DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY VOCC-THE PEARL CITY TOURISM

  Kalugumalai Jain beds in  Kalugumalai , a panchayat town in  Thoothukudi district  in the South Indian state of  Tamil Nadu , are dedicated to the Jain religious figures. Constructed in rock cut architecture, the unfinished temple is believed to have been built during the reign of  Pandyan  king  Parantaka Nedunjadaiya  (768-800 CE). The rock-cut architecture at  Kalugumalai  is an exemplary specimen of Pandyan art. The other portions of Kalugumalai houses the 8th century unfinished Shiva temple,  Vettuvan Koil  and  Kalugasalamoorthy Temple , a  Murugan  temple at the foothills. There are approximately 150 niches in the bed, that includes images of  Gomateshwara ,  Parshvanatha  and other  Tirthankaras  of the  Jainism . The Jain beds are maintained and administered by Department of Archaeology of the  Government of Tamil Nadu  as a protected monument. The earliest Kalugumalai Jain Beds are dated to the 8th century based on palaeographic and literary evidence, during the reign of  P