Svasti

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust

Page 52

Iravatham Mahadevan, Early Jainism in Taminadu
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until they were expelled in the last quarter of the 6th century A.D. by Katunkōn, the Pantiya, from the south and Simhavishnu Pallava from the north. It is, however, significant that there is no inscriptional evidence for increased support to Tamil Jainism during the Kalabhra rule; on the contrary, the number of Jaina inscriptions decreased further during this period reflecting the unsettled conditions following the invasion. The earliest epigraphic evidence for the construction of temples and monasteries in brick and mortar is found in the Pulankurichi inscription of King Centan Kürran (ca. 500 A.D.). There is now a general consensus that he was a Kalabhra ruler as the name Kurran does not occur in the Päntiya dynasty, and as there is clear Kannada influence on the language of the inscription (e.g. avaru, ūru, arullittär, etc). The inscription relates to the administrative arrangements made for three places of worship, two of them Hindu (dēvakulam) and the other Jaina (tāpata-ppalli which was located in Madurai). The inscription provides evidence that the Kalabhras, acting in the tradition of the rulers of the land, did not discriminate between the Hindu and Jaina places of worship.
Re-occupation of the cave shelters by later Jainas
Jainism declined steeply in the Tamil country from about the end of the 6th century A.D. when there was a tremendous upsurge of the Saiva and Vaishnava sects revitalised by the Bhakti movement led by the Nayanmar and Alvārs. The Tamil Jainas were persecuted during this period. However, the persecution, uncharacteristic of Indian polity, did not last too long and the rulers resumed grants to the Jaina monasteries (palli) from about the end of the 8th century A.D. as attested by epigraphical evidence from the Pallava and Pantiya regions (8th-10 centuries A.D.). It was during this period of revival that many of the earlier cave shelters with stone beds and Tamil-Brähmi and/or Early Vatteluttu inscriptions were re-occupied by the Jainas who marked their renewed presence with relief sculptures (Plate 2.4) and inscriptions in the Vatteluttu script of the period.
Jaina contribution to Tamil Literature
No survey of Jainism in the Tamil country, however brief, can be complete without mentioning the enormous contribution made by the Jainas to the growth of Tamil literature from the earliest times up to about the 16th century A.D. While justice cannot be done to this vast subject within the scope of the present study, mention must be made at least of such outstanding works by Jaina authors like Tolkäppiyam and Nannul among the grammatical works, Cilappatikaram, Civakacintamani and Perunkatai among the epics, the immortal Kural and Nälatiyär among the ethical works and Tivākaram, Pinkalantai and Cūṭāmaṇi among the lexicons. To this already formidable record may be added what is surely the most basic and fundamental contribution by the Jaina monks to Tamil viz., the development of a script for the language leading to literacy and the later efflorescence of Cankam literature in the early centuries A.D.