Sittanavasal

It is a small village in Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu and a major centre of Jain influence for 1,000 years just before the Christian era. At least three-fourths of the art is already damaged.

sittanavasal

Sittanavasal is the name used synonymously for the hamlet and the hillock that houses the Arivar Kovil (temple of Arihats – Jains who conquered their senses), ‘Ezhadipattam’ (a cavern with 17 polished rock beds), megalithic burial sites and the Navachunai tarn (small mountain lake) with a submerged shrine.
Sittanavasal is considered by historians to be one of the oldest inhabited areas in the district, and a major centre of Jain influence.

The artwork on the ceiling of the sanctum and the ardha mandapam of Arivar Kovil is an early example of post-Ajanta cave paintings of the fourth to sixth centuries, done using the fresco-secco technique (a process that dispenses with preparation of the wall with wet plaster).

The ceiling paintings show ‘bhavyas’ (exalted souls who work to achieve moksha or spiritual liberation) enjoying themselves in a pool, full of blooming lotuses.
Faint outlines linger of dancing girls on the ‘ ardha mandapam’ pillars.
The pillars of the verandah (added by the Maharaja of Pudukottai at the instance of then Diwan Alexander Tottenham in the 1900s), were brought from Kudumiyanmalai.

Sittanavasal remains an important place to study the history of Jainism and the inscriptions are in Brahmi and ‘ vattaezhuthu’.

The colours are a mixture of plant dyes and mineral elements such as lime, lamp black, and clay pigments such as ochre for yellow and terre verte for the greyish-green tints.

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