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JAIN DECADENCE.
decadence
Jains. His account of the Jains is interesting ; but unfortunately, the value of the poems is to be discounted much, as the vindictive spirit of a neophite is displayed throughout. According to him Jainism was put down 'in the Tamil country by the strenuous preaching of Saint Jñānasambandar anıl Vaishnava Apostles, Tirumazhisai and Tirumangai.
Thus, during the middle half of the seventh The and the beginning of the eighth centuries A.D., of Jainism. the Jains sustained a series of reverses both in the Pallava and the Pandya country. The Chola kings did not encourage during this period the Jain religion, as they were devoted to the worship of Siva. But it is a mistake to suppose that the Jains were rooted out of those territories. The 8,000 Jains who were impaled at the instance of Tirujījānasambandar, the archenemy of Jainisin, were all of them leaders and not followers. From the Periyapurānam account of the saints, it is evident that both in the Pallava and Pandva countries they were cruelly persecuted. The hymns of Appar are full of referenses to such a religious persecution. Making aniple allowance for exaggeration, there is no reason to doubt the fact. The Jains in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. had vast political influence in the Tamil country, especially in the Pandyan kingdom. From the time of the Kalabhra invasion' down to the period of Kūn Pandya's conversion, the Jains must have controlled the policy of that state. They took
