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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300
[PART 1 to tkie Saiva creed and very little evidence remains of their carly Jaina associations.
TIRUNELVELI DISTRICT 15 & 16. Marukaltalai (Chivalapperi) (second-first centuries B.C.) and Virasikhamani in Tirunelveli Taluk contain caverns with beds and Brahmi inscriptions. The stone bed is called kancanam, in the Marukaltalai inscription. Virasikhamani possessrs in addition to stone beds, a carving of a pair of feet in relief inside a lotus within a square. They are said to be of Sahajánandanåtha in a later inscription.
Stone beds and Jaina images have also been reported from Sendamaram Malaiyadikkurichchi and Tirumalaipuram, all the Tirunelveli District.
TIRUCHCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT 17. Tiruchchirappalli (third-fourth centuries A.D.). In the hill called Golden Rock in Tiruchchirappalli is a natural cavern with beds. Palli, in this context, may be a suffix to the place-name arising out of its early Jaina associations, as the term is used for all early Jaina institutions, especially to places of learning. On one of the stone beds is a Brāhmi inscription, which has been doubtfully read as Cenkayapan ke.
There are cave-temples of the seventh century dedicated to the Saiva creed and the authorship of these caves have been assigned to the Pallava king Mahendravarman (circa 580-630). If the tradition that this Pallava king turned from Jainism to Saivism and that the Tiruchchirappalli rock-cut temples are some of the earliest ones excavated by him, is correct, then this centre would represent one of those sites where Jaina foundations were later converted into or gave place to Saiva and Vaişnava ones.
18. Sivayam in Kulittalai Taluk of Tiruchchirappalli District contains a unique boulder called the Sundakkaparai, over 9 m. high. It has a row of five beds cut into it. On one of its ridges is a square entablature with later sculptures representing Mahāvira with his attendants. There are also some later inscriptions giving names of Jaina teachers."
19. Sittannavasal (second-first centuries B.c.). The most notable among these early Jaina foundations (plate 39B) and one which was in continuous
1 42 of 1908. M.E.R., 1907-08, part II, para 20.
I. Mahadevan, Corpus of Tamil Brahmi Inscriptions, Madras, 1966, p. 11. • 50 of 1913.
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