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स्वः मोहनलाल बाठिया स्मृति ग्रन्थ
On the over hanging boulder of the cave is inscribed a five lined Vatteluttu record, assignable to the 5th century A.D. It states that Aratan, a disciple of Vajranandiācharya of Bananādu, performed Sallēkana in this cave and liberated his wordly bondages. The stone bed remains as his nisidika or memorial.
Jaina recluses observing fast unto death (sallekana) in order to get rid off themselves from wordly miseries was a common practice in ancient times. Here, Artān is said to have observed such a Varta and cast off his bodily remains. Vajranandi-achärya of this record is believed to be identical with the great acharya of the same name, who established the Dravida Sangha at Madurai around 470 A.D.10 Bāņanādu was a small principality, comprising of the modern south Arcot, North Arcot and chictooy districts, ruled by the Bana chieftains.
The Paraiyanpattu inscription is one of the two early lithic records mentioning the performance of Sallekana, the other being the Tirunātharkunru epigraph, also of the same period.11
5. FRAGMENTARY INSCRIPTIONS FROM
SITTANNAVASAL
Sittannavāsal is the most celebrated Jaina centre in Pudukkojfai district having a huge cave-resort, locally known as ēļaờipāttam, and a medieval rock-cut temple. Besides these, some small cave shelters and fragmentary records of jaina affiliation have been recently brought to
9.
G. Krishnamurti, "New inscription from Gingee area", MUKKUDAI (Madras), July, 1989, p.4. Ibid, p.8 11. Annual Report on Epigraphy, 239/1904
10.
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