Sri Samanar malai Jain Temple, Samanar Hills

Address

Sri Samanarmalai cave Temple Keelakuyilkudi village, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu 625019

Diety

Tirthankaras

Introduction

Samanar Hills or SamanarMalai is a hill rock complex located in Keelakuyilkudi village, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. The hill has been declared as a protected monument by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Puranic Significance

Samanar means ‘Jain’ in Tamil and malai means ‘hill’. This hill has caves where Tamil Jain (Samanar) monks lived. The hill was also known as Thiruvuruvagam. SamanarMalai has several Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, a number of stone beds, and many sculptures, which show authority for Jainism in the ancient Tamil country.The hill contains two famous sculptures, Settipodavu and Pechipallam, which show images of tirthankaras made by Jain monks in the 9th century CE. The Settipodavu contains the image of Mahavira, the last tirthankara of Jainism.The Pechipallam contains eight sculptures, including Bahubali and Mahavira. Archaeologists have also found more than 2200-year-old Jain Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and Vatteluttu writings.The inscriptions reveal that hundreds of Jain monks took sallekhana (‘fast unto death’) there. There are flat rocks, called stone beds, used by the monks to take rest. The findings through the Tamil inscriptions show that there was a Jain monastery at the top of the hill known as MaadeviPerumpalli. In the foothills, there is a Karuppanasamy temple and lotus pond.Some idols made by Jain monks are in Karuppanasamy temple. The caves in the hill have been damaged by illegal quarrying in the region.