Jainism/Buddhism in Tamilnadu

Mon Aug 14 13:25:14 UTC 1995

          Decline of Buddhism/Jainism in Tamil Nadu
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This is a difficult field. It has to be studied archaeologically
and thru' literature. What we have is only bits & pieces, may be the tip of
iceberg. Very meager authentic data - Scarce & Scattered.

Encyclopaedia of Tamil literature (Vol. 1, 1990, Madras) has two nice articles.
1) Jainism and Tamil literature
2) History of Buddhism in Tamilnadu.

C. M. Ramachandran Chettiar wrote in 1940's a classic work
KongkunATum camaNamum. Just like Coimbatore is close to the real, - 
kOvan puttUr (kOyamuttUr is wrong), Trichinopoly comes from tiru cinap 
paLLi."cina" comes from Jina (Jainism). tEvAram saints converted and
called it tiruccirAppaLLi.

Also a Jain monks' resting place is converted into "amaNalingEcuvarar"
temple in tirumUrttimalai near Udumalpet. This is a lovely place,
a nice dam is there. ammaNam in Tamil means "naked". This comes from
Digambara monks of Jainism.

Other great works are:
mayilai cIni vEngkaTacAmi, 1) camaNamum tamizum 2) pauttamum tamizum
3) kaLappirar ATciyil tamizakam.
See also, R. Vijayalakshmy, tamizakattil AcIvakarkaL, ulakat
tamizArAycci niruvanam, 1988
M. S. Ramaswamy Aiyangar, Studies in South Indian Jainism, Madras, 1922
A. Cakkaravartti Nayinar, Jaina literature in tamil, 1974, Delhi. (Reprint)
K. S. Nagarajan, Jaina Contribution to Tamil culture, Madras.
T. S. Sripal, tamizakattil jainam, Madras, 1975
E. Ekamparanatan, kalvettil camanam, Madras, 1979
E. kamparanatan, Jaina inscriptions in Tamilnadu: A topographical list,
1987, 464 p. Madras
R. Champakalakshmi, Jainism in south India, Delhi, 1974

Aspects of Jain art & architecture, Ahmedabad, 1975 has several articles
 pertaining to TN/ South India.

There is a small red brick temple in tiruvatikai, near paNruTTi.
It is called kuNaparEccvaram. This is the Jain basti converted
by Appar. Before 640 A.D., all the structures were wooden & brickworks.
This is part of the reason why we don't find many Jain structures today.

See the following important paper:
A. Veluppillai, The Hindu confrontaion with Jains and Buddhists: Saint
Tirunanasambandhar's polemical writings.
p. 335-364, The problem of ritual, edited by Tore Ahlback, Abo: Finland, 1993.
Indira Peterson is writing the Tevaram Saints views of Jains/ Buddhits
for a volume (Open boundaries: Jains & others in India) edited by John E. Cort.

Sambandar:
***********
I heard an interesting story. During 19th century,
several debates tookplace on Madurai Jains' impalement.
Some people told that Sambandhar has sung that
Jains must lose their heads. (arukar cirangkaLaic cin^ta).

But Arumuga Navalar challenged them to check the original 
copper plates on which teevaaram songs are inscribed (at
Tiruvaaruur). When the check was done, it was found
that Sambandhar prays that Jains must lose their talents
during disputes(arukar tiRangkaLaich cinta).
That tEvAram is the following:

  anta NaaLar puriyum arumaRai
  cintai ceyyaa arukar tiRangkaLaic
  cinta vaatuce yattiru vuLLamee
  venta niiRatu aNiyum vikirtanee

Kaasivaasi Sendhinaathaiyar of Ceylon, a student of Arumuga Navalar,
has written a book on Madurai Jains' impalement from a Tamil
Saiva perspective.
Kaasivaasi Sendhinaathaiyar, Sri Siigaazhip Peruvaazhvin
jiiva- kaaruNNiya- maaTci. printed at Tirumangalam, 1907, 28p.

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          Re: Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu
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1) Wendy Doniger, Hindu myths, Penguin, 1975 and
2) Cornelia Dimmit, Classical Hindu mythology: a reader in Sanskrit
puranas, Temple university press give some sources in Sanskrit.

Later Hinduism absorbed/appropriated several traits of Buddhism.
Sankara was called "prasanna bauddha (hidden buddhist)" by Ramanuja.

In northern Sri Lanka, a buddhist vihara became a Vishnu temple.
Whether a conversion?? or after a long time of disuse, temple was erected??
In late 19th century, during renovation, a gold plate inscription
and a huge Buddha limestone image were unearthed at that temple. A British 
collector, Sir Henry Blake donated the Buddha image to King of Siam in 1906. 
It stands now in Wat Benja (The Marble Temple), Bangkok. This early image 
belongs to Amaravati school of Art (3rd-4th century A.D.)
It seems that Hinduization of Buddhist viharas to Vishnu temples have
some connections to Hindu puranas calling Buddha as an avatar of Vishnu.

References:
a) S. Paranavitana, Vallipuram gold plate inscription,
Inscriptions of Ceylon, 2, pt. 1, 1983, p. 79-81

b) Peter Schalk, The Vallipuram Buddha image rediscovered,
Jl. of the institute of Asian studies, (Madras), v. XII, no. 1,
Sep. 1994, p. 115-122.

Prof. A. Veluppillai has written that during the declining phases of Buddhism,
South Indian Buddhists took refuge in Northern Sri Lanka. In the
only surviving Buddhist Tamil epic Manimekalai, she goes to Naga tIvu,
which is today's NayinattIvu of Jaffna region.
A. Veluppillai, The Manimekalai: Historical background and Indigenization
of Buddhism.
Journal of the institute of Asian studies, Madras, p. 23-72, IX, 1, 1991

Other references:
Peter Schalk, 1) On the origin of Buddhism in Tamilakam,
Journal of the institute of Asian studies, Madras, p. 100-105, XI, 1, 1993
G. John Samuel, A comment of Dr. P. Schalk's paper,
Journal of the institute of Asian studies, Madras, p. 106-112, XI, 1, 1993

**
K. Sivaramalingam, Tracing Buddhist vestiges in Tontaimantalam,
Journal of the institute of Asian studies, Madras, p. 48-90, X, 2, 1993
T. N. Vasudeva Rao, Buddhism in Tamil country, Madras.
T. N. Ramachandran, The Nagapattinam and other Buddhist bronzes
in Madras Government museum
Shu Hikosaka, Buddhism in Tamilnadu: A new perspective.
1989: Madras.

Yours,
n. ganesan
nas_ng at lms461.jsc.nasa.gov