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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
extensive grove adjoining Arangam (Śrīrangam) and the image of Arivan (probably Ādinātha), described as the first god, under the three umbrellas. The connection of the aśoka tree with the Jaina temple of this place is also significant, for it was sacred to the Jaina Tīrthamkara Mallinātha and there is a graphic description of a grove of aśoka trees in the Aupapātikasūtra.15
We should also refer to the residence (palli) of the Jaina nun Kavundi, which was not far from Kaveripattinam 46 on the northern bank of the Kāverī. This lady, we are told, was anxious to visit Madura in order to worship ‘Arivan by listening to Dharma, preached by the sinless, saints, who have by their purity got rid of all their Adharma.' This temple of Madura was also built of stone." Another Sangan text of great antiquity, the Maduraikkanchi, 18 gives a graphic de scription of the large Nirgranthas temple of Madura. It runs thus: 'Nirgrantha crowd the cloisters of the monks of their saints, the walls of which are exceedingly high, and painted red, and are surrounded by pretty, little flower-gardens.' This shows that this particular Jaina temple of the great city of Madura was built at very high cost and was obviously a remarkable shrine of that ancient city,
We have already referred to the Nirgrantha shrine of Vanji, which was near the eastern gate of that city. This shows that Jainism was not only popular in the Cola and Pāņdya kingdoms, but also Kerala. Vañji has been identified with a place not far from the present Cochin, and like Madura and Kāveripattinam it was a very ancient city.
The Silappadikāram also throws welcome light on the Jaina nuns of south India of those days. Among the equipment of Kavundi,19 mention is made of begging bowl and peacock-feathers, which are still used by the Jaina nuns everywhere. This shows that the life led by the nuns was not very different from that of the present day. Kavundi's hunger for knowledge and respect for the Cāraṇārs mark her as a remarkably august personality. Her affection for the heroine (Kannaki) makes her a character of flesh and blood.
This epic refers to the five types of Jaina monks,"" Arhat, siddha, ācārya, upadhyāya, and sādhu. Arivan is described as the 'bestower of Anga’,5l which implies that the Jaina literature was perfectly well known at that time in south India.
I have attempted to give readers some idea of the condition of the Jaina religion in southern India as revealed in this celebrated Tamil epic. It should not however be supposed that the poet being
