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dialectics, ethics, politics, grammar, poetics and prosody, lexicon and medicine, it will not be out of place to trace here briefly the history of the advent, growth and decline of Jainism in Tamilnadu, based on the scanty historical evidence that is available.
The questions as to when exactly Jainism entered the Tamil country and whether it did so through Andhra or via Karnāṭaka are matters of mere academic interest. While the presence of Jainism in Ceylon as early as in the 4th century B.C. indirectly hints at the possible prevalence of that faith in the Tamil country at that early period, on the strength of the credible tradition as recorded by Ratnanandi of the 15th century in his Bhadrabāhu-carita and by Dēvacandra of the last century in his Rājāvali-kathe, it may be safely concluded that the Jaina faith had entered the Cōla and Pāṇḍya kingdoms at the latest by the 3rd century B.C. through the missionary activities of Visakhācārya, the accredited disciple of Bhadrabahu. "The spread of the faith in the south after Bhadrabahu is attested by the presence of Jain vestiges in the natural caverns to which Jain ascetics resorted for their penance. Inside these caverns are 'beds' with 'pillows' cut on the floor and on their brows are long and deep 'driplines' scooped out to prevent rain water from running into the caverns. In some of these caverns, particularly in the districts of Trichinopoly including Pudukkottai, Madurai, Ramnad and Tirunelveli, there are also
1. See P. B. Desai: Jainism in South India (Sholapur, 1957), pp. 25-27,
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