Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

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

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JAINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF TAMILNADU
instances are too many. Hence, a systematic survey and a multi-dimensional approach to the study of the Digambara sculptures in Tamilnadu would be a desideratum. ABSENCE OF SCULPTURES IN EARLY CAVES:
The earliest extant religious monuments of Tamilnadu are the natural caves which one served as abodes of Jaina mendicants. More than one hundred such abodes of the wind-clad ascetics have been brought to light sofar and they are found in Tirunelveli, Ramnad, Madurai, Pudukkottai, Trichy, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Erode districts.
These caves were made suitable for habitation of monks by cutting stone beds inside them. Sometimes, on the over-hanging boulder of the caves, a drip-ledge was cut to prevent rainwater flowing into the cave shelters. Epigraphical records in Brahmi characters of the 3rd century B.C. to 4th century A.D., mentioning the names of resident monks or of the donors of stone beds, are incised on many of them. Curiously enough, these early abodes of the Jaina monks are devoid of any sculptural embellishment.
Jainism in its early phase was very simple and puritanic and monks of the Jaina order paid little importance to image worship. Besides, the traditional aversion of the early Tamils towards the use of granite or any hard stone for making religious images also stood a stumbling block to the progress of sculptural art. However, this trend did not continue for long and, in course of time, changes had been accepted in all religious systems, as a result of which iconism and ritualistic worship formed an integral part of the
religious life of people. Various factors contributed to