Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs

Author(s): P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Page 77

8. JAINISY IN TAMIL NAD to be to the Malainitha temple which appears to have been dedicated to Pártyanātha on account of the prominence given to this deity in the group.
The other shrine, the official temple of Pārsvanátha, is in charge of the pontiffs of the matha. It is of later construction, though it appears to have preserved in its name the older associations of the shrine of the rock-cut Tirthakura. The growing importance of this temple has thrown the old temple into background. Two inscriptions engraved on the base of the Mānastambha of this temple and dated A. D. 1578 state that the sacred pillar was erected by a Vaisya (merchant) named Bussetti, son of Bāyi Setti of Jagatāpi Gutti, who belonged to the Mahānāga Kula. Another inscription on the inner wall of the gopura dated Saka 1787 or a. D. 1865 informs that the pontiff Abhinava Adisēna Bhattāraka made improvements in the temple by adding new constructions including this gõpura with the Jaina images, in the 2529th year of the māksha (liberation ) of Vardhamāna.
SITTANNAVĀGAL AND NĀRTTĀMALAI: Leaving many areas behind, though they are not devoid of notable Jaina vestiges, we go to the picturesque tract of Sittannavāśal and Nārttāmalai roughly representing the Pudukkottai State. This is the land wherein Jainism flourished for over fifteen hundred years, roughly from the 3rd century B. o. upto the 12th century A. D. This is the region which is rich in varieties of Jaina antiquities, such as the natural caverns, rock-out shrines, fresco paintings, structural temples, rock-out sculptures and statues of different deities of the Jaina pantheon, and inscriptions in Brāhmi and Tamil alphabet. Here is the territory which, though it came under the impact of the Buddhist doctrine, remained untouched by its influence. Here is the spot where excavations have brought to light many interesting relics of the Jaina religion.
ANTIQUITIES OF SITTANNAVAŠAL: Sittannavāśal is the name given to a long range of bills, which literally connotes the abode of the revered Siddhas or Jaina monks'. The word Siddha is pronounced as Sitta in Tamil and vāśal means the dwelling place'. As the term Siddha is sometimes applied to a Jaina monk, we may possibly trace the Jaina associations of the hill even in its name. This hill possesses a natural cavern which is popularly called Etadipaţțum and which contains, 17 beds with pillows cut into the rook. On the largest of these beds, which must have been the oldest also, is incised an inscription in Brāhmi alphabet of about the 3rd or 2nd century B. C. By the side of the other beds are engraved small label inscriptions containing the names of Jaina monks who evidently occupied them. The latter are in Tamil characters of about the 8th and 9th centuries A. D.
1 An. Rep. ou S. I. Epigraphy, 1937-38, p. 109; and Appendix B, Nos. 617-18 and 520, 2 Manual of Pudukkottai State, 1944, Vol. II, pt. ii, p. 1092. .