Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

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

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46 to JAINA ARCHAEOLOGICAL HERITAGE OF TAMILNADU
images of Adinatha are carved east facing, Mahavira south facing and Parsvanatha west facing. Such specimens are met with in places like Kalugumalai, Chettipodavu, Anaimalai, Tirakkol, Vallimalai, Tirunarungondai etc. Whether these sculptures were intensionally commissioned soor merely a coincidence cannot be precisely ascertained at present.
During the medieval times, however, there was a strong belief associating Parsvanatha with the western direction among the Digambaras of Tamilnadu. As its sequel, many of his images came to be consecrated facing the western direction. Being a Jina occupying the western niche, Parsvanatha was popularly known as "Tirumerrisaiyan" or "Tirumerrisai perumal". 24 Lithic records from Karantai and Jaina devotional compositions such as Tirumerrisai Anthathi, Tirumerrisai padikam and Appandainathar Ula25 eulogise Parsvanatha as a Tirthankara facing the western direction. Although this tradition was in vogue in Tamilnadu, most of the Parsvanatha temples face east and they even do not accommodate his image in the western niche of the shrine. Hence, it cannot be treated as a rule that Parsvanatha should be consecrated facing the western direction only.
IMPACT OF KARNATAKA ART IDIOM:
Karnataka and Tamilnadu had political, cultural, commercial and religious contacts from a very early period. Jainism served as a link between the two regions since the 3rd century B.C. down to modern times. Most of the historians agree in common that Jainism spread to Tamilnadu from Karnataka long before the advent of the Christian era. 26 An early brahmi inscription of the 2nd century B.C. from Sittannavasal records that one Kauti Iten monk of