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vandan. Nearby (about a mile away) is the Nagamalai range of hills wherein is a natural cavern facing south. The height of this cavern is not much except its entrance. The floor is rugged and sloping inwards. Narrow stone beds had been cut into the rock on the floor with low depression in two rows of four and eight respectively close to the uneven rocky walls on either side. In some cases a few beds have been partitioned off from each other by their ridges running the whole length of the beds. No pillow lofts are present, but on the pillow side are three Brahmi inscriptions. They contain names of persons such as Antaipikan, Kuviran and Cenkuviran who in all probability were instrumental in carving out the stone beds in the cavern. Of the three, Kuviran was a native of the village Petalai which remains unidentified.22 Cenkuviran appears to be a member of the family of Kuviran The stone beds found at Vikkiramangalam are locally known as undankal, the exact meaning of which cannot be ascertained at the present state of our knowledge.
12. Mettuppatti (Siddharmalai) : About a mile north of Mettupatti which is about six miles south of Nelakottai is a hill commonly called Siddharmalai. On the southern slope of the hill about half way down is a huge cavern measuring 297' in length and 6' 8" in height and has two rows of five beds, cut on the sloping rock each with a pillow loft. Brahmi inscriptions datable to the 2nd-1st centuries B.C. are engraved at the head side of the beds. Most of these label incriptions refer to personal names such as Antai Ariti, Antai Iravatan, Antai Visuvan, Antai Sentan, Kavira Antai etc. As these names are prefixed with the epithet * Antai' which means Holy Father', they may be taken to mean the names of resident monks of the monastery at Mettupatti. In one of the records, it is stated that the stone bed was the gift of the people of a place called Tidiyil. Very likely, it is the modern Tidiyan, a hamlet near Dindigul in Maduari district.23
Ramanathapuram District
13. Kunrakkudi : Kunrakkudi, commonly known as Kunnakkudi, is a small village in Tiruppattur taluk of Ramanathapuram district and lies at a distance of about five miles from Karaikkudi town. The place derives its name from the small hillock found amidst the village. Three rock-cut shrines dedicated to Lord Siva are found at different levels of
22 ARE, 621-623/1926. 23 T. V. Mahalingam, Op. cit., pp. 258-266.
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