Encyclopaedia of Jaina Studies Vol 01 Jaina Art and Architecture

Author(s): Sagarmal Jain, Others
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 281

Introduction
Mathura, Deogadh, Chandpur, Chanderi, Khajuraho, Bilhari, Gwalior, Khandagiri (Bārabhuji and Navamuni caves- Puri, Orissa), Akota, Delvada (Vimalavasahi, Lūṇavasahi, Kharataravasahi), Kumbharia, Taranga, Jalore, Ranakpur, Girnar and Satruñjaya.
SOUTH INDIA
South India (south of Vindhyan mountain) has been an important seat of Digambara and also of the Yapaniya Jaina sects. The tradition says that the Mauryan ruler Candragupta journeyed to the south towards the end of his life in the company of his teacher Bhadrabahu, some time before B.C. 297. The Digambara monk Visakhācārya with a number of followers went to South India in the areas of the Cholas and the Pandyas. Kundakundacārya also spread Jainism in the area. It was mainly during the period of the Pallavas of Kañcīpuram, Rāṣṭrakūtas of Manyakheta and the Pandyas of Madurai that Jainism had its heydays. The whole of the south, particularly Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and great dynasties of these regions were often dedicated to Jainism. We know of the rulers (5th to 12th-13th cent. A.D.) of the Pallava, Pandya, Western Calukya, Ganga, Raṣṭrakūta, Kalacuri and Hoysala royal families who were devoted to Jainism and for its spread.
Many Jaina poets of great repute flourished under the patronage of Raṣṭrakūta rulers of Manyakheța (Malkhed). Under their patronage developed the Jaina caves of Ellora (Cave nos. 30-34) which yielded some of the masterpieces of Jaina sculptures of Bahubali, Pārsvanatha and Ambikā. Vīrasena wrote his monumental commentaries on Satkhandagama under Jagattunga and his successors. Jinasena and Gunabhadra Acāryas, composed the great epic Mahāpurāṇa (consisting of Adipurana and Uttarapuraṇa, 9th century A.D.) at the time of King Amoghavarsa, a follower of Jainism. Māhāvīrācārya wrote a work on mathematics. King Amoghavarṣa was himself the author of Ratnamalika, a work that became popular with all the sects. Puspadanta composed his famous Mahapuraṇa in Apabhramsa under
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the patronage of the minister of the Rastrakūta ruler Kṛṣṇa III.
The earliest vestiges of Jaina art in South India are of about 2nd cent. B.C. These are mostly natural caverns and caves in the extreme South. These caves are at Anamalat, Arachallevi, Aykudi Kalugumalai. Kurungalakkudi, Kiḍaripatti, Kilavalavu, Kongapulayankulam, Kunnakudi, Mamandür, Margalavalai, Mettupatti. Pugalur, Sittannavasal, Tiruchirapalli, Vävidhaiyur and Vikkiramangalam. There are several improvised rockcut beds carved for the monks with slightly raised pillows for supporting the head of slumbering monk. The short references to donations magnanimously made by lay followers are mentioned in early Brahmi inscriptions.
The most prolific sites of sculptural and architectural embellishments in South India (including Maharashtra) from c. 600 A.D. to 16th cent. A.D. are Badami, Aihole, Arsikeri, Lakkundi, Halebid, Mūdabidrī, Humca, Śravanabelagola (Calukya 8th-9th century to Nayaka period), Karur (Shimoga) and Venur and Karkal in Karnataka, Ellora (five caves - Nos. 30-34, 9th cent. A.D.) in Maharashtra, Tiruparuttikunaram (c. 8th to 16th-17th cent. A.D. - both sculpture and painting), Sittannavasal, Tirakkol, Anamalai (all three Pallava), Melsittämur and Deviagram (South Arcot), Kalugumalai, Karaikoyil, Tirumalai (Vellore, 9th-10th century A.D.), Vallimalai and Danavulapadu (Cuddapah) in Tamil Nadu, Bapaṭala (Guntur - 8th century A.D.), Chandragiri (Chitoor 9th to 12th century A.D.) and Penukonda (Anantapur 11th century A.D.) in Andhra Pradesh and Kallil (c. 8th 9th century A.D.) in Kerala.
The Western Gangas, who made Jainism almost the religion of their state, were great patrons of Jaina teachers. Camuṇḍaraya, the general of Marasimha, the Ganga king, was the architect of the great colossus of Śravanabelagola, the unique sculpture of Bahubali (A.D. 983) that is probably the one great example of Garga art if one were to choose a single example to represent that phase of art itself.