Tuesday 7 September 2010

Kanyakumari - Chitharal Jain Temple -PHOTOS - Part-1

The Chitharal Jain Monuments are the ruins of a Jain training centre from the 9th century CE, on a small hill in Chitharal village, Tamil Nadu.
Chitharal is historically known as Thirucharanathupalli – the abode of Jain monks belonging to the Digambara sect. It is famous for the hillock which has a cave containing rock-cut sculptures of Thirthankaras and attendant deities carved inside and outside dating back to the 9th century.Among the rock-cut relief sculptures is a figure of the goddess Dharmadevi. Jain influence in this region was due to the King Mahendravarman I (610-640). 

The monuments are located in the small village of Chitharal, Tamil Nadu, which lies 7 km from Marthandam and 55 km from Kanyakumari.

                A Goddess temple is situated at ‘Thiruchanattu’ hillocks. It was built 1000s of years ago, but the Jain temple was overtaken by Hindus in the 425 AD. Inside the temple stone carvings ‘thirucharanam’ was written instead of ‘thiruchanattu'. ‘Charanan’ was the name given to Jain monks. The Goddess worshiped here is ‘Thirucharanathu bhataariyar- Pathmavathi’(belief). 'Parshwanathan' and Mahavira idols are carved in the temple. The scripts written here are in ‘vatta ezhuthu’ . It is believed that the 'Vikramaditya Varagunan' the founder of the temple is the King Vikramaditya in Indian history. A script written here is about the gold ornaments offered to ‘Thricharathu bhataariyar’ by ‘Aaya gunanthangi kuratthikal’ the devotees of Arathanemi bhataariyar (Perakudi) during the 28th rulin’ year of king Vikramaditya.

                                               ROAD MAP TO THIS PLACE


                                                        WAY TO HILLOCK-1


                                                        WAY TO HILLOCK-2


                                                       WAY TO HILLOCK-3


                                                              WAY TO HILLOCK-4


                                LONG SHOT VIEW of THE MONUMENT / TEMPLE


                                               LONG SHOT VIEW - ANOTHER SIDE


                                               LONG SHOT VIEW - FRONT SIDE


                                                                CLOSE-UP SHOT-1


                                                              CLOSE-UP SHOT-2


                                                         SIDE VIEW CLOSE-UP SHOT-1


                                                                 SIDE VIEW LONG SHOT-1


                                                                SIDE VIEW CLOSE-UP SHOT-2


                                                              ANOTHER VIEW-1


                                                                       PATH WAY


                                                                  CHARMING CLOUDY VIEW


                                                                    AT HILL TOP


                                                               HILL TOP ANOTHER VIEW


                                                    ANOTHER SIDE - VIEW

                                                          ANOTHER VIEW  from HILL


                                                                       HILL VIEW


                                                          STONE ART / Sculptures -1


                                                         STONE ART / Sculptures -2


                                                       STONE ART / Sculptures -3


                                                         STONE ART / Sculptures -4


                                                         STONE ART / Sculptures -5


                                            AERIAL VIEW FROM THE HILL TOP-1


                                                                 WALKING AREAS


                                       STONE CARVED LETTERINGs of YEARS BACK


                                                ANOTHER  AERIAL VIEW-2


                                                                  ANOTHER  AERIAL VIEW-3


                                                          ANOTHER  AERIAL VIEW-4


                                                       ANOTHER  AERIAL VIEW-5


                                                              ANOTHER  AERIAL VIEW-6


                                                               ANOTHER  AERIAL VIEW-7

PHOTOS COURTESY :- Thiruvattar Sindhukumarji & Google


To see the related post to this then click the link shown below:- (VIDEOS)
Chitharal Jain Temple - Video  

To see the related post to this then click the link shown below:- (Journey experience)

To see the related post to this then click the link shown below:- (Photos)
 Muttom Beach - Photos                                   

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