭṭanēmi Kuratti (No. 371). The male name of the latter is noteworthy. Mammai sounds like a nick-name. 5) Tiruparutti Kuratti: She was a pupil of the teacher Pattini Bhatara (No. 372). Tiruparutti may be an abbreviation of Tirupparuttikkunram. 6) Nalkūr Kuratti: She was the pupil of Nalkūr Amalanēmi Bhaṭāra and had a lady disciple named Naṭṭikappaṭarar (Nos. 355-56). Nälkur is a place name. Naṭṭikappaṭārar is an interesting epithet and may bear some connection with the art of dancing; its Sanskrit equivalent would be Natyaka Bhaṭāra. 7) Mi alur Kuratti: She was a disciple of Pērur Kuratti and daughter of Mingaikumān of Piḍānkuḍi of Karaikkana Nādu (No. 394). 8) Tirumalai Kuratti: She had a male disciple in Enadi Kuttanan (No. 370).
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST: Some of the records refer to the provision made by the devotees for the ablution and offerings of the deities and also for burning lamps before them (Nos. 327 and 361). We may reasonably surmise from this that most of the images were under worship. Two isolated epigraphs are dated in the reign of the Pandya king Maran Saḍaiyan. They refer to the god of Tirumalai and speak of the arrangement made by the teacher Gunasagara Bhatara for feeding ten and five ascetics (Vairagyar) respectively, including one Reader Bhațara or the preceptor who expounded the sacred texts (Nos. 405 and 406). All these records are engraved in Vatteluttu script