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SITTANNAVASAL
The hub of Jainism in Southern India
Sittannavasal, a small village in Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu, is known for its fresco mural paintings in the Arivar Koil, a rock-cut Jain cave temple, and for Ezhadippattam, a natural cavern. It is also home to a submerged cave temple called Navach-chunai, as well as to megalithic burial sites, which are testimony to the existence of prehistoric man in the area. More than one explanation exists for the origin of the name Sittannavasal. According to one explanation, the name Sittannavasal could have been derived from the word Chirrannalvaayil meaning 'abode of great saints'. Another interpretation points the origin of the word to Chiruannalvaayil, meaning 'smaller Annal Vaayil' when Sittannavasal hill was once a part of a suburb of Annalvayil. A third explanation says that the word could have a northern origin from Siddhaanaam vaasah. However, the Tamil Brahmi inscription in the temple mentions the name of this place as Chiruposil. Sittannavasal, perhaps one of the oldest inhabited sites in Pudukkottai, was a hub for Jainism from the 1st century BCE to the 10th century CE.
The entrance to the Arivar Koil, a Jaina rock-cut cave temple in Sittannavasal
Fresco paintings inside the Arivar Koil at Sittannavasal
The Arivar Koil (temple of the Arhats), located on a rocky hillock, is a Jaina rock-cut cave temple. The temple initially consisted of a garbha-griham, ardha-mandapam and mukha-mandapam. A pillared veranda was added in the 20thcentury CE by the then Maharaja of Pudukkottai. A famous Tamil inscription in the pillared veranda mentions that the temple was repaired by a famous Jaina Acharya called Ilan Gautaman during the reign of the Pandyan King Srimaran Srivallabhan, also called Avanipasekhara (815-862 CE). The Arivar Koil is famous for its mural paintings, executed in the fresco-secco technique (painting done on a drywall), and considered to be in the same style as the Ajanta paintings (2nd to 6thcentury CE). The garbha-griham and the ardha-mandapam contain exquisite paintings and are amongst the only examples of early Jaina frescoes in South India. Unfortunately, the paintings have deteriorated over the years due to neglect and vandalism.
The Ezhadippattam, a natural cavern on the eastern side of the hillock, consists of polished rock beds that belonged to Jaina ascetics (1stcentury BCE and 10thcentury CE). There are seventeen rock beds containing inscriptions in Tamil, with the largest and perhaps the oldest bed containing a Tamil Brahmi inscription dated to the 1stcentury BC. The megalithic burial sites with urn-burials, stone circles and cists in Sittannavasal are also an attraction, and this mode of burial is considered to have been practised in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam period (3rdcentury BCE to 1stcentury CE). A temple submerged in a tarn, called Navach-chunai, exists on the eastern side of the rock. The name is derived from the naval maram (jambu tree) found nearby. Built in the late Pandya style of architecture (13thcentury CE), the temple is dedicated to Lord Siva and is locally known as the Jambunatha cave. Presently the Arivar Koil, the Ezhadippattam, and the megalithic burial sites are protected and administered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
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