Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta

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RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
also, such as Tirunarungondai, Perumandūr, Cittämūr, Sõlavāņdipuram, Tondür Olakkūr and Pallicandal. Yet, in these centres, no Pallava inscriptions have come to light, while epigraphs from thc early Cõla period are numerous.
• Under the Coļas. Under Aditya I, a nunnery headed by Kanakavīrakuratti existed at Veļāl in the Noth Arcot District.51 The same nunnery (pen-palli) probably finds mention in an inscription (945 A.D.) from Viļāppākkain, dated in the reign of Parāntaka I, which records the sinking of a well by Pattinikkurattiadigal, a female disciple of one Arişta nēmipiņārar of the Tiruppāņmalai, the latter hill being not far from Vedāl. The well and a house were constituted into a nunnery under the supervision of the 'twenty-four of the place. 5 2
Parāntaka I made a gift of gold to Vardhamānapperiyadigaļ of Jinagirippalli, an important Jain monastery at Ānandamangalam in the Chingleput District in the 10th century A.D.53 Anandamanglam contains a hillock with Jain sculptures on a big boulder representing Nēminātha and his Yakși Dharmadevī, and Mahāvīra and his Yakși Siddhāyikā. Parāntaka I also made endowments to the Jain temples at Tirumalai in the North Arcot District, and Palliccandal in the South Arcot District. 5 4
Early Cola records from sõlavāndipuram in the South Arcot District speak of the endowments made to the local Jain institution by a Milāļu chief under the Cõla king Gandarāditya in the latter part of the 10th century A.D.5 5 The grants were made for the maintenance of ascetics and entrusted to Guņavīrabhațāra of Kurandi. At Sõlavāndipuram, rock-cut beds and sculptures of Jain deities are found on the hill. Similar rock-cut beds are found also at Tondür in the same District, where two Cõla inscriptions refer to a Jain monastery (?) known as Valuvāmolipperumpalli, to
51 SII, Vol. IX, No. 2. 52 Ibid., Vol. VII, No. 56. 53 A. R. Ep., 1902, No. 430. 54 SII, Vol. I, No. 94 ; No. 446 of 1937-38. -35 A, R. Ep., 1936-37, No. 252.