Indian Aesthetics On The Trail Of Jain Art In Tamil Nadu

The remains of deserted Jain cave sites, weathered rock-cut reliefs, sculptures discovered in fields and now displayed in museums, as well as the few temples still in use in Tamil Nadu give a glimpse of a thriving Jain culture of a bygone era.

- Sudha Ganapathi And Anuradha Shankar

Jainism in Tamil Nadu: Beginnings, Rise & Decline A little over two millennia ago, a Jain monk by the name of Bhadrabahu led a group of 8000 followers from the Magadha region southwards to escape a famine which had persisted for 12 years. [1] While some of the Jains settled in the Mysore region of present-day Karnataka, many others migrated further south to the region around Madurai.

This was the beginning of Jainism in Tamil Nadu, which soon spread and grew in strength. There were several rock-cut and structural temples in Tamil Nadu, as well as inscriptions indicating royal patronage — particularly Pandian and Chola — along with support from the local population, especially the rich merchant class. Based on these inscriptions, historians estimate that the Jain population of Tamil Nadu was at its peak in the 8th and 9th centuries, with the maximum number of Jains concentrated in Kanchipuram, Madurai, Pudukkottai, Tiruchirappalli, and Tirunelveli. [2]

However, the rise of Shaivism and Vaishnavism in Tamil Nadu brought Jainism into direct conflict, with Shaivite and Vaishnavite saints leading organized efforts against Jainism [3]. With increasing persecution and the resultant loss of patronage, some Jains migrated to neighboring Karnataka, while others — especially the richer Jains — got assimilated into the dominant Shaiva and Vaishnava communities in Tamil Nadu. By the 12th century CE, Jainism had gone into oblivion in Tamil Nadu and most of their places of worship were abandoned or forgotten, or claimed by others. [4]

The Jain Art of Tamil Nadu