page_title: Tamil Jain
hierarchical_section_title: Tamil Jain
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of Bhattaraka Laxmisena. The head of the Mel Sithamur Jain Math, Gingee, Tamil Nadu, India. He is the head of the Tamil Jains.
context_page_description: Tamil Jains are Tamils from Tamil Nadu, India, who practice Digambara Jainism. The Tamil Jain is a microcommunity of around 85,000, including both Tamil Jains and north Indian Jains settled in Tamil Nadu. They are predominantly scattered in northern Tamil Nadu, largely in the districts of Madurai, Viluppuram, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore and Thanjavur.
  Early Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in Tamil Nadu date to the 3rd century BCE and describe the livelihoods of Tamil Jains. Samaṇar wrote much Tamil literature, including the important Sangam literature, such as the Nālaṭiyār, the Silappatikaram, the Manimekalai and the Seevaka Sinthamaṇi. Three of the five great epics of Tamil literature are attributed to Jains.
context_section_description: Tamil Jains (Tamil Samaṇar, from Prakrit samaṇa "wandering renunciate") are Tamils from Tamil Nadu, India, who practice Digambara Jainism (Tamil Samaṇam). The Tamil Jain is a microcommunity of around 85,000 (around 0.13% of the population of Tamil Nadu), including both Tamil Jains and north Indian Jains settled in Tamil Nadu. They are predominantly scattered in northern Tamil Nadu, largely in the districts of Madurai, Viluppuram, Kanchipuram, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Cuddalore and Thanjavur.
  Early Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions in Tamil Nadu date to the 3rd century BCE and describe the livelihoods of Tamil Jains. Samaṇar wrote much Tamil literature, including the important Sangam literature, such as the Nālaṭiyār, the Silappatikaram, the Manimekalai and the Seevaka Sinthamaṇi. Three of the five great epics of Tamil literature are attributed to Jains.
caption: Bhattaraka Swami Laxmisena, Mel Sithamur
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