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CRITICAL TIMES
271 about the middle of the seventh century A.D. under Säntisena." The fourth stage is seen with Gopanandi (A.D. 1094), who caused a revival of the Jina dharma.2 In the twelfth century (A.D. 1123) it is said that the doctrine of Jinendra which shone formerly through Maladhārideva, again shone now with the greatness of Candrakirti Bhațţāraka. And, as will be pointed out anon, it will be only in the middle of the sixteenth century A.D. that the next wave of Jaina revival will be seen. Between these periods of revival there was a wide gap during which the cause of Jainisrn suffered considerable hardships at the hands of rival religious creeds.
Closely allied to the above was the fact that the Jainas failed to produce successively leaders who could so associate religion with politics as to bring both to the forefront simultaneously. It is not too much to suppose that had Jainism produced another Simhanandi, especially in the eighth and ninth century A.D. when it was beset with insurmountable difficulties, the course of political events in southern, especially in western, India would have been changed. The great leaders whom Jainism gave to the country were mostly buried in their theological works; and their indifference to the material changes that took place around them, and particularly those relating to the rise of rival religious sects, was not a little responsible for the steady decline of Jainism as a powerful element in the religious and political history of the land.
Finally, the Hindu revival in southern and western India was the greatest blow to the anekāntamata. We shall deal with this point presently.
1. E. C. II, p. 7 op. cit. 2. Ibid, V. Cn. 148, op. cit. 3. Ibid, II, 117, p. 46.
