While film director S.S. Rajamouli’s magnum opus Bahubali has taken the country by a storm, a bas relief sculpture of the revered Jain ascetic Bahubali lies uncared for atop Samanar Malai or monk’s hill, a rocky outcrop in Madurai district.
Off Madurai-Theni highway, the hillock rises from the picture postcard Keezhakuyilkudi village boasting a venerable banyan tree said to be over 300 years old and an idyllic lotus pond fed from a natural spring trickling down the hillock amidst farmland.
Apart from several caves, said to have been used by meditating Jain monks and nuns, the hillock is also home to two protected monuments — Settipodavu and Pechipallam, containing bas reliefs of Jain tirthankaras and other religious icons. Both have been declared monuments of national importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010. At the entrance of the caves, one can see several sculptures of Gomateshwara, Mahavira, Yakshi and Yaksha. Settipodavu presents a bas relief of Mahavira and can be accessed easily.
However, Pechipallam with eight different sculptures, including those of Bahubali and Mahavira, calls for a climb up the steep rock. Only some sections of the climb have shallow steps cut on the rock surface. Almost a decade ago, State tourism department erected iron railings along the path leading to Pechipallam sculptures. A board at the site says the railings and other facilities were provided at a cost of ₹3.15 lakh under the tourism development scheme in 2005-2006.
However, the lack of maintenance at the site has meant that the railings are now more a risk than help to visitors as they are either missing in some sections of the steep path or protruding precariously at a few spots.
“I was half way up the hill when the iron bar on the railing disappeared. I had the shock of my life at that height. Didn’t expect such a sad state of affair at a monument of national importance,” said G. Balakrishnan, a visitor from Bangalore.
He also expressed concern over rampant defacement of rock with scribbles near the sculptures of Mahavir, Bahubali and other Tirthankaras close to the spring on top of the hill.
