Jain Journal 2002 07

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

Page 53

Dr. B. K. Khadabadi: Contribution of Jainism
All these can be seen reflected in the various Jaina monuments, relics, cults, social customs and manners etc. available therein. Dr. P. B. Desai (Jainism in South India and some Jaina Epigraphs), has lucidly shown that in Tamil Nadu several caverns. rocky beds and epigraphs have clear Jain association of hoary antiquity. Moreover religious centres like Kanchi, Madurai, Ponnur Sitalavasal, Chittānūr etc. bear great testimony to the past glories of Jainism in Tamil Nadu. In Tinnavely district, Kalagūrmalali is rich in rock-cut Jaina sculptures. Some of the so-called 'Pañca-Paṇḍava Beds' carved out in rock on the hills and mountain regions in the Padukoṭṭai area were actually created for the Jain ascetics and monks who always preferred calm natural surroundings. A hill in the Madurai district is known as "Siddharamalai" (Hill of Jain sages) even to this day. Moreover the Yakṣiņi cult, widely prevalent in the Tamil country in early and medieval period, and now found in some other garb or guise, is a creation of the Jaina teachers to meet the religio-social needs of the days, by providing to their followers Jaina female deities like Ambikā, Siddhāyika etc, who could stand parallel to the Saivite and Vaiṣṇavite deities like Parvati, Lakṣmi etc. The idea and nomenclature of Samgam (Academy) in the Tamil Jain literature is rightly said to have been of Jaina Samgha and Müla Samgha.
It is the realm of Tamil literature that conspicously reveals the different aspects of Jaina contribution to the cultural life of its people. The Jainas were the pioneers in the cultivation of the Tamil language and enrichment of Tamil literature in its various branches: Inscriptions, epics, poetry, prosedy, grammar, lexicography, mathematics, astrology etc. To mention a few Tolkāppiyam (C. 450 A.D.) the most authentic Tamil grammar, Tirukkural (C. 600 A.D.) the immortal Tamil veda, Śilappadikāram (C. 800 A.D.) the well-known Tamil Classic of abiding interest, Jīvaka Cintāmaņi (C. 1000 A.D.) - the great romantic epic and Vasudevanār Sindam (?) which is based on the renowned Paiśāci Bṛhatkatha of Guṇāḍhya and which stands in rank with the Prakrit Vasudevahiṇḍi are all by Jaina authors. The Tamil Jaina inscriptions, as observed by scholars in the field like Dr. K. V. Ramesh, clearly show the Jaina contribution to the growth of the Tamil language and literature. In this process the early Jaina teachers formulated new terms like nikkanda (nir - grantha), Samanar (Śramaņas) etc. The team palli in usage even to this day, (formerly meaning Jaina
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