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CHAPTER 9]
SOUTH INDIA
1.
by the hills of Tondaimandalam (Chingleput, North Arcot and South Arcot Districts), where again similar caverns with beds occur. In the Cola country, south of Tondaimandalam and north of Pändya territory, there is very little evidence of Jaina occupation in this period, with the exception of Tiruchchirappalli and the western fringes of the Kaveri delta.
Contemporary Tamil literature, known as the Sangam literature is familiar with the Jainas and some of their practices. Increasing knowledge of the Jainas and their tenets and philosophy is exhibited only in the epics, the Silappadikāram and Manimekalai, which may be assigned to about the fifth-sixth centuries A.D. However, opinion is divided among scholars regarding the date of these two epics, some scholars treating the epics as Sangam works and hence assigning them to about the second century A.D. and others bringing them down to a period as late as the eighth century A.D.
There is clear evidence in the Silappadikaram of the existence of Jaina temples in some important towns like Kaverippumpattinam and in the Cera country (Kerala). Evidently these temples were of the structural mode and the materials used in their construction were those commonly used prior to the seventh century in this region, viz. brick, mortar and timber.
A Jaina institution of considerable importance and antiquity is mentioned in the Silappadikaram. The institution was known as Gunaväyirkoṭṭam (a temple?) and is said to have been situated in the Cera country. Ilango Adigal, the author of the work, was a Cera prince, who renounced his claims to the Cera throne and took to asceticism. In all probability he became a Jaina monk and retired to the Gunaväyirkottam. Recently, attempts have been made to locate the kottam in the Cera region and incidentally, the date of the epic has been brought down to the eighth century. It may be argued, however, that the nature of Jaina influence revealed by this work and its specific references to Jaina institutions make it highly improbable that such an institution came into existence after the religious conflict which began in the seventh century or that it outlived in any remarkable way the serious consequences of the Brahmaṇical revival of the seventh-eighth centuries. On the contrary, it is quite likely that originally the temple was constructed in brick and mortar and was later converted into a stone edifice, the ruins of which are supposed to exist in a site called Kunavay, not far from Kodungallar (Cranganore) in central Kerala.
M.G.S. Narayanan, 'New light on Kunaväyirkoṭṭam and the date of Cilappadikäram'. Journal of Indian History, XLVIII, 1970, pp. 691 f
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