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JAINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF TAMILNADU
Chandraprabha flourished from the times of the Pallavas down to the period of the Vijayanagara. This place provides a good scope for the study of art history as evidenced by sculptures and paintings. It has been pointed out that palm leaf manuscripts in the possession of the priests of the temples supplement our knowledge of Jaina teachers and of Jain iconography. Scholars like T.N.Ramachandran had made an extensive study of this centre in his work known as Tirupparuttikunram and its temples.
SAGE AKALANKA AND YAKSHI CULT
The legends connected with a Jaina king Himasitala and a Jaina sage Akalanka find their place in Mackenzie Manuscripts (Ms no 11 Sec 5 and no 68). There is also a mention about the migration of a group of Jainas to Tondaimandalam region. Himasitala, the Jaina king of North India along with a large number of Jaina families migrated to the south and they were instrumental in the reclamation of Dandaranya (Tondaimandalam) for agriculture and trade. It is also said that they established the capital and religious centre of the newly developed territory at Kanchipuram.
One Akalanka, a resident monk of the Buddhist monastery at Alividaitangi, disagreed with their teachers and engaged in the study of Jaina Agamas at Sravanabelagola (Ms no 14.3). On his return as a devoted Jaina disciple defeated the Buddhist in a discourse in the court of Himasitala. In the process, he had the grace of Yakshi Dharmadevi only after severe austerities at Karantai temple. Subsequently, he became the Pontiff of the Jaina monastery at Kanchipuram. Though the king mentioned in the legend is not to be found in the genealogy of the kings For Private & Personal Use Only
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