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JAINA EPIGRAPHS IN TAMIL
145
Fifth Plate : First side
57. llai Puli-kilārpaţtiyin mēskum tenpā51. l-ellai Mulleri-pā[kka*]tt-ellaiyin vada59. kkum mëlpāl-ellai pokkuvāy-cceļu60. viņ kilakkum vadapāl ellai pallāngu61. likkāvin terkum in-nāng-ellai62. y-agattum agappațța bhūmiyum Paruttikkunci63. 1 Vajranandi-kkuravarkkē pafficcandam-āga
parada64. tti senradu [] *] Narabhayan-āņattiyal
Notes : The reference to Paruttikkunnu as Vardhamāna-dharma
tirtha in the Sanskrit portion is interesting. There are in Tamilnāļu a number of places named differently as Paruttiyūr, Paruttikkudi, Paruttippattu, etc. It has been suggested elsewhere (Pallavar Cheppēdugaļ Muppadu, pp. 25-26) that the ancient place-name Paruttikkunnu should be taken as alluding to some hitherto unknown incident in the life of Vardhamāna-Tirthařkara since his name is given to that village in the Sanskrit portion. Paruttikkunnu is the same as modern Tirupparuttikkunram, a village in the vicinity of Kāñchipuram and known in the past as Jina-Kāñchi. It was formerly one of the four ācāryapithas of the Digambara-Jainas. There stands in that village even today a temple dedicated to VardhamānaTirthařkara. But scholars are of the opinion that this temple is later in date than the one dedicated to Chandraprabha-Tirthankara and located in the same village. Nevertheless, the present inscription attests to the fact that there existed in that place a temple of Vardhamāna from early times.
The village granted is named Amaņģērkkai and Sramanāśrama in the Tamil and Sanskrit portions respectively. (cf. Inscription No. 82 below, note 2 for a similar instance).
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