Arittapatti Temple

In one of the Jain caves is a relief sculpture of a seated Jain Tirthankara on the rock face. Carved in fairly high relief, the Tirthankara appears to meditate within an arched alcove, a three-tiered umbrella above his head, seated on a lotus pedestal and surrounded by what seem to be flowers and leaves in low relief, where traces of plaster and of red, orange and green paint survive. The Jain caves also hold carved stone beds, smoothened over time to ease the monks who slept on them.

The Shiva temple in the village, called the Idaichchi mandapa by locals, is a classic early Pandya style rock-cut temple, evident in the pillars and pilasters of the mandapa. Its plan is simple: a garbhagriha housing a lingam, with a mandapa in front. Two of the mandapa pillars on the outer facade carry relief figures of Ganesha and of Lakulisha Shiva in very high relief. The Lakulisha Shiva, rarely shown in Tamil Nadu, is seated with the left leg raised and bent and the right reaching the ground, wearing a lower garment and adorned with headgear, earrings, necklace, armlets and bangles, holding a large club in his left hand.

The site bears inscriptions in both the Tamil Brahmi and Vattezhuthu scripts. The book notes that Tamil Brahmi was in use from around the 2nd century BCE to slightly past the Sangam era in the 4th century CE, after which it led to Vattezhuthu, prevalent until about the 10th to 11th centuries CE. In one Jain cave a Tamil Brahmi inscription of the 2nd century BCE names a devotee, Chizhiyan Atinan Veliyan of Nelveli, credited with sponsoring the smoothening of the stone beds.

Below the Tirthankara image is a Tamil inscription in Vattezhuthu naming the Jain Acharya Ajjandandi, also known from the inscriptions at Anaimalai in Madurai. The Shiva cave carries no inscriptional evidence, but historians believe it belongs to the 7th to 8th centuries (inferred).