________________
114: JAINS TODAY IN THE WORLD spread rapidly here due to the support of numerous kings, especially of the Pallava and Chola dynasties.
Tamil Nadu has numerous ancient Jain cave-temples (palli), with beds cut in the rock for the ascetics that lived here once retired from the world. Here also are inscriptions especially in Brāhmi script (Brāhmi lipi), sculptures, ruins of ancient temples and monasteries, and some renovated sanctuaries. A great majority of temples poor here.
Worth mentioning, at:
Agalpur, 13 kms North-East of Chittamur, an old Jain temple restored during the XVrh century,
Alagaramlai, at North-West of Madurai, a sacred hill that contains an ancient Jain cave with sculptures and inscriptions,
Anaimlai, 5 kms from Madurai, a cave with beds, sculptures and inscriptions,
Arpakam, a beautiful Jain temple,
Chennai (Madras), capital of that State, an important Jain community with some thirty temples and chapels of which the most renowned are: the Jaina Mandir, the Naya Mandir and the Chandraprabha Mandir. In "Mint Street" there is a temple with a unique statue of Pārśva made from green stone. In the temple of Candraprabha is a miraculous statue of him. On the 20th of August 1994, at the ceremony of renovation of the sanctuary, that statue would have projected saffron powder on the walls and on the ground giving the white marble a beautiful yellow colour. Indian newspapers reported at the time this unexplained phenomenon. There is also a
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
