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CHAPTER 9)
SOUTH INDIA
Occupation by the Jainas from about the second century B.C. to the ninth century A.D. is that at Sittannavasal in Tirumayam Taluk of Tiruchchirappalli District (former Padukkottai State).
The local hill contains a natural cavern known as Eladipattam after the soven square pits which serve as steps to reach the cavern. The cavern is large with an overhanging rock-face serving as a canopy. The stone beds are chiselled smooth and a Brahmi inscription of about the second-first centuries B.C. is found near one of the beds (plate 40). It records the making of the atit-anam (bod or seat) by Ilayar of Cirupāvil for one Kävuti-Itep born at Kumular in Erumináfu (Karnataka region ?).
On another face of the hill, at a spot lower than that of the natural cavern is a cave-temple dedicated to the Jaina creed (see below Chapter 19.-Editor). Originally excavated in the seventh century, this cave-teraple was later renovated and re-embellished with paintings in the ninth century, attesting to the continuous importance that this Jaina centre enjoyed for over a thousand years.
20. Narttamalai. North of Sittannayasal is another group of three hills known near Narttamalai, one of which is the Ammachatram hill (or Aluruttimalai). It contains polished stone beds and later Jaina images of the seventhninth centuries on the overhanging rock of the cavem,
21. Tenimalai (Tenurmalai). Another hill in the same area is Tenimalai, which has a natural cavern on the eastern part called Andar-madam, anciently a place of penance for the Jainas. By the side of the cavern are some Jaina sculptures of the seventh-ninth centuries (plate 41).
TIRUCHCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT 22. Karur Taluk Pugalur (third-fourth centuries A.D. ?). The Arunattar hill in Pugalur has caverns with beds (plate 42). There are twelve short Brahmi inscriptions on the pillows of these beds. A Cerikāyapan from Yårrür who was an amanan (a Digambara Jaina ascetic) figures in three of them as the donee of the adhisthana or residence, which was caused to be made by a Cera prince. The inscriptions have been assigned to about the third-fourth centuries A.D. These, along with three Brahmi records from Arachchalur in Coimbatore District, form an important group of early records from the Kongu country (Qow represented by Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and Karur regions), lying on the route from Karnataka to the Tamil regions, particularly towards the Madurai arca. It is, however, strange that the Brahmi inscriptions here are assigned to a period later than those of Madurai. It may quite reasonably be doubted whether the dating of
