CHENNAI: The Government Museum, the second oldest museum in India, has organised a series of events from May 19 to May 24 to celebrate International Museum Day, which was on May 18. The celebrations started with an inaugural speech by K Pandiarajan, the honourable Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, followed by a talk by Su Venkatesan, Sahitya Academy award-winner.
The first event for the day was a talk, followed by a walk, about the Jain monuments and sculptures. P Rajendra Prasad, an electrical engineer and the secretary of Ahimsa Walk, took to the podium. His speech began with the lives of Jain monks, who once lived in the natural caves in the hills. Treasures excavated from these caves include stone beds, inscriptions, paintings, cave temples, bas-reliefs, sculptures and temples. “In Narayanapuram village, Vellore, a double-decker stone bed was found, which is highly unique,” he said.
Rajendra further elaborated on Jain inscriptions, sculptures and paintings found across Tamil Nadu, which are now housed in the museum. Over forty inscriptions have been found from across 30 places. “In one of the inscriptions in Tirunatharkundru, Gingee, Villupuram district, the Tamil letter ‘I’ was found,” he said. He also spoke of paintings, like those of Lord Mahaveer which were seen on the roofs at Tiruparuthikundram village, near Kanchipuram. “We are grateful to the government as well as the museum for protecting the sculptures,” he said. Few of the sculptures were found in Padur tank, Chennai, Villupuram district, NH 45, Tindivanam, Pudukottai district, Kanchipuram and Thanjavur district.
Following the talk, we were led on an insightful walk through the Jain Gallery. The Sculpture Garden, located outdoors, had five Jain sculptures from between 10-12 Century AD. The five main sculptures were of Tirthankara, Mahavira from Valathottam, Chengalpattu, Tirthankara from Madras, Tirthankara from Badalur, Thanjavur, and Tirthankara from Arasavangadu, Thanjavur. The indoor sculpture gallery consists of 143 sculptures, of which 45 were Jain sculptures from 10-15 Century AD. The sculptures were grouped in three categories: sculptures from present Tamil Nadu region, from present Karnataka region, and from present Andhra Pradesh region. Few of the sculptures were of Adinatha, Parsvanatha, Shantinatha, Mahavira, Tirthankara, Suparvasanatha and Padmaprabha.
The main aim of this walk was to bring awareness about all the statues, temples, and palm leaf manuscripts of Jain culture, and to protect and maintain them. “The current generation of students should be aware of ancient archaeological objects,” Rajendra Prasad said. The Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu protects 88 monuments of which 18 are Jain. To create awareness and to protect these monuments in Tamil Nadu, A Sridharan started the Ahimsa Walk in January 2014. The first Sunday of every month, Ahimsa Walk is conducted in ancient historical sites. Till date, 53 Ahimsa walks were conducted covering 155 heritage sites. To create awareness among the local people as well, processions are conducted in the streets of the village and pamphlets about the heritage monument are distributed.