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CHAPTER 33)
INSCRIPTIONS Taluk, Chirigleput District." In a few cases only the names of the Tirthankaras are mentioned in the inscriptions, like Vardhamana from Tirupparuttikkunram, Vimala-śr-Arya-Tirtha i.e. Vimalanatha) from Kil-Sattamangalam, Parkvanátta from Aivarmalai and Ponpur, Kunthunatha from Karandai and Adlávara from Ponnur.
An inscription of the time of the Pandya king Srimāra Śrivallabha (ninth century), engraved on the rock to the right of Sittannavasal cave, District Tiruchchirappalli, refers to the addition of a mukha-mand apa to the cave and to the renovation of its interior, including probably the provision of a fresh layer of paintings, which are considered a remarkable specimen of art from the points of view of technique, design, colour-scheme and depiction of human, animal and vegetal forms.'
The introduction of Yakşi, Yakşa, etc., in Jaina iconography as attendant deities slowly paved the way for the preponderance of worship of these deities as against the worship of the main Tirthankaras. A noteworthy instance in point is the Bhagavati temple at Tiruccarapattumalai near Chitaral in Vilavangode Taluk in Kanyakumari District. The only inscription in which a deity is referred to belongs to the reign of the Ay king Vikramaditya Varagupa (last quarter of the ninth century). It records the grant made for the worship of the Bhatari, which evidently refers to the image of Padmavati-devi by the side of Pārsvanātha or Ambikā (with a lion) by the side of another Tirtharkara. A more glaring instance of this type is available at Nagercoil, where the serpent-hood symbol of the Tirthankaras of the original Jaina temple gained prominence only to become absorbed into the Hindu pantheon as Anantā vär.. There are of course instances where Jaina temples continued to retain their individuality, as those of Tirupparuttikkunram in Kanchipuram and Tirumalai.
The two sculptures of Mahăvira and Pārsvanātha found at Godapuram (Alatur), District Palghat, coupled with an inscription on a slab in Tamil language and Vatteluttu characters of about the tenth century, point to the existence of a large monastery and a temple where probably these sculptures were housed.
Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy, 1973-74 (in press), under Veralir. • Manual of Pudukkottal State, II, ii, pp. 1093 ff.
See above, chapter 30,--Bditor.] * See above, chapter 19.-Editor.) * Travancore Archaeological Series, I, pp. 193 ff. • Ibid., VI, pp. 159 ff.
Journal of Indian History, XLIV, 1966, pp. 537-43; Journal of Kerala 1973, pp. 27-32.
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