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Chandragupta is associated with the spread of Jainism, and Asoka with that of Buddhism. Asoka's grandson Samprati was also a devout Jain and it has been recorded in the Jain chronicles that he sent monks to the Tamil country to propagate Jainism. The cave inscriptions in Tamilnadu are wholly associated with Jainism unlike the cave inscriptions of Sri Lanka which are all Buddhist records. The Tamil cave inscriptions prove that Jainism reached Tamilnadu during the Mauryan Period between the reigns of Chandragupta and Samprati, that is from about 300 to 200 B.C. It is significant that the earliest mention of the Tamil script (Damili or Dravidi) is found in the Jaina scriptures compiled before the Christian Era.
Most of the cave inscriptions, especially in the earliest period (about 2-1 cent. B.C.), are found clustered around Madurai, the capital of the Pandyan kingdom, on the famous hills like Alagarmalai, Anaimalai and Tirupparankunram. Madurai is often mentioned in these inscriptions. The clustering of early inscriptions around Madurai indicates that the city was the epicentre of Jainism in its earliest phase in Tamilnadu and that the religion was actively supported by the Pandya kings and by the rich merchant communities and guilds during the Sangam Age.
The earliest inscriptions at Mangulam near Madurai record the gift of a monastery to a senior Jaina monk named Gani Nanda-siri in the reign of Nedunchezhiyan, a Pandya monarch of the Sangam Age (Fig. 1). The inscriptions at Mangulam also record the collective gifts by the local merchant-guild. The inscriptions at Alagarmalai (also near Madurai) record the endowment of a Jaina monastery by the traders in commodities like cloth, sugar, salt, iron implements etc.
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Fig. 2: Cave Inscription near Karur recording the endowment of a Jaina monastery by a
Chera king (2 cent A.D.).
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