Onampakkam is a small village in

Maduranthakam Madurantakam () is the southernmost suburb of Chennai city and a municipality in Chengalpattu district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town is known for the artificial and second largest lake in Tamil Nadu, the Madurantakam lake. It is ...

taluk in

Chengalpattu district Chengalpattu District is one of the 38 List of districts of Tamil Nadu, districts of Tamil Nadu, in India. The district headquarters is located at Chengalpattu. Chengalpattu district came into existence on 29 November 2019 when it was carved out ...

in the

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n state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. The major occupation of the people living at this place is agriculture. In 2011, it had a population of 4000.

Location

Onampakkam is located east of

Melmaruvathur Melmaruvathur is a town located in Tamil Nadu, India. It is in the Cheyyur Taluk of Chengalpattu district. The town is known for having the shrine of goddess Adhi Parashakthi, the Om Shakti Temple. It is a very important religious destinat ...

, west of Cheyyur and northwest of

Marakkanam Marakkanam is a coastal Selection Grade panchayat town & Taluk in Viluppuram district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is well connected to the state capital Chennai and the nearby union territory of Puduch ...

Transportation

All buses depart from Madhuranthagam and

bus stand to Cheyyur go via Onampakkam. To reach the Jain hillocks, one has to align at Ayyanar kovil bus stop. From here, the site is at a one km distant.

About the village

Onampakkam has more than 1200 years of heritage. It was a Jain centre during 8th century C.E. There are four hillocks namely Kurathimalai, Koosamalai, Pattimalai and Venmanimalai seen. Among these hillocks, Kurathimalai and Koosamalai have historical importance and were extensively used by Jain Monks and Tamil Jains.

Kurathimalai

This hillock is located northeast of Onampakkam and is very near L. N. Puram village. Parshavanthar ( Parshva) image facing east, is nicely carved on a small rock and was built like a small temple. An image of a five headed snake which is covering the head of Parshavanathar and yakshan & yakshi (

yakshini Yakshinis or Yakshis (, , Prakrit languages, Prakrit: ) are a class of female nature spirits in Hinduism, Hindu, Buddhism, Buddhist, and Jainism, Jain religious mythologies that are different from Hindu deities, Devas and Asuras and Gandharva ...

) on the either side are also seen. On the right side, an inscription in grantha and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

characters is seen. This inscription states that Vasudeva Siddhantha Padarar, a Jain monk who governed the "Irupathi Irandu" () branch of Tamil Jains, had built this temple. Rock carved images of Adhinathar ( Adinath) and Mahaveerar (

Mahavira Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ...

) are also seen in two places at a few feet distance. These sculpture belongs to 8th Century AD. Ten stone beds are seen in two places on this hillock. One group of five stone beds are seen on the top of the hill. These beds are carved on a rock facing east. Above these beds, on a rock, a long narrow line were carved to protect the beds from water inflow. On the east of this hillock, another group of five stone beds are seen facing north. A dried pond is also seen on the hillock.

Koosamalai

This hillock is located exactly west of Kurathimalai. A place in this hillock called "Pandhakal" where five stone beds are seen. Near to these beds, two ponds are seen. On the south of this hillock, a deep cave is seen. In the entrance of the cave, a stone which is worshipped as goddess "Kodi Aathal" by the villagers. Another dried pond is also seen a few feet above this cave.

Recent activities

Recently, some group of Tamil Jains mainly belonging to Kanchipuram district started worshipping and have built steps to reach the top of the Kurathimalai Hillock. The presence of a stone quarry near to these hillock is a threat to this valuable place and also to the local people.

Picture gallery

File:Onampakkam Adhinathar 1.JPG, Adhinathar File:Onampakkam_Parshvanathar_1.JPG, Parshvanathar File:Onampakkam Mahaveerar.JPG, Mahaveerar File:Onampakkam Grantha inscription 1.JPG, Inscription with Tamil and Grantha characters File:Kurathimalai Jain beds 1.JPG, Kurathimalai Jain beds 1 File:Kurathimalai Jain beds 2.JPG, Kurathimalai Jain beds 2 File:Koosamalai jain beds.JPG, Koosamalai Jain beds File:Koosamalai pond.JPG, Koosamalai pond

References

{{reflist Villages in Chengalpattu district Jain temples in Tamil Nadu 8th-century Jain temples Jain rock-cut architecture