________________
in length and 6.8 ft in height. It has two rows of five beds, each with a pillow-loft. Inscriptions dated Second and First B.C.E. are found in the head-side of the beds, and they refer to personal names such as Antai Ariti, Antai Iravatan, Antai Visuvan, Antai Sentan, Kavira Antai, etc. The names being prefixed with antai, which means respected father, they may be taken to refer to resident monks of the monastery. One of the records mentions that the stone bed was the gift of the people of Tidiyil, the modern Tidiyan, a hamlet near Dindgul in Madurai district.
24
Condensed from the author's book Jainism in Tamilnadu: Art and Archaeology, Jain I Jumanities Press, Canada and USA, 1996.
REFERENCES
1.Arhat Vachan, June 1990, Indore, India.
2. K.V. Raman and Y. Subbarayalu, 'A New Tamil-Bramhi Inscription in Arittapatti'
in Journal of Indian History, Vol.XLI, 1971. 3. Mukkudai, pp. 13-14.
4. Annual Report on Epigraphy, 457'1906.
5. Ibid., 67-74.
6. South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. XIV, No. 102.
7. Ibid., Vol.XIV, No. 103.
8. I. Mahadevan, Corpus of Tamil-Bramhi Inscriptions, Mangulam, Nos. 1-6., Madras, 1968.
9. Ibid., Muttupatti, Nos. 1-3.
10. ARE, 61/1910.
11. Ibid., 62/1910.
12. I. Mahadevan, Konkarpuliyankulam, Nos. 1-3.
13. ARE, 54/1910.
14. Ibid., 140-142/1951-52.
15. T.V. Mahalingam, Early South Indian Paleography, pp.251-255.
16. ARE, 38-A, B & C/1908.
17. I. Mahadevan, Alagarmalai, Nos. 1-13.
18. ARE, 396/1954-55.
19. TV Mahalingam, Op Cit., pp.212-213.
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