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 temple where anyone present will be eager to tell you the way to Tirakkol. Insist that you prefer to walk; it is a short hour’s hike through appealing countryside.

 Seated Tirthankara with chauri-bearers, facing east. Seventh century. Cut in the same boulder, there are two more panels, but they must be seen and photographed in the afternoon. On the left, in the rear, a front pillar of the village Jaina temple.

On the right a small ruined shrine. Illustration 89 (right) shows a closer view of this old building as seen from the south. Next to nothing is known about this still picturesque piece of architecture.