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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300
[PART 1 the cavern. The cighth-ninth century sculptures here and in Pechchipallam reprem sent Parsva and other Tirthankaras and Yaksis such as Ambika and Ajita. Aijanandi, the famous Jaina teacher, also figures in one of them.
The whole range of hills called Samanarmalai appears to have been a monastic establishment of the Jainas called Tirukkattāmpalli of Kurandi in Venbunadu in later inscriptions from the ninth century onwards. This was, perhaps, one of the largest monasteries of the Jainas in the Tamil country, for members of this institution figure in inscriptions as far south as Chitral or
Tiruchcharanattumalai, south of Trivandrum and as far north as Karandai in North Arcot District.
5. Tirupparankunram (second century B.c. to second century A.D.). This centre is well-known for its Subrabmanya worship and is now represented by a huge complex of structures added to a rock-cut cave-temple of Pandya times (ninth century). The hill was originally occupied by the Jainas, and natural caverns with beds occur in another part of the hill at a place called SarasvatiTirtha at a considerable height. There are four Brahmi inscriptions, one of which is interesting as it mentions a householder from Ceylon, making this foundation. Taina sculptures of Bahubali and Pärávanātha found near the caverns belong, as usual, to the eighth-ninth centuries.
6. Varichchiyur (Kunnattur) (second century B. c. to second century A.D.). Three Brāhmi inscriptions in the hill at Varicbchiyur refer to the stone beds as kacana (bed or abode). Pali (or palli) is the term commonly met with in all these early records for a cavern or cave. Palli, similarly, is an alternative term for cave. Both these terms later came to mean either a monastery or any religious institution of the Jainas (and also Buddhists). Palli, by extension, also came to represent a school an educational institution. The Jainas and Buddhists are known to have been great educationists in ancient India.
Melur Taluk
7. Alagarmalai (second-first centuries B.C.). Pañcapāndava beds with Brāhmi inscriptions are also found at Alagarmalai (Irunkunram of early Tamil literature), which subsequently developed into a famous centre for the worship of Muruga (Subrahmanya) and Vişņu. The conversion of such Jaina institutions into Brāhmapical ones is a common feature in almost all carly Jaina (and some Buddhist) centres in the Tamil country. One of the Jaina sculptures at Alagarmalai (eighth-Dinth centuries) represents the Jaina teacher Ajjaşandi.
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