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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA (AD 600-1000)
the rule of the Pandyas. The earliest Jaina inscription 208 of this dynasty comes from Chitaral in the former Travancore state. The record in Tamil language and Vaṭṭeluttu characters, belongs to the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Varaguna I (c. AD 765-815),209 alias Neduñjadayan. The epigraph belongs to the last quarter of the eighth century AD. It records a gift of golden ornaments to the Bhatariyar of Tirucchāranattumalai, popularly known as the holy hill of the Caranas, made by the lady teacher Gunandāngi Kurattigal, disciple of Ariṣṭanemi Bhaṭāra of Perayakkuḍi. Two other inscriptions of the reign of this king are known and both come from Ramanathapuram district. They make mention210 of Tirukkāṭṭāmpalli, which seems to have been a Jaina temple at Kurandai, an important Jaina centre211 at Venbunāḍu.
We have an important Jaina inscription of the reign of Varaguṇa II, which is also important from the historical point of view. This is the Aivarmalai stone inscription212 found from Palni tāluk of Madurai district. The epigraph is incised above the natural cave on the Aivarmalai hill, so well-known for its Jaina relics. Unlike most of the Pandyan epigraphs, it yields a definite date, Śaka 792 corresponding to AD 870 which, according to the epigraph, was the eighth regnal year of Varaguna II. It registers a gift of 500 kāṇam of gold by Sāntivīrakkuravar of Kalam, the disciple of Gunavīrakkuravaḍigal for offerings to the images of Parsva Bhaṭāra (i.e., Pārśvanatha) and of the attendant yakṣis, and for feeding one ascetic. The inscription, therefore indirectly testifies that the temple-complex of this hill, dedicated to Parsva existed before the date of this inscription. A few other short epigraphs of this hill will be discussed below.
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Another important Pāṇḍyan Jaina inscription is dated in the twentieth regnal year of Saḍayan Māran,2 213 who is identified by some with Rajasimha II (c. AD 900-920), although K.A.N. Sastri, it appears believes that he was a different person. 214 The inscription was discovered from Uttamapaliyam in Periyakulam taluk of Madurai district. The epigraph is much damaged but definitely refers to a Jaina shrine of this hill, which is known for its Jaina antiquities. The Pandyan king Rājasimha II is said to have endowed several Jaina temples,215 showing that he was a Jaina patron.
Let us turn our attention to some of the epigraphs of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc., which are not connected with any ruling dynasty. We have a very early epigraph which was probably incised even prior to AD 600 and one that is also important from the palaeographical point
