Journal of Indian History and Culture JOURNAL OF INDIAN HISTORY AND CULTURE September 2007 Fourteenth Issue C.P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR INSTITUTE OF INDOLOGICAL RESEARCH (affiliated to the University of Madras) The C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation 1 Eldams Road, Chennai 600 018, INDIA September 2007, Fourteenth Issue 1 Journal of Indian History and Culture Editor : Dr.G.J. Sudhakar Board of Editors Dr. K.V.Raman Dr. Nanditha Krishna Referees Dr. T.K. Venkatasubramaniam Prof. Vijaya Ramaswamy Dr. A. Satyanarayana Published by Dr. Nanditha Krishna C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar Institute of Indological Research The C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation 1 Eldams Road Chennai 600 018 Tel : 2434 1778 / 2435 9366 Fax : 91-44-24351022 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.cprfoundation.org Subscription Rs. 150/- (for 2 issues) Rs. 290/- (for 4 issues) 2 September 2007, Fourteenth Issue Journal of Indian History and Culture CONTENTS Jain - Buddhist Conflict in Early Tamilnadu as seen from Manimekalai by Dr. M. Valliammal ................................................ .7 Dholavira’s Geometry: A Preliminary Study by Michel Danino ................................................... ...20 The Myth of the Vakataka Coins by Dr. Shankar Goyal ........................................... .....36 Historical Background of Kosi Region – Literary Sources, by Dr. Anjana Pathak ........................................ ......56 Temples and Tree Cult in Gajapati District, by Dr. N.P. Panigrahi .................................................68 Tank Irrigation in South India: A Case Study of Kolavoy Tank by M. Amirthalingam, Dr. C.J. Sudhakar and Dr. Sumabala.....................................................75 Caste Associations with Special Reference to Tamil Nadu: A Study, by Dr. A. Chandrasekaran and Dr. P. Govinda Reddy.......................................85 September 2007, Fourteenth Issue 3 Journal of Indian History and Culture Rise of Social Fiction in Colonial India: Focussing on Mulk Raj Anand by Dr. K. Venugopal Reddy ..................................108 Vaidhyanatha Iyer and The Proceedings of Madurai Temple Entry Event, 1939-1945 by Dr. L. Selvamuthu Kumarasami ............................137 Urbanisation and Social Mobility In Early India: A Study of Orissa by Dr. Benudhar Patra ............................................159 Social Hierarchy of Ancient Orissa by Bishnu Prasad Panda ..........................................168 Book Review - 1 ..............................................190 Book Review - 2 ..............................................195 Book Review - 3 ..............................................197 printed on paper made from bagasse, an agricultural waste 4 September 2007, Fourteenth Issue Journal of Indian History and Culture EDITOR’S NOTE The system of refreeing the papers is working well. This is the second refered of this journal. We thank those contributors who have revised their papers at our request. The journal maintains an all India character not only in terms of contributions to it but also with regard to the themes it carries. I have attempted to work on a paper on Environmental History with the help of Mr. M. Amirthalingam and Dr. P. Sumabala. Papers by Dr. K. Venugopala Reddy on “Rise of Social Ficton in Colonial India”, Dr. M. Valliammal on “Jain-Buddhist Conflict in Early Tamilnadu” and Dr. Shankar Goyal on “The Myth of the Vakataka Coins” cover new areas. We also have erudite presentations by Prof. A. Chandrasekharan, Prof. P. Govinda Reddy and Dr. L. Selvamuthu Kumarasami. Scholars from Orissa deserve special thanks again for their continued contribution to the Journal. A scholar from Bihar has also contributed a paper for the first time. Dr. Prema Kasturi and Dr. P. Sumabala deserve our thanks for reviewing the books. Dr. Nanditha Krishna and Mrs. Malathy deserve our appreciation for publishing the Journal in spite of their busy schedules. Dr. G. J. Sudhakar September 2007, Fourteenth Issue 5 Journal of Indian History and Culture 6 September 2007, Fourteenth Issue Journal of Indian History and Culture JAIN - BUDDHIST CONFLICT IN EARLY TAMILNADU AS SEEN FROM MANIMEKALAI Dr. M. Valliammal S.G. Lecturer in History, Lady Doak College Madurai, Tamil Nadu Introduction India is one of the ancient cradles of human civilizations. Many languages, religions and philosophical systems have emerged and flourished here. Indian civilization has often been praised as a great experiment in living together. It has been a fertile ground for religious pluralism from the very beginning of civilization. Four major religions of world and many sects and sub sects of different world religions have originated in India. Almost all world religions had their days and roots in the country since their inception. India’s culture has been greatly enriched by these different religious traditions and practices. Her ideas, thoughts and aspirations are shaped and improved by them. The spirit of tolerance and accommodation, mutual acceptance and assimilation among the various religious traditions made India to stand uppermost in the list of countries, which are pluralistic in their religious heritage. This is true about the Tamil country as well. But this has not been a constant or uniform factor in history. It varied from time to time. There was more openness and tolerance at certain times and there was acute intolerance, closed pattern, imperial tendencies, struggles and conflicts at other times. So, the nature of pluralism and co-existence of different religions were not perpetual; they changed from time to time. At times even violent clashes had occurred. September 2007, Fourteenth Issue 7 Journal of Indian History and Culture Since history helps the present society to learn more from it to handle the very delicate and volatile conditions, an attempt has been made in this article to focus and examine the relationship between Buddhism and Jainism as expounded in Manimekalai, a post Sangam literature. Manimekalai is an epic describing the circumstances under which Manimekalai, the daughter of Kovalan, renounced the world and took the vows of a Buddhist nun. The work is especially valuable as a record of the extent to which Buddhism, a missionary religion, had spread in South India, Ceylon and Sumatra in the early part of the second century. V. Kanagasabai describes this work and the period to which it belongs, in the following terms: “It is the earliest record extant in any language, with the exception of the Buddhist sacred texts, which furnishes information regarding the objects of worship, the peculiar beliefs and superstitions, and the abstruse philosophy of the followers of Buddha. We learn from the poem that Buddhist monks were numerous in the Tamil land.”1 The dating of Manimekalai, the first Tamil Buddhist epic, still continues to be indeterminate. However, it is assumed that it belongs to the post-Sangam – pre-Pallava-Pandya period i.e., the third, fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Religious harmony in the Sangam Age The Sangam age was marked by a remarkable spirit of tolerance, since the Sangam society was an open society and it welcomed new ideas, thoughts and changes from outside. It was able to evolve a grand vision of “every village as their village and all people as their relative/kin person”.2 Buddhism and Jainism spread to the Tamil country during the Sangam period itself. The Sangam literature is replete with references for the 8 September 2007, Fourteenth Issue Journal of Indian History and Culture spread of Jainism and Buddhism in the Tamil country during the Sangam age. Madurakkanchi3, Purananuru4, Pattinappalai etc. offer references for the existence of the Jain and Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Tamil country. The literary evidences for the spread of these religions are supported by epigraphs and archaeological evidences. The rock-cut beds and the Tamil Brahmi inscriptions reveal the presence of strong Buddhist and Jain influences even in the Sangam period. This trend continued during the post-Sangam period also. Religious harmony in the post - Sangam Age In the beginning of the post-Sangam Age, there was a spirit of religious tolerance. Though people practiced one particular religion, they not only tolerated but also respected the other religions. This is well brought out in Tirukkural, Silappadikaram and Manimekalai. The first ten couplets of Tirukkural do not mention the name of anyone particular God but it tries to present a universal God. They portray God in a manner, which is acceptable to people of all faiths. Tiruvalluvar, the author of Tirukkural has used only common terms to denote God. The first chapter of Silappadikaram also starts with the invocation of not any particular religious deity but with praise of all natural objects like sun, moon, rain etc.5 The epic Manimekalai itself begins with the word Ulagam i.e., the world.6 This confirms the eclectic tradition of the period. There are many other evidences in Manimekalai and Silappadikaram to prove the fact that different religions and sects co-existed.7 The kings constructed temples for different Gods and patronized them. Silappadikaram mentions about ten temples in the city of Puhar namely the temple for the divine Kalpaka tree, the white elephant, the beautiful naga god, the sun who rises in the east, the city-god, Vajra deity, deity who dwells outside the city, September 2007, Fourteenth Issue 9 Journal of Indian History and Culture Nigranthas and the moon.8 Apart from them “temple of the great Lord who was never born (Siva), temple of the six- faced