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AUGUST, 1911.) ORIGIN & DECLINE OF BUDDHISM & JAINISM IN S. I.
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Amoghavarsha I, and to his pupil Ganabhadre, contemporary of Krishna II.10 Mandalapurusha, the disciple of Gaṇabhadra is the author of the Tamil metrical dictionary nigandu) compiled about the 9th centary A.D. Şeveral purely Jaina works in Tamil are preserved to this day and they show that at a certain period Jaina influence was very strong in southern India. Among these may be mentioned Jivakachintamani, Chaldmani, Mahápuranam and Mérumandirapuranam and the like. Contributions to general Tamil literature by Jaina authors are also not rare.
One of the most powerful Jaina teachers celebrated in Jivakachintamani is Ajjanandi. Inscriptions of his have been found in the Mêlûr, Periyakulam, Palni and Madura talukas of the Madura district, and indicato the extent of territory over which his influence was felt. According to one of these records Gunamatiyar was his mother's name 20. At the time of the Saiva saint, Nanasambanda, there were several Jaina teachers, and their names are preserved in one of his hymns on Tiravalavay, 21 where it is also said that Anaimalai (6 miles from Madura) was one of the several places of Jaina settlements. The names mentioned in the hymn are Sandusena, Indusêna, Dharmasena, Kandusêna, Kanakanandi, Patpanandi, Pavananandi, Sanaganandi and Gunaganandi.
Inscriptions 2 found in the Pandya country show that Kurandi-Ashtôpavasi was a famous Jaina priest who had for his disciples Kanakanandi, Gagasêna, Magañandi and A'rittanêmi. Two records make Kanakanandi the disciple of Kurandi. Ashtôpavâsi. Three generations of pupils of Kanaka are noticed in a Kilakkudi inscription, and they are Abhinandana-Bhatara I, Arimandala-Bhatara, and Abhinandana-Bhatara II. The second disciple Guņasêna's pupils 24 were Aritganmaséna, Kandan-Porpatean, Araiyangavidi, Kanakavira-Periyadiga! and Vardhamana-Pandita. The disciple of the last mentioned individual was Guņasêna-Periyadiga!. We have not yet known if Maganandi and Arittanēmi, the other disciples of Kurandi-Ashtopavasi, had left any followers. The names of the other Jaina priests mentioned in inscriptions are:-Sântavira, pupil of Gunavira, who renewed the images of Parkva-Pacarar (Patsvanatha) and the Yakshis in the Aivarmalai Cavo in Saka 792 (= A. D. 870)25; Pavvanandikuratti, the female pupil of Pattinakuratti 20; Indrasena, Mallisena, Tinaikklattár, Dharmade vacharya, pupil of Kanakachandra-Pandita, Ilaiyapadarar and Chandranandi-châya.27 Jainas seem to have prospered well in the North Arcot, Sonth Arcot, Madurâ and Tinnevelly districts and in the Mysore State, where we find a number of temples of Jaina Tirtharkarns and the names of Jaina monks in charge of them. Periyapurdnam alludes to the iestruction of several structaral monuments of the Jainas at Cuddalore by the Pallavs king Mabendravarman, who, it is said, built a shrine to Siva at Tinuyadi.
Favoured and nurtured by the south Indian kings, Buddhism and Jainism appear to have had a career of prosperity for a few centuries, along with the Saiva and Vaisbņava forms of Hindu religion. Buddbism appears to have received the first check in its growth from the hands of the Jaina teachers, who seem to have been numerous in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries. Both Tamil and Sanskrit literature clearly point to the triumph of the Jainas over the Bauddhas. If Samantabhadra and Akalaika stand forth as the vanquishers of the Buddhists in one part of the country,
19 Pp. 407-108 of the Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, Part II.
20 No. 61 of the Madra Epigraphical Collection for 1910. Two distinguished Buddhist teachers name Guniimati ant sthiramati are reported to have fourished in the 6th Century A. D., at Vallabhi in the Surashtr country (Mr. V. A. Smith's Early History of India, p. 272). 91 Tiravalavay is Madura.
Nos. 61, 62 and 68 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1910. 21 No. 63 of the same colection. Nos. 65, 66 and 69 of the same and 330 of the Collection for 1908.
25 This took place in the reign of the Pandya king Varaguņa-Varman (see No. 705 of the Epigraphical Collec tion for 1905.)
* Nos. 67 to 74, 691 and 699 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1905 and Nos, 238 and 239 of 1904. 31 Nos, 239 and 367 of the Collection for 1905 and 67 to 74 of 1905,
