Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s12.t1: 4.10.1 Early period (ca. 3-1 centuries B.C.)

c23.s12.t1.1

The earliest Jaina inscriptions in the Tamil country are found in the Pāṇṭiya region with most of them clustered around Madurai. The palaeographic evidence indicates that Jainism must have arrived in the Pāṇṭiya country not later than the 3rd century B.C. The new faith received active support from the Pāṇṭiya dynasty and the local merchant communities as indicated by the inscriptions at Mangulam (Nos. *1-6*, ca. 2nd century B.C.) and Alagarmalai (Nos. *36-48*, ca. 1st century. B.C.). The presence of Old Kannada expressions and personal names in the cave inscriptions, especially at Sittannavasal-A (No. *49*, ca. 1st century. B.C.), points to Karnataka as the route through which Jainism reached the Tamil country. It is also likely that the Tamil-Brāhmī script was adapted from the Mauryan Brāhmī in the Jaina monasteries (*paḷḷi*) of the Madurai region some time before the end of the 3rd century B.C. as the earliest cave inscriptions are dated to about the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. It appears from the absence of reference to sects that the early lithic records in the Tamil caves belong to the period before the schism between the Digambara and Śvētāmbara sects. It is arguable from palaeographic evidence that the Early Tamil-Brāhmī cave inscriptions are the earliest lithic records of the Jaina faith in India, as the Mangulam inscriptions of the time of Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ appear to be earlier than the Jaina Prakrit inscriptions at Mathura and those of Kharavela of Kalinga.