________________
192
APPENDIX
No. 75
Purport : Records that the work (i.e. of having the image made) was that of Miļalūr-kkurattiyār and she had it made for the merit of Guñanandi-periyār, the disciple of Mūtta-Arațța [Arişta] nēmi-bhațāra of Velarkkuļi.
TEXT
1. Sri-Veļarkkudi-Mūtta2. Arațțanēmi-pațārar 3. māņākkar Guņanandi-pe4. riyārai-ccārtti Mi5. Jalūr-kkurattiya6. r śeyal [1 1 *]
[Published in ibid., No. 398]
Notes : On the same rock surface there are nearly a hundred such
label inscriptions (SII., Vol. V, No. 309-56, 358-60 and 362-404) which are all Jaina as is evidenced by the fact that they are all engraved below rock-cut Jaina figures. Of these texts of only 29 inscriptions have been given above selecting them on the basis of the state of their preservation and also their contents.
These inscriptions bear testimony to the fact that Kalugumalai was an important holy centre of Jainism in the 9th-10th centuries and that Jaina teachers, disciples and lay followers, both male and female, used to visit that place on pilgrimage.
The Male teachers and disciples are referred to as pastāraka (= bhatļāraka), pațāra (=bhațāra), kuravadigaļ (from Sanskrit gurupādāḥ), adiga! (from Sanskrit padaḥ), periyār (= Sanskrit mahān) and yõgiyār while female teachers and
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