Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

Author(s): A Ekambarnathan
Publisher: Bharat Varshiya Digambar Jain Mahasabha

Page 152

JAINA MANUSCRIPTS 151
depicted themes of Virasena securing ascetics and monastics for the matha ( A.Ekambaranathan:1996). This matha had a well preserved textual tradition which includes Jaina works in Sankskrit, Prakrit and Tamil (Ms.no.132).
The establishment of the Chittamur monastic organisation was a sequel to the order of the Nayaka chieftain which led to the exodus of most of the Jainas from Gingee area. The legend goes that one of the Nayaka chieftain Venkatapati Nayak administering the Gingee area during the last quarter of the 15th century ordered for the persecution of the Jainas who refused to offer a bride from their community to the Nayak chief. Those Jainas who chose to stay in the region pursued their religion secretly inorder to escape the wrath of the Nayaka. During this period of religious oppression, a Jaina adherent from Uppuvelur made his way to the sacred centre of Sravanabelgola in Karnataka where he studied the Jaina Agamas and became a monk under the initiated name Virasenacharya. When normalcy was restored in Gingee area, Virasenacharya returned to Chittamur and propagated the Jaina doctrines by establishing the matha (Ms.no 11,Sec.2,12:5)
LEGEND OF TIRUNARUNGONDAI
The legend around the Parsvanatha temple at Tirunarungondai near Ulundurpet in Viluppuram district carries down the traditions relating to Appar and his association with this Jaina centre. One of the manuscripts gives an account of the Jaina temple of the place. Natural caverns with beds are found amongst a chain of hillocks near the village. Epigraphs reveal the existence of two Jaina shrines in this village dedicated to Chandranatha and Parsvanatha and they