Arittapatti, Tamil Brahmi and Lakulisa

Continued from here.

Dec 19th 2009

More rocks and more discoveries!

After some off-road driving we arrived at Arittapatti village, in Melur taluk. Once again there was the side-by-side existence of old Hindu relics and vestiges of Jainism.

We visited the Siva temple first and then came back to the Jain site, but I shall narrate in reverse order, since the Jains were there first!

The path was overgrown, indicating that it was a well-hidden secret, and the trees were filled with calls of treepies, sunbirds and the ubiquitous crow. The odd coucal was heard in the distance.

We clambered around the shrubbery around to the base of the large rock in the picture above.

Rounding the corner, we came across a single tirthankara, carved into the stone, with Vattuezhuttu under it.

But we were after more ancient markings - Tamil Brahmi script, brought to the south by these very Jains!

I must confess that when I saw them, I was sorely disappointed!

We reached a cave like this. It was smelly, dusty and on the whole unimpressive.

If somebody had not pointed out the writing, I surely would not have noticed it!

On the brow of the cave was some faint just visible markings!

Do you see it? They are important and ancient! Like cave art. Arittapatti has one of the earliest known Tamil Brahmi inscriptions.

Second Century BC! Dr I Mahadevan is an important name to know in this context. He was awarded a Padma Shri in 2009, and is a pioneering epigraphist in our land.

An epigraphist is one who spends his life deciphering ancient scripts. Now Dr Mahadevan specialised in early Tamil epigraphy and so basically deciphered the Tamil brahmi script!

Now isn't that cool! If I'm not mistaken, these faint markings on the wall relate to a chieftain from Nelveli, Velliyan, who "caused to be given the cave". Please forgive me, but I dont remember now whether that meant he lived there, or whether he gave the cave to someone else!

There's more on the Arittapatti inscriptions here.

My mind wandered back to those ancient times, trying to recreate how the area must have looked. A bustling centre, filled with travellers, monks and traders, and now only these slender tell-tale signs to mark their presence.

The lotus pond was an important symbol for the Jain travellers, I learnt. If they saw a pond, it meant that there would be a sacred image on the rock/hill, along the line drawn from the centre of the pond, due south. And a monastery would be in the vicinity.

The monasteries also played a role like a bank it appears, protecting money and goods for traders on their trips back and forth.

Commerce and free trade, at the turn of the century! There was an important trade route between Brahmagiri (now in Karnataka) and Uraiyur (near Trichy). I wonder if Arittapatti was on one of the extensions further south, from this.

From the second century BC, we shall fast forward to the seventh century AD and Lakulisa! The first time I heard of this interesting character.

We had to get to the rock on the other side of this little lake. This lake dries up in summer, which means that one can just walk across to the other side.

But we were visiting after the rains, and so we enjoyed the lovely sight of rippling water, grasses blowing in the wind, and lotus and lilies in the ponds.

We did not hurry, in fact we positively straggled and meandered, in small groups, examining the wildflowers, the strange rock formations, perandai and lemon grass growing wild.

Under the trees, a baby lay fast asleep in a cloth-cradle hung to a tree. We dont see that these days in our cities anymore.

Closeby, a man sat, tending his goats, and chewing on a stick with one hand, while staring at a cellphone in the other!

Some of the ladies asked him whether there was a signal here. He drawled in Tamil that he really didn't know since he didnt know how to use the phone, but was given it by is friend!

It was here that I was introduced to Lakulisa.

We came to this rock-cut Siva temple, now under the protection of the ASI - see the grille gates, but it is still used for worship by the locals and is called Idaichhi mandapam.

Let me narrate the legend of Lakulisa, believed to be the last avatar of Shiva by some.

I was fascinated by the story/legend, which goes like this:

Lakulisa was born in Gujarat, and when a little boy, was struck by illness and given up as dead. He was taken to the ghats to be cremated, when he is supposed to have "come back to life". He asked the people to leave him, and grew up in the ghats, with special mystical and spiritual powers.

Prof V expounded that his name could mean "na-kula-isa" - a god with no kula/ancestry. The popular meaning is that it stands for the lord with the club.

Anyway Lakulisa then grows up to become the proponent of the Pasupatha dharma, a strongly ascetic, Saivite way of life. He had four main sishyas - Kushika, Gargya, Maitreya and Kaurusha. It appears that these sishyas did a good job, because before long, the dharma had spread to various parts of India. Its still important in Nepal, isnt it? From what I've understood, the sect had a dark side, and the true practiser could carry out much black magic and sorcery!

The presence of this Lakulisa in Arittapatti indicates that his influence had spread so far south - in the eighth century...all very fascinating, when you consider what the nature of communication and transport was in those days.

I guess it was too austere and severe to survive among us comfort-loving Indians for long, and by the 15th century, the sect had shrunk, and became restricted to Gujarat, the Himlayan region including Nepal.

There isn't much written or codified about this mystery sect, which in its heyday in the eight to tenth centuries had a huge number of followers.

There is a book titled "The iconography and ritual of Śiva at Elephanta" By Charles Dillard Collins that mentions that Hsuan-tsang wrote about the considerable Pasupata sect activity during his travels!

And here he was - my first encounter with Lakulisa - in this rock carving, along side a huge lingam, carved out of natural rock.

How little I know about the country of my birth.