Sittanavasal Cave (also, Arivar Koil) is a 2nd-century Tamil Śramaṇa complex of caves in Sittanavasal village in Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name is a distorted form of Sit-tan-na-va-yil, a Tamil word which means "the abode of great saints" (Tamil: சித்தன்னவாசல்). The monument is a rock-cut monastery or temple. Created by Tamil Śramaṇa, it is called the Arivar Koil, and is a rock cut cave temple of the Arihants. It contains remnants of notable frescoes from the 7th century. The murals have been painted with vegetable and mineral dyes in black, green, yellow, orange, blue, and white. Paintings have been created by applying colours over a thin wet surface of lime plaster. Ancient structures such as Gol Gumbaz, Talagirisvara temple and this one are claimed to be relatively unappreciated. Archaeological Survey of India has listed Sittanavasal Cave in the list of "Must See" Indian Heritage. The Sittanavasal Cave are listed as one of the Adarsh Smarak Monument by Archaeological Survey of India. History While the Sittanavasal village is dated from 1st century BC to 10th century AD when Jainism flourished here, the Temple-cave was initially dated to Pallava King Mahendravarman I (580–630 AD) prior to his conversion from Jainism to Hinduism as a Shaivite. However, an inscription attributes its renovation to a Pandyan king probably Maran Sendan (654–670 AD) or Arikesari Maravarman (670–700 AD). The Śramaṇa beds on the hill top is attributed to the Jain era pilgrimage centre which lasted till the 9th century AD. However, in the Pudukkottai region, where the monuments are located, there are many archaeological finds of the megalithic burial sites from much earlier. There are two publications in the 20th century which brought to light these monuments in particular: one in 1916, in the book "General History of the Pudukkottai State" by S. Radhakrishna Iyer, a historian, but only known regionally; and the other by Jouveau-Dubreuil and Gopinatha Rao, iconographers who worked together and brought out a "Monograph on Sittannavasal", in 1920, which brought it to limelight among archaeologists worldwide. The cleaning of the painting was undertaken in 1942 by Dr. S. Paramasivan and K. R. Srinivasan when they observed a patch of old painting of conventional carpet design superimposed by a new layer of painting. The superimposed layer of painting has been surmised as that done Ilan-Gautaman, whose name is also inscribed. The temple is maintained and administered by the Archaeological