Jain Journal 1997 07

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

Page 11

JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXII, No. 1. July 1997
consequent development is referred to in the work of Kannada writers, particularly of Devacandra of 18-19th centuries A.D. Devachandra's Rajāvalikathāsāra also provides more curious information about the Pandyan queen's relation with Karnataka, along with impaling of Jaina ācāryas. About Kun Pandya, he says that he destroyed about 985 basadis in the Pandya country, and fifty in Madurai alone. In respect of a Jaina basadi at Madurai, he provides the curious information that Neminātha, the family god of the Pandyas, was hidden away, and Kusumandini was renamed Mināksi. Regarding the persecution of the ascetics, he says the Andis there persecuted the Jains and celebrated the festival of Pikas that is the Sramana Sulada Habba, impaling of Jaina ascetics during the festive occasions in the Saiva temples of Tamil Nadu. 19 The Impaling ceremony of Jaina ascetics in the Saiva temples if Tamil Nadu has been discussed separately in this paper.
Further, he also states that, Acalā the Jaina wife of Kun Pandya
Tamil literary tradition indicates that the conversion of the King took place only after witnessing miracles performed by Saint Appar. They were chiefly four : 1. Saint Appar was not killed, though he was shut up in a lime kiln for
seven days. 2. He did not die though he ate milk and rice mixed with poison. 3. The elephant which was urged to kill Saint Appar left him free, and
killed two Jains. 4. He was not drowned when thrown into the sea tied to a huge stone.
In the last instance, the stone became a float for him and it took him to the temple of Tiruppadiripaliyar, i.e., Cuddalore in the South Arcot
District. Periyapurana refers to the existence of an ancient Jaina monastry or college at Pataliputra, the old name for old Tirupuliyur. The remains of Jain images and sculptures are comparatively common in this area of South Arcot District. It also says that, Appar was a student of the Jaina College at Pataliputra, but was converted to Saivism by his sister who was a Saiva. Mahendravarman, after his conversion, turned the Pataliputra monastry into a temple of Siva, and ordered the extermination of all the Jains. (Madras District Gazetteers, South Arcot, p. 76 oft. 1906) In relation to the circumstances that provoked the interest of the Pandyan king of Madure to give up Jainism and the influence rendered on the King by another Saiva Saint Tirujnana Sambandhi Pille has been narrated in detail in the literary tradition of Tamil Nadu. The content runs as follows: Tirujnana Sambandhi Pille was a Saiva Saint who was considered to be even an Avatar of Siva. This saint cured Kubja Pandya of Madure of a fever which the Jains had failed to cure. We also learn that the king