MaryjoM897 at 04:17, 11 March 2026

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{{Short description|Neighbourhood in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, India}}
{{other uses|Mankulam (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
[[File:Mangulam inscription.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Mangulam Jain inscriptions (model)]]
{{Jainism}}

'''Mangulam''' or '''Mankulam''' is a village in [[Madurai district]], [[Tamil Nadu]], India. It is located {{convert|25|km}} from [[Madurai]].<ref name="tnarch">{{cite web | url=http://www.tnarch.gov.in/excavation/Mangulam.htm | title=Mangulam | publisher=Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu | accessdate=21 February 2014}}</ref> The inscriptions discovered in the region are the earliest [[Tamil-Brahmi]] inscriptions.<ref name="Mahadevan2003">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZBkAAAAMAAJ&q=mangulam+iravatham+mahadevan | title=Early Tamil epigraphy from the earliest times to the sixth century A.D. | publisher=Harvard University Press | author=Iravatham Mahadevan | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-674-01227-1}}</ref><ref name="University" />

== History ==
A hill southeast of the village known as Mangulam hill or [[Kalugumalai]]<ref name="Lālavānī1991">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpnXAAAAMAAJ&q=mangulam+Kalugumalai | title=Jainthology: An Anthology of Articles Selected from the Jain Journal of Last 25 Years | publisher=Jain Bhawan | author=Gaṇeśa Lālavānī | year=1991}}</ref> (eagle hill) or Ovamalai,<ref name="tnarch" /> is where [[Tamil Jain]] monks lived in the caves during when their religion flourished in the ancient [[Tamil country]]. They converted the caves into their ''Palli'' (monastery)<ref name="KasturiMadhavan2007">{{cite book|author1=Prema Kasturi|author2=Chithra Madhavan|title=South India heritage: an introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HwMAQAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=East West Books (Madras)|isbn=978-81-88661-64-0}}</ref> and lived here from 3 BCE to the 9th century CE.<ref name="University">{{cite web | url=http://www.jainart.uni-bonn.de/image-database-1/tamil-nadu/kalugumalai | title=Kalugumalai | publisher=[[University of Bonn]] | accessdate=22 February 2014 | archive-date=27 February 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227015143/http://www.jainart.uni-bonn.de/image-database-1/tamil-nadu/kalugumalai | url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Mangulam inscriptions ===
Mangulam inscriptions were discovered by [[Robert Sewell (historian)|Robert Sewell]] in the caves of the hill in 1882.<ref name="Jaina treasure">{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/jaina-treasure-trove-in-mankulam-village/article365626.ece | title=Jaina treasure trove in Mankulam village | work=The Hindu | date=1 January 2009 | accessdate=22 February 2014}}</ref> This was the earliest finding of such kind of inscriptions. In 1906, Indian [[epigraphist]] [[V. Venkayya]] tried to read the inscriptions and found that it similar to the [[Brahmi script]] in [[Edicts of Ashoka|Ashokan edicts]], he thought that the inscriptions were in [[Pali language]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.varalaaru.com/design/article.aspx?ArticleID=866 | title=பழந்தமிழ்க் கல்வெட்டுகள் | publisher=Varalaaru.com | accessdate=23 February 2014 | language=Tamil}}</ref><ref name="essays">{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/stream/IndologicalEssays2/IndologySiromoney1_djvu.txt | title=Indological essays — Pulli in the Tamil Brahmi Script | publisher=Internet Archive | work=Department of Statistics, Madras Christian College | accessdate=23 February 2014 | author=Iravatham Mahadevan | pages=146–147}}</ref> In 1919, epigraphist [[H. Krishna Sastri]] identified few Tamil words in the inscriptions.<ref name="essays" /> In 1924, [[K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyar]] discovered that inscriptions are in Tamil with some [[Prakrit]] loan words in the Brahmi script and concluded that script is Tamil-Brahmi.<ref name="Jaina treasure" /> In 1965, [[Iravatham Mahadevan]] recorded the inscriptions in the caves<ref name="Mahadevan2003" /> and dated it to the late 3rd century BCE.<ref name="Bengtson2008">{{cite book|author=John D. Bengtson|title=In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the Four Fields of Anthropology : in Honor of Harold Crane Fleming|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xxcdjUGfx40C&pg=PA427|date=January 2008|publisher=John Benjamins Publishing|isbn=978-90-272-3252-6|pages=427–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRxJDwAAQBAJ&q=Mangulam+3rd+century&pg=PA43 | title=Reading History with the Tamil Jainas: A Study on Identity, Memory and Marginalisation | publisher=Springer | author=R. Umamaheshwari | year=2018| isbn=978-81-322-3756-3| page = 43}}</ref>

There are five caves in the hill of which six inscriptions are found in four caves.<ref name="Jaina treasure" /> These were inscribed during [[Sangam period]], hence it is considered one of the important inscriptions in Tamil Nadu.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/an-epigraphic-perspective-on-the-antiquity-of-tamil/article482654.ece | title=An epigraphic perspective on the antiquity of Tamil | work=The Hindu | date=24 June 2010 | accessdate=23 February 2014}}</ref> Archeologists found [[sherd]]s, [[Sling (weapon)|sling stones]]<ref name="tnarch" /> and an ancient burial site<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/07/05/stories/2004070502350400.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041127200504/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/07/05/stories/2004070502350400.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=27 November 2004 | title=Jain vestiges | date=5 July 2004 | work=[[The Hindu]] | accessdate=21 February 2014}}</ref> during the excavation in the region. In 2007, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department excavated the ruins of the Jain prayer halls of Sangam period.<ref name="Jaina treasure" /> The inscriptions are among the [[List of State Protected Monuments in Tamil Nadu|protected monuments in Tamil Nadu]] by the [[Archaeological Survey of India]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://asi.nic.in/asi_protected_monu_tamil_nadu.asp | title=Protected Monuments in Tamil Nadu | publisher=Archaeological Survey of India | accessdate=25 February 2014 | quote=S. No.8 — Ovamalai Kalvettu (inscriptions)}}</ref>

==== Content ====
The inscriptions mentions that workers of [[Nedunjeliyan I|Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ I]], a [[Pandyan]] king of Sangam period, ({{circa|270 BCE}}) made stone beds for Jain monks. It further details the name of worker for whom he made stone bed. For example, an inscription shows that Kaṭalaṉ Vaḻuti, a worker ({{lang|ta|பணஅன்}}- accountant; he was also related family) of Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ, made a stone bed for the Jain monk Nanta-siri Kuvaṉ.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tamilvu.org/tdb/titles_cont/inscription/html/mankulam.htm | title=மாங்குளம் தமிழ்க் கல்வெட்டுக்கள் | publisher=[[Tamil Virtual University]] | accessdate=23 February 2014 | language=Tamil}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ashok |first=Sowmiya |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Bf6fEQAAQBAJ&pg=PT170&dq=tamil+Inscription+keeladi+dating&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiFpLX7-5aTAxXTSWwGHe8OItIQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=tamil%20Inscription%20keeladi%20dating&f=false |title=The Dig: Keeladi and the Politics of India’s Past |date=2025-12-23 |publisher=Hachette India |isbn=978-93-5731-853-2 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Gallery |perrow=2 |mode=packed |align=center
|File:S-TN-36 Ovamalai Kallvettu Hill Mangulam Madurai.jpg|The longest inscription at the site, and the earliest known Tamil-Brāhmī inscription. It records the gift by the Pandya king Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ of a monastery to the senior Jain monk Nanta-siri Kuvaṉ.
|File:S-TN-36 Ovamalai Kallvettu Archaeology Board Mangulam.jpg|Information board by Department of Archaeology, on the left is description about the Mangulam Tamil Brahmi inscriptions and actual translation is on the right.
|File:Tamil_Inscriptions.jpg|Mangulam inscriptions explained.
|File:Mangulam Tamil Inscriptions 01.jpg|Mangulam inscription no.2 explained.
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commonscat inline}}

{{coord|10.033227|N|78.243114|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

{{Jain history}}
{{Madurai district}}
{{Jainism topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Villages in Madurai district]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Jain rock-cut architecture]]
[[Category:Tamil Brahmi script]]
[[Category:Hills of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Caves of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:2nd-century BC Jain temples]]

Mangulam - Revision history

MaryjoM897 at 04:17, 11 March 2026