Jaina Archaeological Heritage of Tamilnadu

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

Page 94

PROTECTED JAINA MONUMENTS
93
century B.C. is engraved directly below a chiseled portion of the rock. Similar boulders with numerous beds arranged in a circle round their narrow bases also exist in an adjoining hill and the openings all round are protected by pieces of piled up stone. The concentration of beds may probably indicate a heavy congregation of ascetics within a small radius.
Tirupparankunram: Six rock cut beds are chiseled out on the western slope of the cavern on the Tiruparankunram hill about 8 kms. from Madurai. Of these four are small ones roughly equal in size and two slightly bigger. The latter lie spreading east to west and are mutilated on their pillow sides. The four smaller ones are cut by the side of the other and are separated only by a very thin band of stone. They are too narrow even for a medium sized human to stretch freely. On the pillow side of the small beds are engraved four Brahmi inscriptions datable to first century BC to first century AD. A spacious vault measuring 56 ft in length north to south, 20 feet depth and 5' 10" in height encompasses the remaining part of the cavern, one or two cell like holes in the overhanging rock may be meant to prevent exposure to wind and few inches higher up the brow of the sheltering rock and across it full length the margin is chiseled off and cut into a narrow drain to drain off water. A similar groove cut into the floor at the broad entrance may have likewise served to drain the water from the sloping rock on the southern side of the cavern. The existence of foot holes leading to the cavern, cut deep into the rock were meant perhaps to receive poles which once supported the wooden railings. The perennial spring which is reached by a flight of crude steps only a few yards down the northern side of the cavern served as source of water supply. A