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GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
@GemsOfINDOLOGY
Jun 10, 2023 • 13 tweets • 11 min read • Read on X
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There are a few so-called 'historians' spreading misinformation about the massacre of Jains by Shaivas/Nayamnars in Madurai during the 7th century CE.

Even left-leaning #wiki debunks this claim. Please help to stop the spread of this fake narrative. Share with others as much as… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImage
As per @jainism_info This is historic site where Jain monks were killed , it is called raktasamanam ( blood of jains).

A plain translation of word 'raktasamanam' means 'blood of equality' or 'blood for honor' but this handle continued to perpetuate a false theory ?

2/ Image
@jainism_info The Impalement of Jains is an event that dates back to the 7th cen. It was first mentioned in an 11th-century hagiographic Tamil text by Nambiyandar Nambi.
As per text, Jain monks allegedly persecuted Sambandar, Shaivite child-saint, in 7th century and attempted to kill him.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImageImage
The Jain records do not mention the legend either. Even after the alleged massacre, the Jains continued to be concentrated in Madurai during the 8th and the 9th centuries. The Jain authors in Madurai composed several works during this period, including Sendan Divakaram (a Tamil… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImage
Parañcoti, who composed another version of Tiruvidaiyatar Puranam, made slight changes to the story, maybe to exonerate Campantar of his guilt, as alleged in the well-meaning Vempattfirar's work. When Campantar sought permission from Lord Siva, he replied that the Jains would… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Cekkilar, the author of Periyapurauam (12th century ce), the twelfth Tirumurai of the Saivites, seems to have a balanced perspective. There is evidence to believe that Cekkilar made a thorough study of Tevaram collections and did a lot of field work throughout Tamilnadu to equip… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImage
Öttakkattar, a contemporary of Cekkilar, a court poet of three Cola emperors and one of the Kaviccakkaravartti 'Emperor among poets' of the Cola Empire, narrates a slightly different version in his Takkaydkapparani (Öttakkuttar 1930: 171-220). This version also exonerates… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Perumparrappuliyar Nampi of Vempattur (hereafter referred to as Vempatturar) follows him in his Tiruvcidavayutaiydr Tiruvilaiya-tar Purdnam (Purcin am on the sacred sports of Lord Siva of Madurai), a work most probably of the 13th century A.D.

According to Vempattfirar, from… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
While earlier sculptures available only shows impalement but not forced, but later paintings depicts the event as forced ones.
1st frescos from Meenakshi Temple widely quoted by eminents is not more than 400 years old i.e. painted after 1000+ years.
2nd Mural on the ceiling of… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImageImage
@Jainismrevival has referred to this book by L Lajapathi Roy available on readabit. @MinOfCultureGoI should remove this book from publication.
readabit.in/bookdetailview…


9/ Image
Hiuen Tsang's (Xuanzang) a pilgrim from China
As per him - There were more than 100 Buddhist monasteries, The Deva-Temples were above 80, and the majority belonged to the Digambaras. The people were courageous, thoroughly trustworthy, and public-spirited, and they esteemed great… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImage
As it appears or made to appear that Jain's or Budhists were always on receiving end. It is not like that our ancestors have been open-minded who believed in open debates rather than diktats. They challenged each other to keep checks and balances within society in a healthy way.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Src
jstor.org/stable/24890281
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impalemen…
journal.fi/scripta/articl…
Veluppillai, Alvappillai. (1993). The Hindu Confrontation with the Jaina and the Buddhist. Saint Tirunacampantar's Polemical Writings. Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis. 15. 335-364.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

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More from @GemsOfINDOLOGY

GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 22
1/10
Meet Bhagirathi — the river that dragged Ganga from Shiva's hair to earth.

Rigveda calls her "the one who flows with the speed of thought."

Today? A trickle dying before Gangotri even starts.

From cosmic torrent to seasonal sewer. Thread 🧵 Image
2/10
Bhagirathi begins at Gaumukh — "cow's mouth" glacier.

1935: 300-meter ice wall, roaring.
2025: Snout retreated 3+ km uphill. Glacier lost 25% volume since the 1960s.

Your Himalayan trek selfie is on her corpse. 📸❄️ Image
3/10
Vedic seers saw her as divine:
नदीं न संनादतीं दमूनसम् (RV 10.75.4)
"The river that roars like a bull in rut."

Now? Summer discharge down 40% since 1990.
Sometimes she doesn't reach Devprayag to become "Ganga."

Literal identity crisis. 🏔️💧 Image
Read 10 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 22
You already know that for over 2,000 years, Indian smiths forged steel so sharp it cut European swords in half. So resilient it became legend across continents.

By 1900, those same smiths were classified as backward. Primitive. Incapable of innovation.

What happened between? 🧠⚔️ You don't know!!

A 5-step manual for erasure. READ On 👇

#decolonisation #UncropTheTruth

1/7Image
Step 1: Extract the technique

Indian wootz steel arrived in British laboratories in 1795. Samples were analysed, chemical compositions documented, papers published in the Royal Society. The steel was credited to "Eastern origin." The smiths who forged it? Unnamed. Untraced. Irrelevant.

The technique was extracted. The technician was erased.

2/7Image
Step 2: Disrupt the ecosystem

Wootz steel required specific forests for charcoal, particular ores, seasonal smelting cycles. Colonial forest laws between 1855–1878 criminalized wood collection, turned smelting zones into "reserved land," cut access to raw materials.

The furnaces went cold. Not because knowledge disappeared, but because resources were locked behind permits the smiths couldn't obtain.

3/7Image
Read 7 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 9
#GemsOfASI #14
Theft, loss, and inventory failure

1/
 When artefacts disappear from protected monuments, the response is usually administrative.
Files are opened, reports are written, and records are updated.
By the time this happens, the loss has already occurred much earlier. Image
2/
 Many antiquities under protection are still incompletely catalogued, irregularly verified, or stored without consistent physical security.
In such cases, legal custody exists on paper, but effective control on the ground is weak or absent. Image
3/
 Once local community presence was removed from many sites, informal and continuous surveillance disappeared with it.
As a result, losses are often discovered only years later, during audits or inspections, when recovery is no longer realistic.
(3/5) Image
Read 5 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 7
#GemsofASI #13

1/ Community custodianship removed. Decay accelerated.

For centuries, India's monuments survived not because of departments.

They survived because of communities.

Priests. Caretakers. Villagers. Guilds.
Daily acts of maintenance kept stone alive.

Then we professionalized protection—and removed the protectors.Image
2/ What did daily custodianship look like?

• Cleaning debris
• Clearing drainage
• Minor repairs before they became major
• Ritual upkeep
• Constant presence

This wasn't "informal."
It was a functioning system.

Colonial archaeology called it a liability. Image
3/ British ASI reframed custodians:

• Untrained ❌
• Intrusive ❌
• Encroachers ❌

Control replaced continuity.

Post-Independence? We kept the same framework.

Protection became professionalised.
Also **detached**.

Local custodianship: removed.
On-ground substitute: none. Image
Read 8 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 7
1/ When did you last hear about a 2000 years old hotel style South Indian site with Roman silver and Chinese coins?

Never.

Because we were taught ancient India was isolated. Insular. Self-contained.

That was a lie.

Here's what they found underground in Karnataka — and why nobody talks about it. 🪙🌏
#GemsOfASI #MNI938Image
2/ Chandravalli. Moon-shaped valley. Chitradurga district, Karnataka.

The site: Ankalagi Caves.

Inhabited since 1000 BCE.

Layers stack like civilizations:
Megalithic burials → Satavahana coins → Kadamba inscriptions → medieval cave shrines.

No single empire. Just continuous occupation for 3,000 years.Image
3/ 1909: B.L. Rice arrives.
1929–30: M.H. Krishna digs deeper.
1947: R.E.M. Wheeler, Archaeological Survey of India.

They weren't looking for artifacts.

They found an entire underground economy.

Trade routes. Religious centers. Water systems.

This wasn't a cave. It was infrastructure.Image
Read 12 tweets
GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Jan 6
#GemsOfASI #12
Ritual bans, policing faith, and administrative overreach.

1/
 Across India, ritual bans at protected monuments are often justified as “conservation measures”.
Their effects, however, go far beyond conservation. Image
2/
 Rituals in temples are not ornamental additions.
They are structured practices embedded into architecture, time cycles, and spatial design.

Banning them alters how a site functions — not just how it is used. Image
3/
 Colonial-era conservation frameworks treated ritual activity as an external stressor.

This assumption migrated into post-Independence administration, where regulation slowly turned into prohibition. Image
Read 10 tweets

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