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
The Colas were great patrons of the Jain temple at Karandai or Tirupparambūr in the North Arcot District. This temple is called Virarājendrapperumpalli after the Cola king Virarājendra and consists of two shrines, one for Kunth unātha and the other for Vardhamāna, the latter being called Tirukkāțțāmpalli Ālvār in the inscriptions.66 Virarājendra, Kulottunga I and Rājarāja III made liberal endowments to this temple.87
Kulottunga I and his son Vikramacāla also patronised the Jain temple of Tirupparuttikunram. Ārambhanandi, an eminent Jain teacher, belonged to this centre, which had a Rși-samudāya to manage the temple affairs. 68 Renovations and additions to the Vardhamāna temple were made in the time of Kulottunga III, in the form of shrines and mandapas.89 Eminent teachers like Candrakirtti, 'the ācārya of Kõțțaiyūr', and his disciple Anantavirya Vāmana added to the importance and prestige of this Trikūța-basti or three-shrined temple under the Cõlas70
The Cālas were also the greatest patrons of the temple and matha at Cittāmür in the South Arcot District, which continues to be the headquarters of the Pontiff of the Tamil Jains even today. Kāțțāmpalli or Tiruvūrāmpalli, as this temple is known in the Cõla inscriptions, became an important centre for the worship of Pārsvanätha.71
In the 12th century, the Sambhuvarāya feudatories of Rājarāja II patronised the Jain temple called Iravikulasundarapperumpalli at Perumandür in the South Arcot District." One of them, by name Viravira, appears to have been the builder of a Jain temple named after him as Viravira Jinālaya
66 No. 135 of 1939-40. 67 Nos. 129, 132, 135 and 141 of 1939-40. 68 Nos. 381-382 of 1928-29. 69 T. N. Ramchandran, op. cit., pp. 25-26, 34.
70 SII, Vol. II, App. VI, 461 ; T, N. Ramachandran, op. cit., Inscrip tions Nos. 3, 18 and 22.
71 SII, Vol. VII, Nos. 828-29. 72 Ibid., Nos. 846, 848.