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Dr. Renuka Porwal : Ancient Jaina Art and Architecture
Tamil inscriptions in Brāhmi scripts out of them 85 are credited to Jaina affiliation. Mostly they are in the hill ranges around Madurai, Pudukkottai, and Tirunelveli. Pandya kings patronized Jainism, their kingdom Madurai being its centre?. The Grantha Nalidiyar was composed by Jaina ascetics while leaving the realm of Pandya king. Ganga Kings ruled over Mysore state between second to eleventh centuries. The Tamil literature is influenced by Jaina ethics. Hiuen-Sang visited Kanchi in 7th century. He mentioned its flourishing condition besides nothing, that Digambaras were more at Kanchi and Madurai. Ceylon :
As per Mahavamsha (Buddhist) scripture, Pandukabhaya (2nd B.C.), the king of Ceylon patronized Nirgrantha Šramanas. There were Jaina shrines at Anuradhapur before Buddhism spread in Ceylons. As researched of Dr. Hampa Nagarajaiya, “Jainism entered Simhala Island through Tamilnadu and Bridged cordialrelationship between Srilanka and Tamil country, as early as in the 4th century B.C.” Sittanavastsal :
The cave paintings of Sittanavatsal in Pudukottai district are noteworthy as they are of early period. Even 17 beds for recluses are chiseled here from the rock. The inscription informs us that stone beds were specially made and gifted to Jaina men from Mysore region. This shows the contact between Jaina Sangh with different regions. Ellora:
At Ellora there are five Jaina caves excavated in 8th century under the reign of the Rashtrakuta king Amoghvarsha. The cave nos. 30 to 34 are of Jaina pantheon, out of them three important; Indrasabha no. 32, Jagannatha-sabha no. 33 and Chhota-Kailash-no. 30. Indrasabha cave has images of Parsvanatha, Bahubali, Bramhayaksa,
7. Sathyabhama Badrinath, Jaina Archaeological heritage of Tamilnadu'. 8. A seminar on 'Spectrum of Jainism in Southern India', op.cit. Jainism In
Tamilnadu.
