Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s3.t2: 1.3.2 Sittannavasal: abode of a Jaina nun from Karnataka
Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c20.s3.t2
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1.3.2 Sittannavasal: abode of a Jaina nun from Karnataka
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One of the better-known early cave inscriptions in Tamil Nadu is at Sittannavasal in Pudukkottai District. A large natural cave locally known as Ēḻaṭippaṭṭam (Fig. 1.⁷) is situated near the summit along the eastern face of the hill.⁹ Inside the cave is a large and smoothly polished stone bed. A Tamil-Brāhmī inscription is deeply engraved along two adjacent edges of the bed (Fig. 1.⁸). As the stone bed is inside the cave and the characters of the inscription have been carefully smoothened, this is the best preserved of the Tamil-Brāhmī inscriptions discovered so far.¹⁰
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⁷ *Corpus of the Tamil-Brāhmī Inscriptions 1966* (1968): Nos. 30-44. See also Fig. 2.1.
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⁸ Nos. *36* to *48*. See also Figs. 8.20-8.22 (tracings) and Pls. 16B-20 (estampages).
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⁹ For a description of the upper cave of Sittannavasal and its features, see H. Krishna Sastri in *ARE 1914-15*: paragraphs 1 & 2.
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¹⁰ *ARE 388 A / 1914*. See the excellent reproduction of the estampage in *ARE 1914-15*: Pl. I.
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There are 16 more stone beds in this cave, some of them bearing later inscriptions in the Tamil characters of ca. 8th century A.D. These beds are not so well-made and some of them are damaged. A study *in situ* has shown that the centrally located and exceptionally well-made stone bed with the Tamil-Brāhmī inscription was fashioned much earlier and remained the only one in the cave for centuries until the other stone beds with inscriptions in the Tamil script were added in the early medieval period.
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The well-preserved and easily accessible Tamil-Brāhmī cave inscription at Sittannavasal has received attention from many scholars. Krishna Sastri made two attempts to read the inscription; ¹ but neither was successful as he could not suggest any plausible interpretation of his own readings. Subrahmanya Aiyer's reading produced the first broadly correct interpretation of the inscription, even though he misread some of the letters occurring in proper names.²
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¹ *ARE 1914-15*: paragraph 2. H. Krishna Sastri 1919: pp. 344-346.
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² K.V. Subrahmanya Aiyer 1924: pp. 296-299.
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As some of the expressions like *erumināṭu* in the inscription appeared to indicate contacts with Karnataka, I felt that it should be re-examined by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in Tamil and Kannada epigraphy. At my invitation, M.D. Sampath, Chief Epigraphist, ASI, joined our team which visited Sittannavasal in December 1991.³ After a very careful study of the inscription and review of earlier readings, the expert team arrived at the following translation:
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³ The other members of the team, besides myself, were N. Srinivasan, TNSA, Madagadi Thangavelu, civil engineer, (who made the tracing) and A. Seetharaman from Thanjavur.
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(To) Kavuṭi born at Kumuḻūr in Erumināṭu.
The seat was made by the Iḷayar of Teṉku Ciṟupocil.⁴
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⁴ See No. **49** and the Commentary on it. See also Fig. 8.23 (tracing) and Pl. 21 (estampage).
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The most remarkable fact emerging from the re-examination of this inscription is that the stone bed was specially made and gifted to a Jaina nun named Kavuṭi (Ka. *gavuḍi*). She is described as being born at Kumuḻūr in Erumināṭu (*erumaināṭu*, the Mysore region of Karnataka). The inscription is the earliest epigraphic evidence for contacts between the Jaina communities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.