Jain Monuments Found in Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada, Jun 7 (PTI)

Ancient Jain monuments were found by a team of archaeologists in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district.

"The team, which visited the hills around Dannanapet and Chittivalas villages for three days from May 29-31, found 'rocky beds' in the caves at four places," G Jawaharlal, former deputy director of Archaeology Department of Andhra Pradesh, who led the team of researchers told reporters today.

Each cave consisted of five rocky beds, which belonged to Jain monks dated back to the second or third century BC, he said.

The monks used to fast until death on the rocky beds to get 'moksha' (salvation).

Jawaharlal said Bhagavan Mahaveer visited many places in Andhra Pradesh to propagate the philosophy of Jainism and he also stayed many days around these hills before visiting other parts of the state. .

Jain Temple Fined

MUMBAI: An internal inspection by the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) has found the city’s oldest Jain temple, Kot Shantinathji Derasar, to have lost its historical importance and character because of careless repair work carried out by the caretakers.

The temple, which is being rebuilt entirely in white Makrana marble, stands in the middle of the congested Bora Bazaar area near Fort and is a listed Grade II-B heritage structure.

The MHCC has slapped a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on the trust for carrying out the work that has “led to loss of temple architecture, unique to the fabulously rich history of Mumbai”.

“We had given them permission for repair and reconstruction as per the Jain religious code. But when an inspection was carried out, it was found that a gross violation of norms had taken place. Since the trust did not do its work faithfully and dutifully, the committee sought it fit to penalise them,” said committee chairman Dinesh Afzulpurkar.

In their original plan, the trust had suggested replacing the colourful facade and wooden interiors with white marble, besides constructing a shikhar or tower. Though all that was fine, the heavy penalty was levied on two counts: for failing to maintain the historic character of the ghar-derasar in the quest of redeveloping the temple even more grander than the existing structure; the caretakers, over the years, failed to maintain the front decorative wall, which now stands in a state of utter decay.

The ghar-derasar style gained prominence at a time when the country was constantly facing threats from marauding intruders of the 17th and 18th centuries. The grand ghar-derasars were camouflaged inside structures that looked like ordinary homes. “Many of these derasars were built in Kalpa Sutra-style murals and intricate wooden structures, More then the architectural damage, we have penalised them to set an example on others,” said a member.

A set of new rules recently approved by the state government say that upkeep of a structure weighs heavily on the owner and the ones who fail to conserve heritage structures would face heavy penalties. Chief trustee Premchand Jain said that all the trust wanted to do was repair the facade in a way similar to temples in Palitana and Pawapuri.

“We have no idea where we went wrong with our work. The trust is in no financial position to pay this penalty and will apply to municipal commissioner for either a pardon or a cut in the amount,” he said. The Jain religious code declares that derasars or temples when brought down be redeveloped grander than the earlier structure. “But in that process, they have destroyed what was the sole surviving example of the ghar-derasar style of architecture in Mumbai,” said a committee member.

Jain festival in Kumari district

Yogesh Kabirdoss

Chitaral Jain Temple in Kanyakumari district, where the Department

of Tourism intends to conduct the Jain Temple Tourism Festival–09

on September 6.

CHENNAI: In a bid to showcase Tamil Nadu’s unique Jain monuments that stand testimony to a cultural past that saw the religion propounded by Mahavira flourishing for several centuries in various parts of the State, the tourism department is organising a ‘Jain Temple Tourism Festival’ at a remote village called Chitharal in Kanyakumari district on Sunday.

An initiative of the State secretary of tourism, Dr V Irai Anbu, the festival is the first of its kind event in Tamil Nadu that will ultimately turn the various heritage Jain structures, hitherto unknown to tourists and visitors to the State, into places of tourist attraction and also a pilgrimage for followers of Jainism.

At Chitharal, situated near Marthandam, a huge cave with rock-cut sculptures of Jain Tirthankaras and attendant deities exemplify how Jainism has thrived and has spread close to the land’s end, 2000 years ago, and how much it has contributed to the religious and cultural heritage of the State.Though the cave, which have been carved in a hillock standing amidst a scenic landscape, was converted into a Bhagavathi Amman Temple around the 13th century, the Jain images have not been tampered with. The preserved relics will be the highlight of the festival, which will be marked by folk performances and cultural events.

The Department of Tourism has developed a pathway leading to the hillock, which is about 200 feet high, for the convenience of those visiting the cave that is likely to be added to the list of popular places of interest in the district.

Besides the Chitharal site, there are 13 other Jain monuments spread across the State from Kancheepuram to Kazhugumalai to Sittanavasal to Uthamapalayam. Each of these temple has a fascinating history to narrate. By popularising the heritage sites, the department of tourism expects the State’s profile as a tourist destination and also as a place for pilgrimage to undergo a sea change. That there is more than the historic temples, will draw more visitors to the places that have been hitherto neglected and not showcased appropriately.

Jaina treasure trove in Mankulam village

CHENNAI: The ruins of two Jaina prayer halls (Chaitya grahas), belonging to the Tamil Sangam age and estimated to be about 2,200 years old, have been excavated atop a hill near Mankulam village, about 20 km from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The ruins are adjacent to two of the five caves that have the earliest Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in Tamil Nadu. The caves have several beds hewn out of the rock-floor, where the Jaina monks rested.

The Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department excavated the ruins of the prayer halls in 2007. The excavation yielded large-sized bricks, grooved tiles with holes, black and red potsherds and L-shaped iron nails. The Department has published a book on this excavation.

V. Vedachalam, retired senior epigraphist, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, estimated that these halls were “the earliest Jaina brick structures in Tamil Nadu.” He asserted, “No brick structure of this kind has been found in any Jaina site in Tamil Nadu.” The monks, who lived in the nearby caves, must have prayed in these chaitya grahas, which could have had an auspicious symbol or a cult object, he said.

The foundation and walls of the halls were built of bricks, which measured 35 cm x 17 cm x 6 cm. The roof was made of wooden rafters with grooved tiles that were held in place on the rafters by the L-shaped iron nails driven through the tiles.

These structures were similar to those found at the Udayagiri and Khandagiri hills, near Bhubaneswar, Orissa, which were important Jaina centres, said Dr. Vedachalam.

In 1882, Robert Sewell, civil servant and antiquarian, first noticed a few inscriptions on the brow of the caves on the Mankulam hill, near Meenakshipuram. Epigraphists V. Venkayya and H. Krishna Sastry tried to read them. Attempts to decipher them bore no fruit until K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyer, who pioneered the reading of the Tamil-Brahmi script, recognised them as having been inscribed in Brahmi. He concluded, in 1924, that the script’s language was Tamil. Others who contributed to the decipherment of the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions found in Tamil Nadu included T.N. Subrahmanian, Iravatham Mahadevan, Dr. R. Nagaswamy and Dr. Y. Subbarayalu.

On the Mankulam hill, there are five caves, with six Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in four of them. They belong to the 2nd century B.C. The long inscription found on the brow of the rock, close to the first Jaina prayer hall, gives details of how the Pandya king Nedunchezhiyan was instrumental in sculpting the beds in the cave as “dhammam” for the chief Jaina monk “Kani Nandan.” Another inscription is about “Sadikan,” father of Nedunchezhiyan’s brother-in-law, sculpting the beds for Kani Nandan.

Dr. Vedachalam said: “Mankulam was a great Jaina centre. It must have been the largest Jaina centre in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam age. The existence of the chaitya grahas, Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and the Jaina beds [together in one place] are of national importance.”

Today, the Jaina beds have been desecrated with graffiti incised on them or painted in different colours.

7 th century idols of Yamraj and Jain Gods excavated

By Sarathi

Sirpur (Chhattisgarh), March 6 (ANI):

Archaeologists in Chattisgarh claim to have discovered 7th century idols of Yamraj, the Lord of Death in Hinduism, astride a buffalo and Supasharvanath, a divine figure of Jain faith.

The excavation of lands in search of the Jain monuments is being carried out at Sirpur in Chhattisgarhs Mahasamund District.

"This idol is made of metamorphic rock, which is found in Mahanadi and I found it at a distance of 30-40 feet from the place where I am standing. It is in two parts and a part of a big pillar of some temple. It has a female structure on one of its side and structure of Yamraj sitting on a he-buffalo on the other side, said Arun Kumar Sharma, an archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India.

The idols are believed to be dating back to the seventh century.
"I think this idol belongs to 7th or 8th century, when Jains were in power in Sirpur and Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism had ample patronage from the Kings. We have a number of Jain monuments also," Arun added. Archaeologists hope the latest finding will enable them to uncover the ancient history of Digambar Jains in the region. (ANI