Jain Journal 1969 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 47

APRIL, 1969
253
over ; but only a few of the paintings have now survived. They may be seen on the ceilings, beams and upper parts of the pillars. The whole theme of the painting is remarkably Jaina in its conception and the scenes depicted present a pleasing variety of Jaina religious art.
The Sittannavasal paintings constitute an important link in the art traditions of Indian continent and Ceylon and deserve to be studied in correlationship with the chronological series of Ajanta frescoes and the Bagh cave frescoes of the southern and northern India and the Sigiriya frescoes of Ceylon, all ascribed to the period ranging between the 4th and the 7th centuries A.D. Sittannavasal art may stand a good comparison with the art of Ajanta and Sigiriya. The frescoes of Sittannavasal furnish the earliest specimen of painting in south India, and from the Jaina point of view they are the solitary instance of the early Jaina art on fresco.
Narttamalai is the name owned by a group of low hills, about nine in number. These hills are saturated with Jaina relics which show that they must have been the resorts of Jaina ascetics from the earliest times to a late epoch of mediaeval centuries.
The hill known as Aluruttimalai of the group possesses a natural cavern containing traces of rocky beds similar to those at Sittannavasal. Rock-cut Jaina sculptures depicting the Tirthankaras are also found here.
The existence of another monastery in the same period on the adjoining hill which is now known as Bommamalai or 'the hill of images' is disclosed by an inscription which registeres the gift of a village providing for offerings to the Jaina deities and for maintaining monks dwelling in the monasteries of Truppallimalai and Tentiruppallimalai. Another hill of the Narttamalai group is called Melamalai or 'the western hill’. It is also known as Samanarmalai or 'the hill of the Jaina recluses'. On these hills, there exists a rock-cut cave temple which is known as the Samanar Kudagu or 'the hill shrine of the Jaina monks'. Originally it must have been a Jaina possession and there is evidence to show that it was converted into a Visnu temple at the beginning of the 13th century A.D.
Tenimalai is another hill in the Pudukkottai area noted for its Jaina antiquities. It owns a natural cavern with evidence indicating its habitation in an early age.
Chettipatti is another interesting spot in the same region which has yielded a large number of ancient Jaina vestiges. In a large mound called