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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM south who, stopping animal sacrifices in their Vedic ceremonies and rites, promulgated the cult of ahimsă in their literature.
The principle of ahimsā was partly responsible for the greatest contribution of the Jainas to Hindu culture—that relating to toleration. Whatever may be said concerning the rigidity with which they maintained their religious tenets, and the tenacity and skill with which they met and defeated their opponents in religious disputations, yet it cannot be denied that thẽ Jainas fostered the principle of toleration more sincerely and at the same time more successfully than any other community in India. In fact, as we shall presently see, it is this feature of toleration which is the connecting link in the history of pre-Vijayanagara and Vijayanagara Jainism. And nothing is more regrettable than that in the matter of showing tolerance to the followers of their rival creeds, especially to the Jainas, the Hindus of southern India should have been so ungenerous as to have had recourse to a method of retaliation and revenge which was so alien to the proverbially hospitable nature of the Hindus.
In order to elucidate this statement we have to review briefly the condition of Jainism in the age immediately preceding the rise of Vijayanagara. Three general causes brought about the decline of Jainism in southern India before the founders of Vijayanagara rose to power. In the first place, the long intervals that elapsed between the periods of Jaina revival were to a large extent responsible for the gradual downfall of Jainism. After Kondakundācārya (the first century A.D.) caine Samantabhadra (the second century A.D.) who, as related above, was the great promoter of the Jina faith. The next stage in the Jaina revival is reached
1. Ramaswami, Studies., pp. 76-77
