Sittannavasal ....or what is left of its glory .
SITTANNAVASAL is a name one always hears as a sort of suffix to Ajanta , when talking of the artistic heritage of our land . But, while Ajanta enjoys immense popularity and traffic, Sittannavasal largely remains a name in Art Books only . Many are not even aware of where it is located or what it has to offer , other than having a vague idea that it has got some frescoes. ( - the Ajanta connection ! )
Remote it is, undeniably. In Pudukottai District of Tamil Nadu , about 15Kms from Pudukottai town and 50 Kms from Trichy, in a dry landscape stubbled with rocks and patches of uncultivated land. Greenery , along the way, is sparse.
One huge , bald rock here , 70 meters tall, with natural caverns and shelters was chosen by Jain monks for their austerities from 2BCE to 10CE . Remnants of their life here remain, the most significant one being the Arivar Koil ( The Arhat's Abode) , which house the frescoes. This rock cut shrine is situated at the base of the hill, while higher up are situated shelters with Stone beds and stray inscriptions.
Its a baking hot day and the sun is already unkind by 9am. Tickets can be purchased at the office , by the side of which a park of sorts has been developed for tourists. The hill is a little drive away from the office and a staff member accompanies us to open the gate. From the foot of the hill, a flight of steps, cut into the rock , leads to a landing where a facade with grills greets us. This facade was built by the Maharaja of Pudukottai in early 20th Century, soon after the discovery of this remarkable site, as a protective front to replace an older , ruined Pandyan one . Within this lies the Arivar Koil rockcut shrine. The modern facade has imaginatively used Pandya time pillars and slabs salvaged from a ruined pavilion in Kudumiyanmalai ( also in Pudukottai), to blend in well
There are no records of when the rock cut shrine was actually created but an inscription merely states that it was renovated during the reign of a Pandyan King of 9CE . By studying the stylistic elements of the rock cut and the paintings, it has been surmised by archeologists that the work is post-Ajanta (which is 4 to 6CE) , but of the same Style ; a style that was carried forward in Sigiriya , Bagh caves, Kanchi etc right upto the Chola murals in the Thanjavur Temple.
The Cave lies in such a lonely, desolate region that for centuries after it fell into disuse ( because of the fading of Jainism in the region), it languished in oblivion . No one except the uninterested local cowherds had noticed it. In 1916, a local writer , Radhakrishna Iyer, made a passing mention of the painted cave in his book, "General History of Pudukottai State" , perhaps not aware of its historical importance himself , as Pudukottai has much grander ,historic temples to write about. Also, since he was an obscure author without reach outside of the princely state , he got no merit for the Discovery of Sittannavasal Caves. That credit went to the French historian Jouveau Dubreil and iconographer Gopinath Rao who together did a thorough study of the monument and published their findings in 1920 causing much excitement in the world of archeology. Was Radhakrishna Iyer disappointed by the hit and miss ? We do not know. But I am sure the local cowherds would have found the sudden interest in their home turf bemusing.
(The Tirthankaras in the Sanctum)
Cleaning and conservation work was undertaken in 1942 , paid for by the Pudukottai Maharajah, when two layers of paintings were found, the top layer apparently done at the time of its first renovation in 9CE.
The paintings are of Fresco Secco method ( painting on dry plaster ) making them delicate and prone of chipping off. Pigments used were white(lime), Black(lamp black) yellow and red(ochre) and green ( terre verte) . The frescoes are found all over the ceiling of both the Sanctum and the ardhamantapa, the upper parts of the pillars and the corbels. The motifs are narrative panels from Jain texts, flora , fauna and geometric designs.
here being not enough light inside, it is hard to make out the dim paintings properly . What can be clearly seen are the scratches and graffiti by vandals and patches of grey where plaster has fallen off. It is painful to realise that within a few decades of its discovery and protection, it has suffered more damage than it had in all those hundreds of years it had lain unknown and neglected !
Currently under protection of ASI with strict rules like no crowding , no flash photography, no touching etc , it is still a very disheartening sight.
The famous "Samavarasana" panel is not readily recognised, until the Caretaker points it out. And then , one strains to make out the details like lotus, elephant, the young arhat....A lot is left to imagination informed by pictures already seen in books. How very disheartening !
And the Dancing Girl, you ask ? What dancing girl ? I cannot see her at all ! She's -almost -totally gone. The only consolation are the lovely scroll motifs on the cornice and beams and the very faint faces of The Royal Couple high on a pillar. Who this couple was is unknown .
The so called "carpet design" on the ceiling in the sanctum is also very dark , though the patches of orange and russet floral spread in the ardhamantapa are somewhat better visible thanks to some sunlight streaming in from the entrance.
Perhaps one should be thankful, one got a chance to see at least these remnants. Who knows how long they will last !
A Caretaker demonstrates a curious acoustical feature of a deep hum reverberating around the verandah as he chants an OM.
A bunch of college boys are the only other visitors we see. Even as the Caretaker is passionately lecturing on preservation of Heritage etc, a couple of them are running their fingers on the pillar to see if the pigment will rub off !
A lateral pathway leads up towards the caverns called Ezhadipattam , with the Stone Beds, and the NaavaaChunai , a tarn with a submerged Shivalingam. Not a very inviting venture to take up in the hot sun , so we give that a miss.
Driving away from The Rock , before hitting main road, we come across barren land fenced off and with the blue signboard of ASI . Stone circles ! Cairns . A Megalithic Burial site , which yielded urns, pot shards , coloured glass and other antiquities when excavated in the 1930s . Its always a wonder how those ancient people the world over , separated by very long distances , all had similar burial rituals ?! Cairns, dolmen, cists ......
Back on the highway , there is some excitement when a large stele of a headless Tirthankara pops up in a patch of land by the road, near Annavasal. A quick curtsey visit is in order !
( The headless Jina of Annavasal)
Many vestiges of the Jain faith are strewn about in Tamil Nadu. Jainism was the commonly practised religion for long there , contributing a lot to trade , literature and arts. Till, during the medieval times, there was a revival of Shaivism and Vaishnavism powered by the Bhakthi Movement. Though its influence has faded, Jainism is still practiced by pockets of people called Tamil Jains ( to distuinguish them from the "Seths" or Jain businessmen who migrated later from Gujarat and Rajasthan ).
Back home , spending considerable time searching online for old pictures of the Sittannavasal frescoes to see what cannot be seen now , to compare the state of preservation of the few that are left .....and wondering about the life of those remote monks , enduring the hardships of an austere life in a bare cave , but creating beauty that lasts centuries.
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INFO : : Painted caves and stone beds in remote, inhospitable places are spoken of as Jain monuments , even by lay people . The connection made is very old and well entrenched in public imagination. But a couple of years ago , some researchers in Tamil Nadu set a cat among pigeons by suddenly claiming that stone beds, brahmi inscriptions therein and, very particularly , Sittannavasal caves are not at all remnants of Jain heritage , but of Ajivakas. Since then there has been quite a flutter about these Ajivakas , a creed or religion opposed to Vedic thought , that once thrived contemporaneous with Jain and Buddhist religions from before the Common Era , but disappeared completely under onslaught of the later Bhakthi movements .
Famous Ajivaka remnants are found in Bihar and thereabouts and Emperor Ashoka seems to have issued edicts ordering some welfare measures for them . But the Tamil researchers make the claim that the Ajivaka Creed originated in Tamil Nadu and its founder , Ma(r)kkali Gosalar , a Tamil seer of Sangham times . Further, Sittannavasal is claimed as his place of death and the cave , a memorial shrine to the three major arhats of "Aacheevakam" .
Ajivakas seem to have been rationalists , atheists and believers in Niyativaada ie Predetermination , which is not the same of Fatalism. It is most certainly not the Karma doctrine for their ideas preclude human agency but pivot everything on cosmic dynamism which works at the atomic level . They were the first to theorise that all matter is composed of Atoms ! The seers are said to have been great astronomers, mathematicians and healers , in whose scheme of things, Gods and Demons had no place at all. Sadly though, they left us no primary sources of information about themselves, and scholars from A.L.Basham downwards, have had to rely only on secondary sources, ie the Jaina and Bouddha literature, to gather scraps of info about them , their philosophy and lifestyles.
Of course, as can be imagined, since they were a rival creed, these texts contain only uncomplimentary mentions about them !
But the Tamil scholars who have revived interest in Ajivakas have been adding claim upon glorious claim , building up a magnificent image of this forgotten creed , based very often on mere "inspired interpretation" of existing "symbols" . And totally wrong interpretation of names and words to suit their agenda.
Respected Indologist M.A.Dhaky preferred to use the name " Nirgrantha" ( 'Sans Bondage') instead of Jaina for Jainism creed . Unfortunately , the aforementioned recent Tamil theorists , who want to assert that script ( writing) was invented by Tamils and not brought by Jains migrating south , postulate that the very name nir-grantha means "illiterate" ! Obviously the halfbaked idea comes from their confusing the Grantha part of the name with the Grantha script and the "grantha"/ books ! A little etymological study would have educated them that 'Granth" denotes a string or rope (and, by metaphor, bondage.) And inscribed palm leaf bundles tied with string were the ancient books called Granthams. Why would any people name themselves "illiterate " ? Wish people calling themselves Scholars and Thinkers would study and think more !
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