Sittanavasal – Neglected, but magnificient

An overwhelming number of popular tourist places in the state of Tamil Nadu have Hindu origin (Think of Madurai, Rameswaram, Tiruchi, Mylapore etc). Almost all the literary works have always had Tamils as Hindu characters (though three of the ‘Aimperunkappiams’ (Five Great Epics) have a great deal of philosophies and characters from Buddhism and Jainism). Very little authoritative studies have reached the general public regarding the innumerable and inevitable clashes amongst various religions in their early days. In fact, one would not be faulted if he/she thinks that this part of the world always had Hinduism at its helm, given the absence of contrarian claims. Among the other major religions, Buddhism seems to have somehow taken an aerial route to SriLanka directly from Andhra Pradesh. Christianity claims are more prevalent in the west coast of India then the East coast. Jainism, however, seems to have a strong relationship with Tamil Nadu for almost 1000 years starting first century B.C. There is a school of thought that claim that the Thirukkural- the primordial work of Tamilians had Jainist origins and some refute this notion , instead categorizing it as a Shaivaite work. Though the great writer Sujatha has written about the debate in ‘Kanaiyazhi’ almost thirty years ago, interested readers can visit the blog of the writer Jeyamohan on this subject (http://www.jeyamohan.in/) for recent views. The jury is still out on that one, but if you would like to visit a place reminiscent of non-Hindu period in Tamil Nadu, you can easily pick the rocks at Sitthannavasal. Abode of Siddhas (Jain monks) is the meaning of the name .

It is a tribute to our attitude towards our history that the sole employee appointed by the Archeological Survey of India as a caretaker of this monument was not even at the ticket counter at 11 am in the morning. He was watching our vehicle from a distance and only after confirming that we actually wanted to visit the place did he amble towards us. You cannot fault him because the rock surface is just by the side of the Pudukkotati-Annavasal main road and one will give it a miss if not watchful, as there are no large signboards worthy of a historic site. There is a hillock which leads to ‘Ezhadippattam’ – the cavern where the Jain monks practiced their meditation and led their ascetic lives. I noticed a ‘No Photography’ sign and asked the caretaker how the stone structure could possibly be damaged by photography. Instead of trying for a reason, he took the easier route : “ You can take your camera , Sir” clearly expecting some ‘Gandhian favour’ in return. We declined the offer and prodded along till we reached the cave which has a very low ceiling, but well lit and spacious. There are a series of stone beds – 3’X10’ slots carved out on the stone floor with an elevated head rest on one side to be used as ‘pillow’, and there are about 17 of them. There is a Brahmi script inscription as well explaining the purpose. But even before the Government could act to protect the monument, one can notice the inevitable love messages left by our romeos and examination numbers inscribed by our pious students all over the structure.

Adjacent to the Stone Bed is the better known cave temple known as Arivar-koil, which houses the unparalleled Sittannavasal paintings (http://www.poetryinstone.in/lang/en). The painting and the remnants of the structure are worth the visit and deserve to be promoted even more. The celebration of life seen through the vivid colours and the comity of different living beings like elephants, buffaloes, men and women, lilies and lotuses certainly makes you yearn for those days. Said to be of the same age as their famous Ajanta cousins, this ceiling work encapsulates the skill, mastery of those faceless artisans. You can also see the carvings of Thirthankaras affirming the Jain origins. In addition, the sanctum sanctorum has been designed to echo the primordial sound, Om….which when uttered reverberates in all directions, but not the normal conversations.

Notwithstanding the advice given by the Government on the photography, if you want to see the pictures of these two places, pl visit
http://www.pudukkottai.org/places/sittannavasal/03sittannavasal.html#the%20Sittannavasal%20Paintings and
www.saigan.com/heritage/.../Sittannavasal%20-%20a%20booklet.pdf

P.S. In writer Sujatha, we probably had the best link between common people and science, a rare combination. Though one of the prolific writers covering a wide range of subjects with intellectual authority, he was rejected by the literary world because of his identification with popular media like magazines and movies. When he passed away this year, the media recalled him more for being a classmate of APJ and for being part of the EVM design team than for his work as a pioneer author. A versatile creative genius, he was clearly a couple of generations ahead. For example, in 1960s, he started writing a column which would appear on the last page of the leading literary monthly magazine Kanaiyazhi, which continued for almost thirty years or so (long before Bajaj Auto did the famous deal with India Today for the last cover page ad). It was a one pager written in his inimitable style of self deprecating humour, where the topics would range from Purananuru to Haiku , Robots to Book reviews and so on . It became very popular and brought in a lot of readers to the otherwise serious magazine. Clearly, the forerunner of today’s blogs ! He, of course, opined that blogs are superficial and an endless ego trip. Many said the same things about his columns in Kanaiyazhi too.