Jain monks and lay families live on in the rocks of the south: Kalugumalai (rock-cut Jain sculptures of the eighth to ninth centuries beside the Vettuvankoil), Sittanavasal (the cave sanctuary with early paintings, in the Pudukkottai country) and the hill pallis near Madurai.
They hold small gifts and trade as merchants. Their power has waned since the Saiva and Vaishnava revival.
Who holds it
- Name
- not named in any source we reached
- Title
- Jain community heads (not named)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
Pandya and Chola protection
What it holds
- Hill pallis and gifts
- Trade guilds
Allies and rivals
Pandya and Chola protection
How things stand that morning
Small and quiet.
Wealth
Gifts and trade.
Military
No armed force is recorded for the house.
Places of note
- Kalugumalai: Rock-cut Jain tirthankara reliefs.
- Sittanavasal: Cave sanctuary with early paintings.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The shrine or community is real, but what it held and who ran it in 1200 is inferred from general or later accounts; no page we read dates anything about it to 1200.
On the map: Drawn as a small disc round the shrine; the real estates were scattered villages.
Primary sources for Pandya kingdom
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Lesser Chronicle (the continuation of the Mahavamsa), Dhammakitti and later monks of the Mahavihara tradition (the first continuation about the 13th century (chapters 37 to 79), carried on in stages to the 18th century). The only narrative source for Lanka in 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Carnatica: inscriptions of the Mysore country, Various (Hoysala chancery and temple scribes), edited by B. Lewis Rice and R. Narasimhachar (inscriptions of the 4th to 19th centuries; the series ran from 1886 to 1905, revised from 1972). The Hoysala kingdom of Veera Ballala II (reigning 1173 to 1220) is documented almost wholly by the inscriptions in this series, arranged by district and taluk with full English translations. Read online
- Epigraphia Zeylanica: lithic and other inscriptions of Ceylon, Various (the Polonnaruwa kings' chanceries), edited by D. M. de Zilva Wickremasinghe, H. W. Codrington and S. Paranavitana (inscriptions of the 3rd century BC to the 18th century; the series ran from 1904). Prints with translation the stone records of the Polonnaruwa kings who held or lost the throne around 1200. Read online
- South Indian Inscriptions (Archaeological Survey of India), Various (Chola, Pandya and other chanceries and temple scribes), edited by E. Hultzsch, V. Venkayya, H. Krishna Sastri and successors (inscriptions of the 7th to 17th centuries; the series ran from 1890). The temple inscriptions printed here are the primary record of the Tamil country in 1200. Read online
- Travancore Archaeological Series, Various (Kerala chiefs, temples and merchant guilds), edited by T. A. Gopinatha Rao, K. V. Subrahmanya Aiyer and A. S. Ramanatha Ayyar (inscriptions of the 9th to 18th centuries; the series ran from 1910 to 1938). The main corpus for the Kerala coast. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.