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HYMNAL PERIOD.
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series. Later on, during the reign of Kulōttunga or Anabaya Chola 1150 A.D., a mass of tradition about the Saiva saints was collected from all sources and an extensive hagiology entitled the Tirutonaar Puranam or Periyapurānam, was written by Sekkizhar, a Vellala poet of the Pallava country. This legendary biography of Saiva Nayanars consisting of about 4,306 stanzas was later.on added to the Saiva religious literature as the twelfth Tirumurai. It is to these, Sekkizhar's Periyapuranam and the compilation of Nambiandar Nambi, that we are indebted for an account of the Jains during, what we have called, the period of Saiva Nayanars and Vaishnava Alvars. The information that could be gleaned from Saiva religious literature is to a little extent supplemented by the Vaishnava Prabandhams. Elaborate as are the details of the lives of Saiva saints, they are yet useless for purposes of history, as no dates are assigned to any of the Nayanārs; and being based on legends, the Periyapuranam is replete with fanciful accounts of miraculous incidents which no modern student of history would care to accept. Hence not a little difficulty is felt in tracing the various epochs in the religious history of South India. Among the 63 saints an account of whose lives is given in Periyapurānam, the names of Appar, Siruttondar and Tirujñānasambandar are important, as they alone furnish us some information about the Jains. Of these three, Sambandar is a very important figure, as
