KARTIKAI DEEPAM AND LORD NEMINATHA
By: Dr. C. Devakumar
E-Mail: cdevakumar@yahoo.com 

The latest Samavasharan Srivihar to have happened in Deccan India could be that of 22nd Tirthankar Neminatha. (Lord Mahavira's Shrivihar probably did  not go beyond modern Orissa (Kalinga ). The reasons to think thus are:

Pandava puran mentions Dakshin Madurai as the post-war resort of Pandava's. The number of ancient temples dedicated to Lord Neminatha is more than the average number of temples that would be allotted to each Tirthankar. The Thirthankars have been given special names in Tamil Nadu at least I know of such as Mylainathar, Shikhamani Nathar, Simhapurinathar, Appandai Nathar, Adibhattarakar etc. The first three special names are of Lord Neminatha. Incidentally Madurai and Mylai are intricately related to the growth of Tamil historically. I am happy to note that there is a project madurai devoted to Electronic Texts of Tamil Literary Works and Mylai is one of the Tamil fonts ( www.geocities.com/Athens/5180/pmintr.html ). It is believed that Acharya Kund Kund authored TirukkuraL when he was staying at Mayilappur, verily the precursor-town of modern Chennai. Legend has it that the main idols of Lord Neminatha, Sarvanha yaksha and Kushmandini yakshi
from the famous temple were carted to three different places much ahead of the immersion of the town in Bay of Bengal. It may be noted that these idols are now worshipped respectively at Mel Chittamoor, Sravana Belagola and Ilangadu near Ponnur Hills. Past anecdotes of friendly duel between Sravana Belagola and Ilangadu to give up one's claim so that the yaksha couple could be housed in one place are commonly narrated. The Panchapandava caves at Mahabalipuram remind us of past Mylai and its connectivity with Lord Neminath's era.

Lord Neminatha as all of us know was a bachelor and so He is hailed as Balaji, Balarishi, Balaravi, Balayogi, Balamuni, Balasubramanian etc. These names are common in south India. After the inundation of Mayilappur, today, three important temples are arguably the seats of Lord Neminatha viz Tiruppati, Tirumalai and Mel Chittamoor. The last two places house Jain Mutt. Tirumalai has now been renamed as Arhantagiri (why?). Tiruppati as all we know is the second-richest temple in the world though no longer acknowledged as Jain temple. The name given to the author of Gommatasara as Nemichandra Siddhanta Chakravarti has historical overtones. 

The hymnbook Tirunootru Antadi (= Shri 100 odes arranged in cyclic order) is dedicated to Lord Neminatha. The general names of this book and the Hills bearing Tirumalai (meaning a special Hill) and Tirupati (sacred Hill) signify that there was then no need to mention to whom these are dedicated to. It could have been possible only when Lord Nemimatha was the most famous Lord of worship. The ancient Tamil literature simply refers Jainism as aram
(Dharma) Tollaram (sanatan Dharma), nallaram (sanmarg), Tiruvaram (Shri Dharma) and the agams as Tonnool (sanatan or eternal books). Other schools of thoughts necessarily being one-sided were known as samaya's. Samaya as we know is a point of view subjected to four dimensions of substance, place, time and state of existence. 

Kartigai Deepam and connection between Lord Neminatha and Tiruannamalai: Imagine a hill figuratively and literally taller than Tirumalai, what would you name it? If you know any Dravidian language, you would name it as
TiruAnnamalai because anna is elder brother and so the hill elder to Tirumalai. I too realize that this could be corrupt form of Aruna but then why go for corruption. In any case, the names bearing Arunachalam is still
popular and none is called as Annachalam but Annamalai is a common name even now. Other common names such as Malaisamy speaks the popularity of these temples. As regards the question, how it is connected to Lord Neminatha, the Jaina origin of Tiruannamalai also known as Tiruvannamalai (because of the grammar of compound name) goes undisputed because of following references cited by modern Hindu sources: http://davidgodman.org/asaints/kvallalan1.shtml; The Deepam Festival, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, South India, first published 1996, reprinted 1998, Sri Ramanasramam, Tiruvannamalai - 606 603, South India, 122 pp, paperback, Rs.50. and also excerpts from this book at www.poonja.com/deepam.htm It can thus be concluded that this Hill is a part of grand Tondamandalam region, the well-known Jain habitat. References to kartigai Deepam are reportedly mentioned in Tolkappiyam In one of the formulae Tolkapiyar in his treatise uses the phrase "like the lamp's flame pointing upwards." This phrase, says one of the commentators, refers to the beacon lit on the Annamalai Hill which burns brightly without flickering in the wind, and flares up towards the sky. In another epic Jeevakachintamani written by a Jain poet, Thiruthakka Thevar, the poet describes how people celebrated the Karthikai Deepam festival. In the other ancient Tamil literature of the Sangam period, the Karthikai Deepam festival is described vividly. In KarnaRpadu, the poet in one of the stanzas, describes how in the Tamil month of Karthikai during the time of the Krithika star, the lamps lit by people blossomed on earth, bringing rain in its wake. In another Tamil work, the KaLavazhi Narpadu dating back to the third Sangam period (after 1000 B.C) the poet says, "In the battle the blood oozing out from the dead soldiers' bodies is like the red coloured flame of the lamps lit during Karthikai Deepam festival". In another Sangam work, Pazhamozhi, in stanzas ending in proverbs, one stanza ends with this phrase, "like the beacon on the Hill." Thus, all the Jain sources refer this festival. It is another matter, Sampandar later on steals the show.

The content of ten-day festival reminisces that in practice at Mel Chittamoor Mutt.Today's Panchamurthy utsava is a derivative of Panchaparameshthi utsava. Successive kings of South India have given great importance to Tiruvannamalai and the temple. For a thousand years these kings have built prakaras outlying temples, gopurams and compound walls, dug ponds, offered jewels and donated gold for the upkeep of temple lands. 

Historically famous kings like Raja Raja Cho-zhan, Rajendra Chozhan, Harihara Bukkar, Krishna Deva Rayar as well as kings of Chera, Chozha, Pallava, Pandya, Rashtrakotta, Hoysala and Naik dynasties were proud to have Tiruvannamalai as part of their kingdom. Some of them made it their Capital. Though caught in political crisis and engaged in battles, they continued to hold onto Tiruvannamalai, which they considered vitally important to them. 

King Vira Vallalan III was an illustrious king who ruled over the Hoysala empire from 1292 till 1342. At its peak it covered a large part of South India. Its traditional stronghold was the southern part of the Deccan plateau where the capital city Dwarasamudra was located. The city, nowadays reduced to a very small town called Halebid, lay to the north-west of Mysore. Though now ruined and abandoned, the old city contains the finest
examples of Hoysala art and architecture, a unique style distinguished by a high density of details and embellishments. Halebid was a Jain centre. The Hoysala empire covered most of modern-day Karnataka, northern Andhra Pradesh, and a good portion of northern Tamil Nadu.

There appeared to be a literary work both in Sanskrit on this tirth authored by one or two Jain(s). The available Tamil version credited to Jain name Ellapa Nainar can at best be ignored!. davidgodman.org/asaints/kvallalan1.shtml Now coming to the clinching evidence: The main deities as worshipped today are Annamalaiyar and Unnamulaiyamman. The first one simply means the Lord of Annamalai, the hills. The second one very revealing: it means a goddess who has not been consummated. So she cannot be Parvati as has been made out. So this deity has historical reference and the politics of Vishnu. As per the
current story: "Once Lord Shiva assumed the form of a hill at Tiruvannamali in South India. Here He quelled the pride of Brahma and Vishnu who were quarrelling as to their relative greatness. One day, when Lord Shiva was in
meditation, Parvati left Him and went to the hill of Arunachala. There She performed penance. She was the guest of the sage Gautama. Parvati saw Shiva as Arunachallesvara. She was taken back by the Lord to His side, and made His Ardhangini once more, that is, She occupied half of the body of the Lord." 

Let us reinterpret the story. Kevalgyan is shakti and Kevali Bhagwan is commonly called ardhanareeswar (Please refer to Jina sahashranaama and other literature). Kumar Neminatha's wedding was cut short by the politics of Shri Krishna (Vishnu). He retreats his marriage procession and takes renunciation. The unwed bride (Rajimati) becomes a nun (Aryika) at once. She became the first Aryika in the samavasharan of Lord Neminatha. We can presume that at TiruvaNNamalai, Lord's samavasaran was visited and Aryika Rajimati too graced the sacred event. Being the hill top as Vipulachala parvata in Rajgir, the celestial Lord installed the samavasharan at this Hill. We can now very well relate all the importance given to this historic and sacred hill. People laks routinely take parikrama of this hill. I pray that they know this version of the legend as well. So our UNNamulai amman is none other Aryika Rajimati! Other stories now in circulation can be reconciled with the yaksha-yakshi of Lord.

Lastly, the ten-day festival begins on brighter sixth day of Kartika month commemorating the incarnation of Lord Neminatha as human being in His mother Shivadevi's womb (garbhavatarana kalyan) and culminates on Poornima, the full moon. The grand Light signifies His samavasharan on the spot. Needless to state that this festival precedes in history Deepavali and hence the succeeding two Trthankars didn't find any need to visit here! It may also be added that during this full moon day in those days at least the sky would have been clear of clouds after the end of North-east monsoon. It reminds us of sharad chandra of north India. All in all, Tiruvannamalai is verily the miniature version of Girnar parvat.

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