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Rao Saleb C. S. Shrinivasachari
posture in which the Tirthankaras are often represented. Inscriptions on the pedestals of Jaina images at Anaimalai tell us, among other things, that a certain Gunasenapperiyadigal (or Gunasenadeva) was in charge of the Jaina hermitage (palli ) and the presiding teacher in charge of the cavern. The teachers sought the shelter of these caverns in their secluded retirement or in the rainy season. At Pechchi-pallam, also near Madura, there is a row of Jaina sculptures, five of which are adorned with serpent-hoods and attendant deities and are, undoubtedly, representations of the seventh Tirthankara Supārsva. Three of them are seated figures of ascetics with the usual triple umbrella held over them. One of the Vatteluttu inscriptions at the place mentions Gunamadiyar, the mother of Ajjanandi, the teacher referred to above; and another names a certain Kanakanandi who was a servant of the Palli of Kurandi which was in charge of Gunasenadeva. Similar beds and canverns are found at Kunnukkudi in the Ramuad district and at Sittannavāsal in the Pudakotta state.
A Jaina image with a prabha chiselled above its head, on a rock at Kongar-Paliyan gulam near Madura, is according to the vatteluttu iuscription below it, a representation of Acharya Ajjanandi. At Muttuppatti, also in the Madura taluk, on a detached boulder containing a bed and a Brahmi inscription cut into it, are two prepared niches containing two Jaina images with attendant chauri-bearers and a prabha. Below these are two vatteluttu records ( Nos. 61 and 62 of Appendix C list of inscriptions copied in 1910), the first of which says that Kanakavira-periyadigal, a disciple of Gunasendeva, who
1 The Madras Epigraphist's Report for 1909 (p. 70) holds that it is not easy to say if the origin of these ancient caverns is to be traced to Buddhist or Jaina influence. “As however the Brahmi characters are not known to have been used in the early Jaina inscriptions of the faith, the presumption that the caverns are Buddhistic appears to be the more correct one."
The report for the next year holds that these caverns were once occupied by Buddhists and, in a subsequent period, appropriated by Jaina ascetics whose institutions relating to religious mendicancy resembled closely those of the former.
Shatabdi Granth ]
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