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RECENTLY DISCOVERED JAINA INSCRIPTIONS
139
Kongarpuliyankulam (near Chekkanurani, Tirumangalam Taluk, Madurai district) of Pandya region. The Sangam literature Ahananuru (168:12) also mentions the cave by the name mulai, which may be a variant of mulaukai. The personal names in this inscription Emayavan and Elamperatan are typical Tamil names. In Cilappatikaram (Kadaladukathai: line 43) Lord Siva is mentioned as Emayavan. As the very name Emayavan is synonymous with that of Lord Siva, it is not improper to suggest that the donor of the hermitage for the stay of the Jaina monks could have been a devotee of Siva. If so, it shows the liberal attitude of Emayavan towards the Jaina creed.
Tamaraikarai
A fragmentary Tamil Brahmi inscription belonging to 5th-6th cent. A.D is found engraved on a stone kept in the premises of the Virabhadra temple on Erettimalai at Tamaraikarai in Bhavani taluk, Erode district. This stone was erected to commemorate the death (sallekana) of a person named "Karumatha Sattan." Natana Kasinathan reads the name "Karumitha Sattan" and believes that he should have been a Jaina merchant. There is more possibility to read this name as "Karimu(t)tu Sattan". "Kari" might be associated with the Jainism. Because, the Jaina associated inscription at Pulankurichchi' has many official names with "kari" as its suffix or prefix (Eg.Kirankari, Karikannan and Nariankari). No doubt, mu(t)tu is pearl and sattan is a merchant. So, he might have been a pearl merchant patronising Jainism.
Kilarasampattu
An inscription of Pallava king Nandivarman dated in his 4th regnal year (850 AD) found on the foot-hill Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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