Ezhadippattam, Sittannavasal

Ezhadippattam, Sittannavasal

The Ezhadippattam is the name given to a natural cavern where over more than a thousand years since 1st century BC, Jaina ascetics practiced severest penance such as kayotsarga (meditation till salvation in standing posture) and sallekhana (fasting unto death).

There are innumerable inscriptions here. But all these inscriptions are barely visible now, due to vandalism within the last 50-60 years. The cavern is near the top of the centre of the hill and on its eastern side. But the only approach is from the west, over the top of the hill. It is said that, originally this path to the cavern, along a narrow ledge in which precarious footholds are cut in the rock, was difficult and dangerous. Proper steps have now been cut, and an iron railing provided.

Presently the ASI had installed an iron barricade at the mouth of the cavern to stop vandalism. The cavern is roomy but low. The floor is marked out into spaces for seventeen beds, each with a sort of stone pillow. They are highly polished. Similar arrangements can be found in other parts of India like Lomas Rishi cave of Gaya, Khandagiri Udayagiri caves of Bhubaneswar and many places in Tamilnadu like Anamalai, Alagarmalai, Tiruvallam, etc. In Pudukkottai itself, similar beds are there in Aluruttimalai of Narttamalai hills and Kudumiyamalai.

Most of the beds here are inscribed. One of them, the largest, is perhaps the oldest since it contains an inscription in Tamil in the Tamil Brahmi script of the 1st century BC. This is one of the oldest lithic records of South India.

The inscription reads as follows:

“Eriminatu kumizh-ur piranta kavuti-i tenku- cirupocil ilayar ceyta atit-anam”

It mentions that one Ilaiyar of Tenkuchiruposil made this seat for Kavuti born at Kumuzhur in Eruminaadu. It is believed that the Kumuzhur in Eruminaadu refers to a place in the present Vellore district.

By the other beds, names of other Jaina ascetics practiced sallekhana are inscribed. Thus, there are number inscriptions of 7^th to 10th centuries AD. These inscriptions show that for about 1000 years from the 1st century BC this cavern was a resort of Jaina ascetics.