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sheltering about 30 beds. The cavern measures 43' east to west, 26' deep on the eastern side and about s' high. On the pillow side of 3 of the beds is a damaged Brahmi inscription and on the rounded margin of the sheltering rock are two others, better preserved. A detached boulder in this spacious cavern also contains a bed and a Brahmi inscription cut into it, but on a rather rude surface. There is a groove in the boulder to drain off rain water.
The Brahmi records found in the caverns at Muttupatti are somewhat later than the other epigraphs from Mangulam, Aritta patti, Kongarpuliyankulam and Kilavalavu and are assigned to the first two centuries of the Christian era. One of them refers to a resident monk who was the son of Cattan Antai of Naga perur. Another epigraph mentions that the cavern was inhabited by Caiyalan of Vintaiyur. The name Caiyalan, according to I. Mahadevan, denotes a person from Ceylon. If his view is acceptable, it would also bring to light the contact that existed between the Jainas of Ceylon and Tamilnadu in early historical times.
Around the 9th century A.D. two Tirthankara images were sculptured on a boulder nearby the caverns. The first image was consecrated in the name of the inbabitants of the village Kuyirkudi by the ascetic Kanakavira-Periyadigal who was the disciple of Gunasenadeva." The second image was caused to be cut by another recluse Maganandi who was the disciple of the great Acārya Kurahdi Ashtopavasi.10 Thus it is obvious that Muttupatti continued to be an important centre of Jainism from the early centuries of the Christian era down to the 9th ceatury A.D.
5. Kongarpuliyankulam : Near Kongarpuliyaokulam which is nine miles south-west of Madurai is a bald rock with a narrow cleft in which are found six caverns. On the rounded edge of the roof in one of these caverns are found three Brahmi inscriptions in bold characters of 2nd century B.C. The inscriptions mention that Uparuvan, a lay devotee provided a canopy to the monastery, while Ceruatan plaitd the fronds of the canopy. The same canopy was caused to be thatched by Peratan Pitan who was a native of Pakanur.11 Thus the natural
8 Ibid., Muttuppatti, Nos. 1-3. 9 ARE, 61/1910. 10 Ibid., 62/1910. 11 I. Mahadevan, Op. cit., Konkarpuliyankulam, Nos. 1-3.
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