________________
ху
herself the responsibility of running the feeding house attached to the monastery. Kirapākkam (Chingleput) was the centre of the Yāpaniya-sangha, Kumila-gaņa. At Ponnūr (Sanskrit: Hemagrāma or Svarnapuri) Elācārya popularised the Jvālāmālini (Vahnidēvatā) cult and built a temple for that goddess. His teachings were later codified by Indranandi in his Jvālamalinikalpa. The Jinagiripalli at Anandamangalam (Chingleput) was a monastery of considerable importance, and so was Val?imalai where is enshrined the image of Devasēna, a pupil of Bhavanandin. A Munibhadra and Samantabhadra, disciples of Puşpasēna, figure in the inscriptions from Karandai (North Arcot). The grammarian Mandala puruşa and the prosadist Amitasāgara also deserve mention. And Jinakāñci (Tirupparuttikunram) boasts of a line of Rși-samudaya, among whom the names of Mallisēna, Vāmana and Puşpasēna are still cherished.
From the seventh century onwards, the Tamil country was studded with temples to Siva and Vişnu. The Pallavas, the Päņdyas and then the Cēļas set the lead by building new temples and richly endowing them. Since Jainism was no longer the faith of the ruling houses, the erection of prillis and temples was mostly the work of the Sangha drawing what help it could from the State, the local assemblies and the merchant guilds. Tamil kings on their purt were neither slow nor parsimonious in their benefactions to their Jaina subjects. The Sittaņņavāśai Jaina cave temple, which was till lately believed to have been built by Mahendravarman 1, is now known to have definite
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org