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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA (THE EARLY PHASE)
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Although the inscriptions discovered from these Jaina holy places are of somewhat later date (mostly post-seventh century AD), there is little doubt that most of these places were associated with Jainism from a much earlier period. We have early Brāhmi inscriptions datable from the third century BC and first century AD, discovered from the hills connected with Jainism in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. These Brähmi inscriptions have not yet been properly deciphered and therefore their contents continue to baffle researchers. Quite a few of them possibly contain the earliest specimens of the Tamil language, but most of them are a curious mixture of regional Prāksta and Tamil. Besides, all these epigraphs contain only a few words, which is why we have not been able to do full justice to them.
Let us first turn our attention to the Jaina sites of Tamil Nadu. The present Madura district, it appears, was the most important stronghold of the Jaina religion in this state. We have already seen that, according to the Sangam literary texts, Madura was noted for its Jaina temples and large number of lay devotees. We must not forget that as a result of religious persecution virtually all the Jaina shrines of Madura city disappeared in the course of time. The exceedingly high red walls of Jaina monasteries, referred to in the Maduraikkanchi, are now things of the past. But elsewhere in the district, an unusally large number of sites (particularly in the hills) are known to contain Jaina relics. Among these, the following may be mentioned here in alphabetical order, Aivarmalai: Alagarmalai Anaimalai, Karungālakkudi, Kiolavu, Kongr-Puliyangulam, Muttupatti, Poygaimalai, Seţtipodavu, and Utamapalai. This list is by no means, exhaustive, and it also be noted that a majority of these sites are situated on hills.
Aivarmalai is nine miles from Palni and is 1402 feet above the seal-level.65 The hill here, according to tradition, was associated with the Pandavas. Such traditions are common everywhere in India. On the north-east side of a natural shelter of the hill, which is 160 feet long and 13 feet high, we have 16 images of Tirthamkaras. A number of inscriptions have been discovered from here and they will be discussed in the chapter X.
The range of hills known as Alagarmalait is some 12 miles northwest of Madura. Brāhmi inscriptions, assignable to the second century BC have been discovered from the pillow side of the stone beds in a cavern of the hill, which were obviously used by the ascetics who lived there. Since the later inscriptions, found in the same cav
