Abstract
This chapter explores a different format for the study of the Tamil Jaina community, by juxtaposing community accounts—stories, ideas, perspectives and narratives—about their place in history or the place of their village in Tamil history or Tamil Jaina history and a few of the numerous inscriptional records of the place. The records found in the Tamil Jaina settlements of the past are set against the Tamil Jainas of the present, in the same place. In some cases, there are only inscriptional records, but not present settlements. The idea is to look at the layers of history that one can document at a particular place and the manner in which a community relates to these records. This is a study documenting a community over the long term, in terms of their own perspectives of their past(s) and how they look at their present state of being, including their recent attempts to retrieve their antiquity through the Green Walk, or Ahimsai Naḍai, through the ancient rock-cut caves and natural caverns with Tamil Brāhmi inscriptions.
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Notes
- 1.
Which is a ritual enactment of garbha-dhāraṇam (the conception), janma (birth), dīkṣa (initiation into mendicancy), kēvalañāna (attainment of omniscience and the sermon at the samavasaraṇa and mokṣa/nirvāṇa (liberation) events of the tīrthankara’s life.
- 2.
Which is also something I have consciously followed here in this chapter, in deference to the title of this chapter. I am also not citing all the inscriptions that have been found in each of the villages mentioned here; I have only selected a few representative ones. Simply recording all the inscriptions would require a monograph solely dedicated to the same. Some scholars have already done that in the past, such as A. Ekambaranathan and Sivaprakasam (1987), not to mention the tome by Mahadevan (2003).
- 3.
See Mahadevan (2003), p. 340, for the said inscription [“…behold…to endow…hundred kalams of paddy…”].
- 4.
Mahadevan (2003), p. 377. [“Eḷacataṉ, the trader in ploughshares”].
- 5.
Ibid, p. 469. [“The stone (stopper) fitted in the vent of the sluice.”].
- 6.
I retain the colloquial here, just as the Tamil Jainas used the term in their everyday conversations, which are not the literal nīru, or tiru-nīru, meaning sacred ash, or vībhūti.
- 7.
Unfortunately, epigraphy and ‘folklore’ or community narratives are seen as disjointed, disparate elements and analysed separately, most times.
- 8.
Of “secular content” that she has looked at; 369 inscriptions between fifth and thirteenth centuries in all which she has analysed in the context of medieval Jain a temple worship (Orr 1999).
- 9.
Emphasis mine. I thank Padmanabh Jaini who drew my attention to this article, sending me a copy by post all the way from the University of California, Berkeley.
- 10.
I engage with the yakṣi worship aspect, in later sections.
- 11.
But not just with the mother goddess. Accompanying a woman from Haryana—a pilgrim—helping her climb the steps at Chandragiri, the small hillock opposite the one with the Gommata monolith on Vindhyagiri, one could see the intensity of her emotion on seeing the statue. This was my experience during the visit to Shravanabelagola, prior to the journey in Tamil Nadu.
- 12.
A yellow thread tied around the neck of the woman to denote that she now ‘belongs’ to the man who ties it and is formally his wife.
- 13.
Nine varieties of grains, which include rice and millets.
- 14.
I retain, in spite of misgivings expressed by a few scholars who read my earlier drafts, the structure of a first-person account of these visits, combined with ‘what I was told’.
- 15.
10 December 2002.
- 16.
Director General of Police, Chennai. 10 December, 2002
- 17.
A detailed discussion on the Tirukkuṟaḷ is carried out in another chapter of this book.
- 18.
I desist from using transliteration marks for proper names of people I met during my visits.
- 19.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, one of the main political parties (it was the ruling party in that year) of Tamilnadu. DMK leader, Dr. Mu. Karunanidhi, has written on the Jaina contribution to Tamil literature, which is something everyone from among the Jainas recall with pride.
- 20.
Agastiappa Nainar, who passed away a year or two after I had met him. Mayiliṟaku [peacock feather], written by Mu. Karunanidhi., He had wanted me to show him my thesis when it was ready, but unfortunately, that never materialised. His daughter, Neelakesi, is one of the ardent fans of T. S. Sripal, who inspired her, she says, to take up the study of Tamil literature. Her parents were themselves deep into reading the Tamil classics and Jaina Tamil literature. Neelakesi has written many articles on Tamil (Jaina and other) literature. Now, in year 2015–2016, she continues to send articles to newspapers on each and every new development in Tamil Jaina villages or historic sites: any modification, destruction or conversion that comes to her notice. Her son is in the real estate business.
- 21.
Also see SII, Vol IV, no. 366, p.104.
- 22.
This is part of Tamil Jaina folklore. It is also mentioned in U. V. Swaminatha Aiyer’s autobiography, which I dwell upon, in another chapter.
- 23.
Discussions happened in groups of 10, 15 or at times more than 30 (in Vandavasi, for instance, it was a huge gathering since it was a Friday, and they had assembled at the Jinalayam in Vandavasi town, a new one, for the evening prayer—a concept relatively modern) people in most of the villages. Individual names in most cases have not been mentioned. In some cases, they were not particular their names need be mentioned as they believed they represented the thoughts of the Jaina community as a whole. Where possible, and relevant to the discussion, I have mentioned their names.
- 24.
‘A coarse milky shrub, the charcoal of which is used in making gun powder’; ‘erukkumalar—root... employed medicinally for various purposes’, M. Winslow, A Comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary, Asian Education Services reprint, 2004 (originally published by P. R. Hunt, Madras, 1862), p.178.
- 25.
Right/good faith, right conduct, right knowledge.
- 26.
The Tamil calendar months and their equivalents in the calendar we use in general; the Tamil month usually begins on the 13th/14th/15th day of the general, universal calendar we use today.
- 27.
“Indu-matam” as they usually refer to the Hindu, as an overarching religion.
- 28.
Tīṭṭu, a brāhminical concept, seems to have entered the Tamil Jaina system.
- 29.
But I did not hear this account from anyone else. The temple is dedicated to the tīrthankara Mallinātha, who, in the Śvetāmbara tradition, is a woman tīrthankara.
- 30.
Interaction recorded at Melcittamur village.
- 31.
These were his terms, and when I asked him to clarify what he meant, he said it meant bricks arranged in a horizontal and vertical manner, alternately. I failed to find the meaning of this term in the dictionary, but I retain them verbatim.
- 32.
In this connection, see discussion on the veḷḷāḷa agriculturists and the discussion later in this book on Maraimalai Adigal’s Veḷḷāḷar Nākarīkam on the community that, according to him, introduced farming.
- 33.
SII, XVII, 261; ARE 238 of 1904.
- 34.
Hereafter, Ekambaranathan. Also see AR 201 of 1902, SII, VII, No. 828.
- 35.
Transliteration marks as in the source cited. Also see ARE 203 of 1902, SII, VII, no 830.
- 36.
Emphasis mine.
- 37.
Nemali, Kollaru, etc. are names of the villages (which are still settled by Tamil Jaina families). These details are mentioned by Kiruttinamurti (1994).
- 38.
Malaiyanur, Nattarmangalam, Torappadi, Vallam, etc. are in the vicinity of Cenji, close to Cittamur. Some of these villages—such as Torappadi, Vallam and Malaiyanur—have Tamil Jaina families even to this day.
- 39.
Emphasis mine.
- 40.
Transliteration marks as in the cited source. Also see ARE 202 of 1902; SII, VII, no.829.
- 41.
Also, ARE 68 of 1935–1936.
- 42.
Also ARE 517 of 1937–1938.
- 43.
Emphasis mine.
- 44.
This is Ekambaranathan’s inference. Leslie Orr has done a detailed analysis of medieval inscriptions in Tamilnadu and does not find the mention of devadāsis in the Jaina inscriptions where the reference is mostly to the nuns, female preachers. One would have to find out if the devaraḍiyārs mentioned here really correspond to the devadāsi system of brāhmiṇical temples. See Orr (2000) for a detailed discussion on women in the temple context in medieval Tamilnadu.
- 45.
Also, ARE 520 of 1937–1938.
- 46.
Conversations with both Mekala and her husband Kumar took place on 24 February 2015.
- 47.
This story is dealt with in detail in the following chapter.
- 48.
In the Paḻayaṉūr Nīli stories, there is reference to the ‘70 veḷḷāḷas’ who jumped into the flames in order to honour their word as they could not protect the Ceṭṭi, who was murdered by the possessing spirit, Nīli. The Periyapurāṇam, the Śaivite text, also refers to the ‘70 veḷḷāḷas’ who kept their word of honour. The story of Nīli was reframed to compose the Tamil Jaina philosophical treatise, Nīlakeci, a detailed analysis of which is part of one of my books, From Possession to Freedom: the Journey of Nīli-Nilakeci, which is forthcoming. There is a lot of scope to explore the veḷḷāḷas’ motif occurring in the Jaina stories and the Śaiva tradition in the South Arcot region within a context of agrarian and religious conflict, considering, also, that Maraimalai Adigal’s Vēḷāḷar Nāgarīgam and the Tamil Jaina story of the birth of the agricultural profession seem quite similar, which is discussed, briefly, later in this book.
- 49.
The story has been recorded just as it was narrated, with a lot of people joining in, with inputs.
- 50.
‘Graffiti reported on a Jaina rock’ was the title of the story.
- 51.
A note on the place names: I do not use transliteration marks for modern place names but only where the names are associated with an older story or mentioned in inscriptions or in Tamil sources, etc. Where I am paraphrasing colonial records, I have retained the place names as mentioned therein, verbatim.
- 52.
A note must be made of the fact that only in this version of the story was the term ‘cakkili’ used. At most other places where I was narrated this story, it was ‘a ruler from Cenji’ But the king (in all the versions) was certainly from a lower caste.
- 53.
The term is also used to denote a highly conceited person.
- 54.
The time period is a matter of confusion in the mind of the narrator. Here it has been pushed back to an earlier period in Tamil history. Within Vilukkam itself, others told me the same story with slight variations, such as ‘oru Cenji rājā’ [a certain king of Cenji]. In some cases, it was ‘cakkiḷi rājā peṇ kēṭṭa katai’ (the story of the cakkili rājā seeking a bride). The story, however, was common in all the Tamil Jaina villages, in terms of the sequence of events and motifs.
- 55.
3000 in Tillai (Chidambaram), 5000 in Tirunaṟunkuṉṟam, 8000 in the Eṇṇāyiram malai (in Madurai)
- 56.
The community in Vilukkam regularly used the refrain ‘Vīra Choḻa Pāṇṭiya kālam’ (times).
- 57.
As per the tradition prevalent in South India of cross-cousin marriages.
- 58.
Sacred thread, sometimes also referred to as pūṉal.
- 59.
In most of these stories, the king’s name is not mentioned. Thurston refers to the same story and mentions the king as one Venkatapathy Nāyaka.
- 60.
Emphasis, wherever, mine. I used this inscription because the name of this village occurs in it.
- 61.
Emphasis mine.
- 62.
I happened to reach this village on a Friday, since the maṭhātipati had planned to attend the Friday pūjai in this temple. But the women informed him that they had shifted the same to Sundays, on account of a new television series on Friday evenings! I will be discussing the yakṣi worship context of Tamil Jainas later in this chapter.
- 63.
Could this be the colloquial term for ‘mānākkar’, for a well-educated or learner person? But here it was used in connection with the landholding. The person being referred to was among the larger landholders here.
- 64.
Interaction in the village, Perumpukai, February, 2015.
- 65.
Member of the Legislative Assembly of the state.
- 66.
This Tamil booklet gives an account of the expenditure of the temple at Peramandur, which mentions this bit of history. Note that here, too, the village gives itself agency in setting up the Cittamur maṭham.
- 67.
Note the story here of other communities converting into Jainas. And Śaiva-Jaina conflict reflected in the motifs.
- 68.
This bit about mutal mariyātai is also recorded in the Mackenzie manuscripts, but there the village which gets the mutal mariyātai is Tayanur.
- 69.
There was no reference to “cakkili rājā” here.
- 70.
Hamsa Bai is a voracious reader herself, of both Sanskrit and Tamil literature.
- 71.
That is, prove her chastity by walking through the fire.
- 72.
Which has a different meaning in the Tamil and Telugu ‘Hindu’ context (as far as I know), when people rush to the markets to buy gold and silver jewellery since it is supposed to increase one’s wealth manifold if purchases are made on this day. Clever marketing also has a role to play in this. In the Jaina context, it seems to have more subdued meaning, since this particular part of Ṛṣabha’s life story usually brings tears to the eyes of Jainas, because the textual tradition describes it in such a manner that he was a renouncer who could not get food or water (that was appropriate for him) after so many months. He then broke his fast with sugarcane juice that was given to him.
- 73.
SII, vol. VII, no. 846; ARE 219 of 1902.
- 74.
SII, vol. VII, No. 847; ARE 220 of 1902.
- 75.
SII, vol. VII. No. 848; ARE 221 of 1902.
- 76.
Puṟanāṉūṟu 87–95, 97–101, 103–104, 206, 231 and 235 (Mahadevan 2003, p. 589).
- 77.
Also see, in this connection, Ekambaranathan 1987, p.373; SII, vol. XXII, 127.
- 78.
The festival related to Śiva where people observe fasts.
- 79.
Arukacantiran/Candru.
- 80.
I have not heard that from anyone else, who might corroborate it. But in essence, it signifies the importance of the place in the Tamil literary tradition, besides being an important Jaina centre that had a rich endowment in the past. Interesting that this was the first thing the priest’s son told me, and not about Kundavai’s grants, which he came to, later. There are layers to the history people recall, which is significant.
- 81.
Irulas, for a long time, used to make a living out of snake catching and rat catching, but here he used the term for a tribe of hunter-gatherers.
- 82.
Appaṉē is used for an elderly person and is also a term for ‘father’; she pleads with Appāṇḍainātha to restore the eyesight of her husband who erred unknowingly.
- 83.
Perhaps this place was sacred to hunter-gatherers—if we look at signifiers within the story—which got converted into a Jaina sacred centre, thanks to the patronage of Kundavai. Interestingly, in some places, Murukaṉ is also hailed as ‘appaṉē’ sometimes, when people visit his shrines, especially in Palani, where they call out to him (all the way uphill, as they reach his sanctum sanctorum), as Paḻaṇi-appaṉē or Paḻaṇi-āṇṭavaṉē. Though there is not enough evidence to substantiate this point, yet, the story suggests existence of a tribal group. The motif of the hunters (and ‘kiḻañku’) comes again in Pundi, which one will come to later.
- 84.
Some Tamil Jainas believe that the format of Sabarimala Ayyappa pilgrimage (after a 40-day vow men take to observe simple living, celibacy and other strict rules) may have had its influence on this relatively new festival in the Tamil Jaina calendar.
- 85.
It was not clear if the concept ayyāyiram was used to denote Jaina villages or number of people.
- 86.
SII, vol. VII, No. 1011; ARE 381 of 1902.
- 87.
48,000.
- 88.
SII, VII, No. 1012; ARE 382 of 1902.
- 89.
One kalam = 29 kg in Chōḻa times (Mahadevan 2003, p. 140).
- 90.
This may be a reference to a Digambara Jaina monk.
- 91.
SII, VII, 1012.
- 92.
SII, VII, 1013; ARE 383 of 1902.
- 93.
SII, VII, No. 1014; ARE 384 of 1902.
- 94.
SII, VII, No. 1015; ARE 385 of 1902.
- 95.
SII, Vol. VII, No. 1016; ARE 385-A of 1902.
- 96.
SII, Vol. VII. No. 1017; ARE 385-B of 1902.
- 97.
SII says Rāja Rājakesari Parāntakaṉ.
- 98.
Ibid. The term is used is atikāracciyār (verbatim), not atikāricciyār, as used in general parlance for a female official.
- 99.
Ekambaranathan’s reading (1987, p.384).
- 100.
ARE 300—1939–1940.
- 101.
ARE 301—1939–1940.
- 102.
ARE 299 of 1939–1940.
- 103.
An interesting folk genre has been used to construct this tale which is dated to the eighteenth century and was found in a palm leaf manuscript in possession of a Tamil Jaina person from Uppuvelur, which was then brought out in book form in 1988 by the author, Tirumozhi.
- 104.
‘A chief of the village or its leading landowner or an eminent person of the place is referred to as kiḻār in the inscription at Ammankoyilpatti (ca. fourth century A.D) (Mahadevan 2003, p. 125).
- 105.
Of this account, some Jainas say there is another aspect to the ‘vanishing’ of the āgamas; they say the āgamas were taken to Mudbidri by a former priest of a temple.
- 106.
ARE 311 of 1938–1939.
- 107.
ARE 312 of 1938–1939.
- 108.
Jaina Gazette, Vol. XXVIII. Nos. 323–325. Year of publication missing in the copy at the library of Prakrit Bhavan, Dhalavateertha, near Shravanabelgola.
- 109.
In 2003, it was Andhra Pradesh. By 2013, there are two new states, AP and Telangana. Incidentally, Jainism’s spread was more in the Telangana region (now state), while Buddhism had many centres in the Andhra (coastal, delta) region in the early centuries BC and CE. Kolanupaka was one significant Jaina centre in Telangana, among others.
- 110.
This was in the year 2003. The Jainas have since been given the status of Minority in India.
- 111.
He showed me the format used to collect this information, which was fairly systematic.
- 112.
Personal communication.
- 113.
He listed these: Padmaprabhā, Sūrya; Chandranātha, Candra; Vāsupūjya, Maṅgala; Mallinātha, Budha; Mahāvīra, Guru; Puṣpadanta, Śukra; Munisuvrata, Śaṇi; Neminātha, Rāhu; Pārśvanātha, Kētu.
- 114.
In 2015, I could see that Acarya Dhavalakirti had managed to persist with the idea of Jaina identity; in Vembakkam, he had brought along young students from his school in Tirumalai to give various performances, including Bharatanatyam, and other dance forms. Apparently, he has a troupe now which attends most of the annual rituals held in Jaina villages in Tamilnadu. There are also a bunch of drummers who go to each of these celebrations (wherever they are invited). There seemed to be a parallel bhaṭṭāraka tradition in place in Tamilnadu, with two of them attending most of the temple festivals. Whether there is a conflict of power cannot be said, unless one studies this development carefully. Some Tamil Jainas, in casual conversation, told me they were not too pleased with the inclusion of Hindi film songs and dances and the drummers coming as a ‘package’ to events such as pañcakalyāṇam, which they think should be a more minimalist affair. Among the Tamil Jainas, as in 2003, even today, there is difference of opinion regarding excess of ritualism and fanfare and preserving historical roots and engagement with the ‘true’ idea of Jainism through preserving of texts, etc. There is yet another stream which now believes in moving with the times and helping the next generation go beyond the identity question. Since there is the association with Karnataka, the Tirumalai svāmi, as he is called, also seems to be influenced by the religious-political milieu specific to that state.
- 115.
SII, Vol. I, No. 66, p. 94.
- 116.
ARE 80 of 1887; SII, Vol I, No. 67; Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IX, No. 31.
- 117.
Ekambaranathan 1987, pp. 229–233.
- 118.
1024 CE (Ekambaranathan 1987, pp. 264–265).
- 119.
Hultzsch’s translation. SII, Vol. I, No. 68, p. 100.
- 120.
Ibid, p.101.
- 121.
ARE 85 1887, SII, Vol. I, No.70.
- 122.
SII, Vol I, No 71.
- 123.
Tamil turavu: a well for irrigation.
- 124.
Hultzsch’s reading is ‘…pious gift of the brothers of the eldest son of Iḍaiyāṟaṉ Appaṉ (an inhabitant) of Arulmoṛi-devarpuram’. The Tamil inscription reads thus: ‘ciṟṟinañkaikku iṭṭa turavu aruḷmoḻitevarpurattu iṭaiyāṟaṉ appaṉ periya piḷḷai uḷḷiṭṭār taṉmam’. Periya Piḷḷai could be a name of a person. Perhaps literally it is taken to mean ‘eldest son’. Iṭaiyaṟ, though, would refer to the pastoral community. But here, the term is iṭaiyāṟ.
- 125.
SII, Vol I, No 72.
- 126.
Translated in SII, Vol. I, p. 102 as ‘Ommaṇa Uḍaiyār, son of Kambaṇa Uḍaiyār, and grandson of Vīra-Kambaṇa-Uḍaiyār.’ In Tamil, it reads as ‘śrīvīrakampaṇauṭaiyār kumāraśrīkampaṇauṭaiyār kumārar śrīommaṇa uṭaiyārku…’ S. Palaniappan (in his review of my earlier draft) says it is a misreading by Hultzsch. Kumāra Kampaṇa was not the son of Vīra Kampaṇa. He says both Vīrakampaṇa and Kumārakampaṇa are referring to the same person. It is intriguing, though, that the term kumār and kumārar come twice in the sentence. I translated it as above.
- 127.
SII, Vol. I, No. 72, p. 102. Emphasis added.
- 128.
Land value—40 poṉ—consisted of 32 kaṇis = 4000 kuris of wetland (nilam) or 2000 kuris of dryland (kollai) and of some houses (manai)
- 129.
SII, Vol. I, p. 104.
- 130.
SII, Vol. I. No. 73, p. 104.
- 131.
SII, XXIII, No. 65; ARE 65 of 1907–1908.
- 132.
SII, Vol III. No. 97; ARE 66 of 1907–1908.
- 133.
SII, XXIII, No. 69, ARE 69 of 1907.
- 134.
Tanattār; Māheśvara.
- 135.
ēṟippaci.
- 136.
vācalkuḻippaṇam?
- 137.
Italics as in the original.
- 138.
Also Epigraphia Indica, vol. IV, no.15 A, pp. 140–41; ARE 91 of 1889.
- 139.
J. Das Jain (compiled) Pūṇḍi Śrī Poṉṉeyilnāthar Jinālaya Varalāṟu, Ātmapāvaṉaiyum Tūya Naṟcintaṉaiyum (Tamil), Sri Jinabavan Publications, Chennai (based on legends, manuscripts and texts), not dated, pp.14–17. The title means it is a book not just on the history of the temple but it is also a compilation for good thoughts and self-introspection/meditation.
- 140.
Ibid, p.17.
- 141.
SII, Vol VII, No. 62; ARE 58 of 1900.
- 142.
I thank Dr. Kanaka Ajith Das (Chennai) and Mr. Selvamani (www.tamiljain.org) for helping me with this particular inscription. I am also grateful to S. Palaniappan who asked me to revisit the inscription which I had earlier misunderstood.
- 143.
I have paraphrased Desai verbatim here (diacritics used in the original); the word aṇi in Tamil means ornament, beauty, to decorate, to be attached to (aṇi poruntu), etc.
- 144.
Interestingly, Rajagopalan belongs to the Śaiva veḷḷāḷa community. When he took me to his relative’s house, one could see, at the threshold of this old typical tiled-roof home, patterns and motifs that seemed similar to the entrances of the Tamil Jaina homes. But then I thought I was simply looking for similarities, having heard so many of the nīr pūci nayiṉār stories. Rajagopalan believes those conversions happened. But someday, it would be interesting to record the other side of the same story, from the point of view of the Śaiva veḷḷāḷas, perhaps.
- 145.
The term used here is avatarritta.
- 146.
This is about the only village, so far, where I heard this statement.
- 147.
In the compilation called Tiruppaṟampūr Taruma Tēvatai Pattu, in Ekambaranathan 1991, p. 61. Incidentally, this booklet is published by the Karandai Munigiri temple establishment. Hence, it contains, besides the historical account, specifically inscriptions, some chronological account, and locally popular songs.
- 148.
This is apart from any special occasion, with due permissions from the ASI.
- 149.
See the next chapter for a related discussion.
- 150.
Set up by Sripal in the 1930s.
- 151.
The former dharumakartā of the Karandai Munigiri Jinalayam. His house was right across this temple at Karandai where he lived with his spouse, Sunanda. He breathed his last in January 2017. He had seen my thesis with great joy and was expecting to hold it someday as a book in his hands, which could not happen. His wife Sunanda passed away in August 2017.
- 152.
In common parlance, it is called Tiruppanamur.
- 153.
‘The Mahāvīra shrine, a separate one within the complex, is dated in the twelfth-century AD. This shrine was called Tirukāṭṭāmpaḷḷi and the deity Tirukāṭṭāmpaḷḷi āḻvār’ (ARE 141 of 1939–1940).
- 154.
ARE 129 of 1939–1940.
- 155.
ARE 141 of 1939–1940.
- 156.
Emphasis Type="Italic">ARE</Emphasis> 140 of 1939–1940; (Ekambaranathan 1991, p. 39).
- 157.
ARE 141 of 1939–1940.
- 158.
ARE 129 of 1939–1940. Emphasis added.
- 159.
‘A village near modern Walajapet; ghee from the cows was to be used for perpetual lamp” (ARE 132, 1939–1940).
- 160.
ARE 135 of 1939–1940.
- 161.
ARE 131 of 1939–1940.
- 162.
ARE 138 of 1939–1940.
- 163.
Ekambaranathan 1991, p. 50.
- 164.
ARE 415 of 1928–1929.
- 165.
ARE 416 1928–1929.
- 166.
Sanskrit name of Ponnur, Ep.Ind, vol XXIX, p.199ff—‘Heḷācārya monk of Drāviḍa gaṇa, native of Hemagrama, Poṉṉūr. Heḷācārya’s feet carved on Nilagiri hill, north-west of the Jaina temple’.
- 167.
I retain this point he made, without worrying about the historicity or otherwise of it, just to highlight the manner in which some of the Tamil Jainas perceive the changes within their religion and institutions.
- 168.
Of course, later that year, Chennai would see an unprecedented deluge following copious rains. These rains of course filled up the dried-up (when I had last seen) Palar River and some small reservoirs in Kanchipuram and around.
- 169.
From where I have cited the references from the previous visit.
- 170.
Life has taken so many detours since then, that the book—which had rested on my table all these years (with that request in mind all through)—is still not translated.
- 171.
Before his demise, in January 2017, I had begun translating the book. Unfortunately, I did not get to meet him alive to say that.
- 172.
Personal communication, at Karandai village, 11 February 2015.
- 173.
One of them has had a major accident and has been hospitalised for a long while now. Sunanda also shared the pain of having lost her young daughter-in-law sometime back; she keeps remembering that event and tells me about her daughter-in-law (she seems to have loved dearly) often during the day.
- 174.
This signifies the commencement of the 10-day event.
- 175.
His teacher and the head monk of his congregation.
- 176.
At Karandai village, 26 February, 2015.
- 177.
Personally, I wondered as to which one was better: the ostentation of richer people of the north or the quieter faith of the people here at Karandai, most of them quite old.
- 178.
Modern place names; hence, I do not use the diacritical marks here.
- 179.
It must be noted that several earlier historians, including K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, used a blanket term “dark ages” for the Kalappira (Kalabhra) rule, and it is now that some scholars acknowledge the fact that the support to Buddhism and Jainism (and also perhaps other non-Vedic) schools of thought (such as Ājivika and Lokāyata/Cārvāka who are known to have existed around this time) gave them this ‘notoriety’. School and college text-books too, continued to propagate this idea for a very long time.
- 180.
Both, the inscription and the translation, from ‘Samanarmalai Inscriptions’, edited by M. Venkataramayya, Epigraphical Assistant, Ootacamund, in T. S. Sripal, Samanarmalai Celvōm, Vira Sasana Sangha, Calcutta, 1954, pp. 5–6 of the Appendix.
- 181.
History of Madura—A Voyage into Jaina Antiquity, Green Walk, Madurai, 2014, pp. 22–23.
- 182.
Ibid, pp.23–24.
- 183.
Spellings as in the original.
- 184.
Ibid, pp.24–5.
- 185.
History of Madura, Green Walk, 2014, pp. 28–29.
- 186.
Just as my initial interest in Jainism came about from my research on Murukaṉ, finding most of the six sacred sites associated with his worship having earlier Jaina ‘connect’/association.
- 187.
‘Of the section of the drip ledge’ (Mahadevan 2003, p. 333).
- 188.
History of Madura, Green Walk, 2014, pp. 27–28.
- 189.
That would need more research, at a later point.
- 190.
Mayilai Sini Venkatasamy was introduced to me by the Tamil Jainas, in fact.
- 191.
There is perhaps a need to understand the inherent violence in these seemingly non-problematic aspects of dominant traditions as well, which marginalise several others. It would be truly a significant exercise if someone were to collate treatises on music from the Tamil Buddhist and Jaina tradition, for instance, with a non-god approach to the world, and to music, which has as yet not been done.
- 192.
Though, in the case of the lower castes, and the ‘untouchable’ castes, there has never been a history of ‘peaceful’ co-existence for the longest time. Even today, they continue to bear the costs of being born into a caste, through attacks on them across Tamil Nadu, which get reported, time and again. The identities they were born with seem to stick to them even to this day, more to victimise them. While my study focussed on a religious minority and marginalisation by a tradition that becomes dominant and overbearing (mainly ‘Hindu’, brāhminical), the people who bear most the brunt of marginalisation are the dalits and the tribal communities/adivasis.
- 193.
Though one wonders how and why.
- 194.
As narrated in Vedachalam (1989), p.89; I remember, with thanks, my mother, who read this book for, and with, me. The same story was also shared with me by the Tamil Jaina women.
- 195.
T. S. Sripal, Samanar Malai, Varthamanan Pathippagam, Chennai, 1996, p. 30. I thank Mr. Anantharaj Jain who gave me his personal copy of this book, out of print now.
- 196.
I thank all the Tamil Jainas who took time out to speak to me. And I must mention that this does not purport to be a record of all the narratives of the community. Many villages one could not visit; even where one did, one could not record the narratives. In any case, there cannot be one single, complete (or final) account of the history of any single community in India. The complexities are far too many to capture in a study with a limited scope and resources and time-frame.
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Acknowledgements
I acknowledge my mother’s invaluable contribution in reading out to me and with me the Tamil inscriptions at a time when I was still learning the language slowly, where no translations were available, and also copying many of them for me in various notebooks and papers, thereby becoming a fellow recordist and traveller.
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Umamaheshwari, R. (2017). Community Narratives, Inscriptional Records: A Chronicle of Journeys Through Tamil Jaina Villages. In: Reading History with the Tamil Jainas. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 22. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-3756-3_3
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