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Quaint caverns
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You can play hide-and-seek here, says SOMA BASU
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PRICELESS HISTORY: Untouched by modernity
Each time I seek directions to the Jain Caves, I draw a blank. There is a bewildered look on people's faces. "You mean the Christian temple?" they ask. I'm surprised because the name "Samanamalai" in Tamil has to do with Jainism. At last, a young boy holds out a ray of hope. "You mean, the Mahavira Temple?" I breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, I'm on the right path.
Driving through a maze of kuchcha-pucca houses and an unmanned railway crossing, Samanamalai suddenly appears in the middle of nowhere - a huge, shapeless, brown mass. The bare hillock radiates heat in the scorching noon sun. But it hides a priceless piece of history and religion.
Samanamalai is situated just 12 km west of Madurai. Yet, tourists to the Temple City do not venture beyond the Meenakshi Temple. "Either they are unaware of its existence or are uncertain how to get there," rues the president of the Travel Club, G. Vasudevan.
History in rock
There are many roads to Samanamalai, depending on how adventurous you are. On the Madurai-Theni Road, look out for an obscure signboard which says Kuyilkudi. The long, narrow road takes you to the eastern side of a hill at the edge of a temple tank filled with water lilies. Alongside the temple, steps are cut into the rock. They are straight and small and initially easy to climb. But, after the first 100 steps, the ascent becomes suddenly steep. The top of the hill appears so long away that I'm tempted to abandon the trip. After what seems like eternity, I find myself at the mouth of a cave atop the hill.
Well worth the effort, because it is like turning back the pages of history. Here is a spot untouched by modernity. The absence of litter and damage caused by vandals is conspicuous. The Jain rock sculptures of Mahavira, Gomateswara, Yaksha and Yakshi and bas reliefs bear inscriptions in Vatteluthu, dating back to the 9th Century A.D. Archaeologists have recorded the existence of a Jain school and a natural fountain called "pechchi pallam" here.
Arched gateways
A flight of steps in another direction takes me down to another cave, which has an arched entrance. A huge image of Mahavira is seated on a lion pedestal. I am told later this cave is on the southern side of the hill and is called "Setti Podavu". Fresh earthen lamps and strings of flowers under the Mahavira sculpture suggest this is the most frequently visited cave. This corner has a dash of green with some trees forming natural arched gateways.
The Western entrance is through Alampatti village, while the northern side is called Nagamalai Pudukottai.
Right at the centre of the hill is a big natural cavern in which Jain monks lived 2,000 years ago.
A Brahmi inscription is engraved on the `forehead' of the cave and another on the lithic bed which dates back to the 1st Century A.D.
By the side of the cave is a broken stone image of a Jain Theerthankara belonging to the 9th Century A.D. History has it that Jainism earned royal and rural patronage in the early Christian era.
But sometime around the 7th Century A.D., during the rise of the Bhakthi Movement, it suffered a setback as thousands of Jain followers were persecuted (Kaluvetram).
However, the religion did not lose its roots and re-emerged a century later as the inscriptions indicate.
Samanamalai has a network of hide and seek caves. It is one among the eight hills around Madurai that were once famous centres of Jainism. Although under ASI maintenance, it lies in a state of disrepair and therefore not frequently visited (and therefore a candidate for a road less travelled?).
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Pondicherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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