________________
JULY, 1983
About 4000 years or even much earlier, a tribal woman called Sabari arose to eminence and renown for her wisdom, learning and extreme penance. She lived on the hill and practised austerities in her hermitage. Jain monks might have preached Jainism and guided the people to live the right way of life in the remotest conners of Kerala. Sabari might have come into contact with some of the Jain monks, studied Jain Dharma under them, renounced worldly life in her younger days and was initiated as a nun in the Jain Monastic Order. The present hill on which she practised extreme penance and attained the highest state of spiritual wisdom came to be known as Sabarimalai for perpetuating her sacred memory. Today the hill has become a celebrated symbol of universal worship and the unity of Human Spirit in the religious annals of India.
Sage Valmiki in his Rāmāyaṇa has described Sabari in terms of a Mahasramani, which meant a great Jain Nun. Ascetic Bhagavan Mahavira was called Sramana Bhagavan in the Jain scriptures. Acarya Kundakunda has described ascetics of his order as sramanas. An Asokan inscription of 3rd century B.C. has described sramanas as Jain ascetics distinct from Brahmanas. Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar, the noted Indologist has opined that sramanas applied exclusively to the Jain ascetics or monks and not to any other mendicants. On the basis of all these scriptural and epigraphical evidences, we can say that Sabari was a great Jain nun substantiating the statement of the sage Valmiki.
We have trustworthy evidence to prove that in the days of Sabari, there existed on Sabarimalai some places of worship or even stūpas containing the body relics of the great Gurus or may be some footprints of Tirthankaras, hermitages and ārāmas-garden dwellings for Jain monks and vidyalayas or educational institutions conducted by them which are known as Pallis in Jain scriptures including Tamil scriptures. The relics have vanished in the course of several centuries either by vandalism or ravages of time.
In the Mahāpurāņam, a Digambar Tamil scripture translated from Sanskrit, it is stated that Emperor Bharata, son of Rsabhadeva, founder of Jainism, Neminatha or Aristanemi of the Vedas, a cousin of Sri Krsna and Samprati, a grand son of Asoka, a Jaina by fatith were pioneers in propagating Jainism not only in India but throughout the world. Neminatha lived between 2000 and 2500 years before Christ. According to the Mahāpurāņam, he came to South India and preached Jainism at Canjeevaram in Tamilnad. Some of the Neminatha's disciples might have visited Sabarimalai and stayed on this hill for propagating Jainism.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
