Year: 2023

Tirumalai Tirumalai. Bahubali visited by his two sisters. Eleventh century. A seated Mahavira flanked by two large lions grace this disused temple on top of the hill. Under the tree in the rear there are rock-cut footprints (padukas) commemorating the nirvana (death) of some  renowned ascetics. The temple-hill at Tirumalai (malai hill) is another ancient...

Melsittamur (left). General view of the towers of the 'new' (16th cent.) temple of Melsittamur as seen from the roof of a nearby build- ing. The two old templs (9th cent.), housing sev- eral impressive sculptures, lie a short way beyond the blackened tower. (far left below). Sculpture on a pillar facing from within the...

Thirunarungkondai This large Parshvanatha Temple at Thirunarungkondai, with its two towers of uniquely Tamil architecture, was built above and around a cave-like cleft between two boulders. During the month of May each year a festival, lasting for ten days, attracts thousands of pilgrims. (right). Detail of the above tower showing a seated Jina with chauri-...

Tirakkol The Jaina sights of Tirakkol a remote ham- let about 25 km north of Gingee - deserve to be seen twice: once well before noon, and another time in the afternoon. To get there, take a bus at Gingee bound for the market town of Desur. On arrival ask your way to the Jaina...

Ennyiramalai  Detail of an inscription at Ennayiramalai. The letters are Brahmi, the lan- guage is Tamil. See next page. A fascinating place of great antiquity, but little-known and difficult to locate. At some remote period it was the centre of a famous order of Digambara monks where hundreds of naked ascetics - popular belief speaks...

Tamilnadu Since Gingee, a minor town in Tamilnadu easily accessible by bus from Madras, Pondicherry and Bangalore, has got a new hotel, conveniently situated opposite the bus stand, it offers itself as an ideal station for users of this guide. The two districts of North and South Arcot, with Gingee in the centre, constitute a...

Tha Genesis and Spirit of Jaina Art Jyoti Prasad Jain The avowed aim of the Jaina religion is the perfection of man, or the transformation of the individual mundane soul (atman) into the very state of Godhood (paramatman). It exhorts and helps to bring out the divinity inherent in a person through the realization of...

Gommatagiri Close-up of the five and a half metre high Bahubali at Gommatagiri. Hewn from black granite, the statue (right) stands on a solitary hillock about twenty-five kilometres north-west of Mysore city on the road to Hunsur. The inhabitants of the sparsely populated area call the colossus 'Shramana Gudda'. For an unknown of time it...

Chandragiri Site plan of temples. 1- Chamundaraya Basti 2-Shasana Basti 3-Kattale Basti 4-Chandragupta Basti 5-Parshvanatha Basti 6-Shantinatha Basti 7-Savati Gandhavarana Basti, Built In 1123 By Queen Shantal Devi. Wife Of A Hoysala King. Inscriptions67. Chamundaraya Basti. Late tenth century. "This granite structure is a perfect specimen of Ganga workmanship and of Dravidian architectural features.(...) We find...

Shravanabelagola Shravanabelagola - so spelled by the Jaina authorities of this town but also known as Shravana Belgola and by other spellings is in more than one respect a most remarkable place of pilgrimage. Its giant image of Bahubali has already been featured in chapter two. Another first held by Shravanabelagola is in the field...