A most unusual group of early Chola Jain inscriptions has been discovered at Kūvaṉūr, a small village in Tirukkoyilur taluq of Villupuram district.1 These are found in the backyard of Mr. Paramasiva Nainar. (His ancestors were originally Jains but now converted into Saivites). Three slabs containing inscriptions were planted on either side of a basement made of bricks (local people call it a Śiva temple since a cylindrical stone was planted in the middle of the basement (Picture 1).

The slab planted on the left side of the basement contains an incomplete five-line inscription (Picture 2). Each line is underlined. The upper and lower portions of the slab were broken. The inscription begins with a phrase"..ṇṭa kō Parakēcari" which can be identified with the usual meykkīrtti "real fame" (i.e. the exploits of the king) which begins with Maturai koṇṭa Parakēcari- "the king Parakēcari (title) who conquered Madurai". However the words Maturai and koare missing in the inscription. This is identified as that of the early Chola king Parāntaka I who ruled between 906 and 955 A.D. Since the inscription mentions his regnal year as 15, this inscription is datable to 921 A.D.

Text

1. ..ṇṭa kopparakecari……..

2. ṟmaṟku yāṇṭu (Pa) tiṉaiñ-

3. cā (vatu)…….muṉaippāṭip pāṇṭaiyūr-

4. nāṭṭup pāṇṭaiyūr iruntu vā-

5. ḻum toṭṭa……..

Translation

lines 1-3: In the 15^th regnal year of king Parakēcari

lines 3-5: Toṭṭa who lives in Pāṇṭaiyūr in Pāṇṭaiyūr nāṭu of (Tiru) muṉaippāṭi…….

Explanation

(Tiru) Muṉaippāṭi and Pāṇṭaiyūr Nāṭu are the old political divisions of the Chola country of which Muṉaippāṭi is the larger unit. Pāṇṭaiyūr is the village name which could not be traced now. Since the inscription is incomplete the full message could not be traced.

The slabs planted on the right side of the basement, the writing of which is similar to the dated slab, contain unique information about the customs and beliefs of the Jains in Tamilnadu. This is noticed for the first time in Tamilnadu (perhaps even in India)

One slab contains the following inscription inscribed on both sides.

Text

1Translation side I

2line 1: Hail Prosperity!

3lines 2-3: Mantras

4lines 4-6: The hand mode…. kuppai Piramāṇi

5Translation side II

6lines 1-2: Mantras

7lines 3-5: The stone showing the mode which is planted after following vow for twelve (days?)

Explanation (Side I): The first two lines contain syllables of mantras. These were common to all religions following Tantric practices. Lines 4-5 mention about a Pramāṇi, a Sanskrit word meaning "one who is well versed in śastras". Kuppai may be referring to his native village. The syllable /ka/ which is noticeable may be the initial syllable of the proper name of the one who is well versed in śastras. The compound noun kaipāṇi is interesting. It means "hand mode". A compound noun pāṇi mukam occurs in the Tamil Jain epic Cīvakacintāmaṇi which is datable to the 10^th century A.D. This compound noun is used in connection with the story that a dog after listening to the Pañca mantra-s uttered by Cīvakaṉ, the hero of the epic, got enlightened and attained the form of a Deva.2 According to Nacciṉārkkiṉiyar this noun means the gati "mode" by which way the souls travel after they got released from their bodies, which are referred to in (the Jain) Paramāgama.3 Dr.U.V. Swaminatha Iyer who edited this Tamil epic has given the following remarks:

"Paramāgamam here means the Jināgama. The modes in which the uyir "life" goes are of many kinds. The mode by which the soul of the Siddha goes is called Avigraha gati. For this the time is one; the mode by which the soul of a person of worldly life goes is called vigraha gati. This is of three kinds; the first is called pāṇimuktā gati; this has one bending/inflection (vaḷaivu) like the

letter "ṭa" (ட) [cf.inside the next picture]. The horizontal line represents the thumb and the vertical one represents the index finger. Hence the name pāṇimuktā gati. The time for this is 2; this is for the Devas and humans. The second one is called Ilāṅgala gati; this has got two bendings like the letter "pa" (ப); the time for this is 3; this is for the animals; the third one is called gōmūttira gati [lit. like the form got after urination of a walking cow]. This has got three bendings []; the time for this is 4; this is for the naraka-s. This has been mentioned in the book called Tattvārtta sūttiram.4

Thus the usage kaippāṇi should be referring to, most probably, the pāṇi muktā gati of the Jain āgama-s and probably refers also to the mode by which the soul of the learned Jain of Kuppai had left. It is quite interesting to notice a slab which is planted near this inscription depicts clearly this mode in bas relief (Picture 5) and next to it we find a line drawing showing a pole and a pot (hanging from it) suggesting that they were belonging to a monk. From this we can infer that the Kuppai Pramāṇi mentioned in the inscription may be a monk of the Jaina faith.

The inscription found on side II (given above) also contains mantras (first two lines). It also contains a compound noun viz., pāṇi-t-taṟi. taṟi means stone (slab) and pāṇi means "hand (mode)". Thus it may mean "the stone showing the hand mode". This usage also confirms the concept mentioned in side I as Kaippāṇi. The inscription on side II also states that this slab was planted after (the monk) following vow (or fasting) for twelve (days). This practise probably refers to the Jain custom of sallekhana "fasting unto death". Reading together both the inscriptions we may state that one Kuppai Pramāṇi fasted for twelve (days) following the Jain tradition of sallekhana and mortified himself and a stone showing the hand mode (of the outgoing soul) was planted in memory of this by the side of the inscription. Inscriptions mentioning sallekhana are found in Tamilnadu as well as in Karnataka. In fact various types of memorial stones (niśidhikas) are found in Sravana-belgola.5 But inscriptions and the symbol noticed in Kūvaṉūr are unique and found nowhere else so far.

8There are two more slabs to be explained. One slab shows the figure of a female deity in standing posture (Picture 6). She has four hands. The upper arms carry a Trishul (trident) and a kettle drum. Of the front hands, the right one is lifted upwards (the palm is not clear) and the left one is hanging loosely. A two-tier oil lamp is found on her right side and on her left is found a person standing with his hair flowing on either side of his head. On the top two tridents are shown on either side of the figure.

By the side of this slab another slab is found (Picture 7). This contains inscriptions and symbols on both sides. Unfortunately it is broken at the bottom but luckily the two halves (Pictures 7l & 7u for one side and pictures 8l & 8u for the other side) were planted together.

Text

On the first glance, at the figure depicted in the slab (explained before) and these two inscriptions containing mantras and a few epithets like bhagavato, nilakaṇṭi, nimalakshi, nākatuti, aṃtavarṣiṇi, sarvavināsini etc., people will identify these with Pārvati, the consort of Śiva (because of the Trishul and the kettle drum). It is not so. In all Tāntric traditions (whether it is Hindu, Jain or Buddhist) symbols like Trishul etc. are common. On interpreting these one has to keep in mind the other inscriptions found nearby these which are definitely Jain. When Yakshis and Yakshas were added to the Tīrttaṅkaras in the Jain tradition the worship of Yakshis for mundane benefits became very popular among Jain laity. It is interesting to note a Yakshi image planted along with a memorial stone of a monk who mortified himself at the lower hill Sravanabelgola in Karnataka.6 Some of the epithets inscribed in these inscriptions are found in Bhairava Padmāvatikalpa, a famous Jaina work on Padmavathi Yakshi.7 Putting all these together we may say that since all of them are found in one and the same place they are related and that too to the Jain practices and customs. S. Settar, after analysing the monuments and inscriptions found at Sravanabelgola states that there are about seven ritual terms, which either individually or in combination with other terms," indicate the same ritual method of terminating life. Nonetheless, each term, with a distinct shade of meaning, all its own, appears to have been intended to emphasize an aspect of the ritual process and its significance".8 These ritual terms are as follows:

Though all these cannot be explained in this small paper, the inscriptions described above do contain a ritual term like paṉṉiraṇṭu nōṟṟu, "having fasted for twelve (days?). The epithet "pramāṇi" used in the first inscription refers to a person who has fluency in religious texts and thus pointing towards "the ārādhana" ritual. Here the text used for ārādhanā may be the one on Padmāvathi Yakshi. Thus a learned Jain monk (because of the pot and pole symbol along with the hand mode symbol) fasted for twelve (days) while meditating on the text on a Yakshi, mortified himself through sallekhana. The people who have witnessed this have erected a niśidika "memorial stone" by not only inscribing this event on stone but also in a bas relief — the hand mode — by which the holy spirit has left the learned monk’s body.

9What is interesting here is that according to the Tāntric tradition the sacred mantras should not be uttered or written publicly. But here is a case when even as early as the 10^th century A.D., a memorial stone along with the Yakshi figure and her proper (bhīja) mantras inscribed on stone was planted in an open place and shown publicly. This also shows us that Jain Tāntric practices were started as early as 10^th century A.D. in Tamilnadu among Jains. Though these inscriptions do not have references to kings or their dates we may posit these to 10^th century A.D., on paleographical grounds. Because the orthography followed in these slabs are very similar to those found in Parāntaka I’s inscription (found near these group of inscribed slabs).