Book Title: Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs
Author(s): P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
previously. The earliest allusion to Pallichchandam which is an endowment to & Jaina institution is to be traced in a record of the Pallava king Vijaya Kampavarman.'
The allegiance to the doctrine of Lord Jina, of the early rulers of the Pandya house at Madura, till the time of Sundara Pāņdya, has already been referred to. Māran Sadaiyan, an early king of the Pāņdya, family, figures in two inscriptions at Kalugumalai. Varagunan, a disciple of Pattini Bhatāra of the Sacred Hill of the Chāraņas, who was responsible for the carving of a Jaina image at the place, was probably a member of the Pāņdya royal family.
Numerous instances are at our disposal to testify to the solicitude evinced by the rulers of the imperial Choļa dynasty in safeguarding and promoting the interests of the Jaina community and the Jaina religious institutions. We come across references, in the Chola regime, to the villages which were inhabited by the followers of the Jaina creed and were entirely
nagement like the agrahāras which were owned by the Brāhmaņas. No distinction was made between such Jaina villages and others settled by the followers of Brahmanical faiths. The rights and the privileges of these Jaina settlements were duly protected by the royal orders. It is interesting to note that the Jaina villages and endowments find a specific mention in such royal proclamations. We have already seen how Kundavai, the elder sister of Rājarāja I, actively contributed to the glory of the Jaina religion by erecting more than one Jaina temple in different parts of the kingdom.
There is evidence to show that some members of a family of feudatory chiefs of the Chola extraction were zealous adberepts of the Jaina faith. These were Lāțarāja Vira Chola and his queen Lāța Mahādēvi, figuring in an inscription of Pañchapāņdavamalai, as the donors who made a gift in favour of the god of Tiruppānmalai.
An inscription at Tirumalai shows that a collateral family of Chēra chiefs hailing from Kērala was under the influence of Jaina Law at least for some generations. This is gathered from the performance of VidugādalagiyaPerumā! who restored the images of the Yaksha and Yakshi, originally set up on the holy bill by one of his ancestors named Elini. Jainism received due patronage from state officials also.
PauLICHOHANDAN: Scholars who have studied the inscriptions of the Tamil country are familiar with the expression Pallichchandam
**: 1 Añ. Rep. on 8. I. Epigraphy, 1929, Appendix C, No. 116.
% 8. I. I., Val II, No. 4; Vol. III, Nos. 9, 205, eto.
