Keelavalavu
Keelavalavu (also known as Kilavalavu and Kizhavalavu) is a village in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is located 43 kilometres (27 mi) from Madurai. It is known for a hillock called Panchapandavar Malai or Panchapandavar Padukkai which contains ancient Jain sculptures and stone beds.
Description
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Keelavalavu is located in the Melur taluk of Madurai district. It is located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from Melur. In the 2011 census of India, it had a population of 5686, of which 2847 were males and 2839 females.[1] The village is rich in granite and it is one of the hubs for illegal quarrying in the district.[2][3]
Panchapandavar Malai
Panchapandavar Malai (Hill of Five Pandavas) is located in the village on the Melur – Tiruppattur road.[4] The hillock contains caves that were converted as adobe by the Jain monks who lived here when their religion flourished in the ancient Tamil country.[5] The hillock is one of the national monuments declared by the Archaeological Survey of India.[4][6]
The cave contains nine Jain sculptures, including sculptures of Mahavira, the last thirthankara and Bahubali.[5] It also contains Tamil-Brahmi and Vatteluttu inscriptions.[7] The Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in the cave were discovered by Venkoba Rao in 1903.[8] The inscriptions were engraved from right to left and upside-down. This kind of inscription is only found here and in the Kundrakudi hill.[5][9] There are stone beds in the caves which were used by Jain monks for rest. An inscription in the cave mentions that these stone beds were sculptured by a person from Thondi.[5]
Quarrying
The granite quarrying in the hillock, carried out by the government and private companies, vandalised some of the sculptures and inscriptions.[7][10] In response to a public interest litigation filed by the residents of the village in 2008,[11] in 2011 the Madurai bench of Madras High Court banned the granite-quarrying activities of the Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN) and private companies inside an area of 51 acres (21 ha) around the hillock,[12][13] citing the presence of a Jain monument of archaeological importance.[14][15]
References
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