Jinamanjari 2002 04 No 25

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 34

the village has a cavern, locally known as Eladipattam, a name derived from the seven holes cut into the rock that serve as steps leading to the shelter. The cave has seventeen stone berths aligned into rows, and each has a raised portion that serves as a pillow-loft. The largest berth has a Brāmhi inscription dated to second B.C.E. In the nearby berths are found inscriptions belonging to eight C.E. The neighbouring hill has a rock-cut temple, rectangular in shape with a mandapa at the front. The weight of the roof is borne by two free-standing pillars in the middle, and two pilasters in antis. They are of a simple pattern with a square base and top, and an octagonal middle portion. The shrine has a row of three Tirthankaras - Rşabha, Nemi and Mahāvira carved on the rear wall. The lateral walls of the mandapa contain two niches accommodating bold relief of Pārsca and an unidentified image, possibly of a preceptor. Sometime in the mid-eighth C.E., the ceiling paintings were executed with the theme of samasarana. "7 The ancient Tondaimandalam country which roughly corresponds to the modern northern part of Tamilnadu and the southern part of Andhra was Pallava kingdom. The Pallava capital was Kanchi and the rule was begun in the early sixth century to the end of the ninth century. However, the antiquity of Jainism in Kanchi situated on the southern bank of the Vegavati river is traced to the time of great Jain sage and philosopher Samantabhadra (120-185 C.E.). The Vardhamāna temple is located here in Kanchi. A copper plate charter of the Pallava king, Simhavarman (556 C.E.), refers to this temple. The temple saw enlargement with the additions during the Cola period; the sangeeta mandapa in 1387-88 by the Jain General Irugappa of the Vijayanagara empire, temple prakāra by the Kadava chieftain and the execution of the paintings at the Nayaka
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In the view of Dr. Krishnadeva, one of the "earliest temple to show a full-fledged complement of the developed Jaina architecture complete with caturvisșati-Jinālaya and prakāra is the Mahāvira temple (mid-tenth century) at Ghāṇerāv in Rajasthan."
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