Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s12.t2.1

c23.s12.t2.1

There is a sharp fall in the total number of cave inscriptions in this period. The centre of Jainism in the Tamil country appears to have shifted from the Pāṇṭiya to the Cēra region in the early centuries A.D., as indicated by the sharp fall in the number of inscriptions in the Pāṇṭiya country and the equally sharp rise in their number in the Cēra country during this period. As in the Pāṇṭiya country in the earlier period, Jainism was patronised by kings, and local merchant communities in the Cēra country also, as seen from the Pugalur inscriptions (Nos. *61-72*, ca. 2nd and 3rd centuries. A.D.). Contacts with the Jaina community in Karnataka continued in this period also, as indicated by what appear to be Kannada personal names in the inscription at Tirupparankunram (No. *55*, ca. 1st century A.D.). The earliest literary evidence of Jainism in the Tamil country belongs to this period; e.g., *uṇṇāmaiyiṉ uyaṅkiya maruṅkiṉ āṭā-p-paṭivattu āṉṟōr pōla* 'like the (Jaina) monks whose bodies are emaciated by fasting and not bathed' (*Aka.* 123). There is also literary evidence from the Caṅkam poems that Jaina monasteries (*paḷḷi*) existed in cities like Kāviri-p-pūm-paṭṭiṇam and Madurai even during the early centuries A.D.¹