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Tirumalai, Polur, Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu · 12.5567°, 79.2059°
A Jain hill complex near Polur with three caves, two temples and a 16-foot sculpture of the Tirthankara Neminatha, in use from at least the ninth century. The Kunthavai Jinalaya was endowed by the Chola princess Kundavai in the tenth century, and inscriptions of Rajendra Chola I survive here; Mahavira and Parshvanatha shrines were added in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
Tradition holds that eight thousand Jain monks who came south with Bhadrabahu performed penance on this hill and attained nirvana here.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-28 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Chola
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