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CHAPTER XII.
JAINA CELEBRITIES IN THE VIJAYANAGARA
EMPIRE
Features of Jaina architecture-Jaina contribution to Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Kannada literature --Examples of Jaina writers ranging from the carly fourteenth till the middle of the seventeenth century.
IVIIDESPREAD as the domicile of Jainism certainly was
in the Vijayanagara Empire, it must be admitted that so far as political power was concerned, the anekāntamata had judiciously given the place of prominence to the Hindu dharma. And while the Hindu dharma under Vijayanagara succeeded for nearly three centuries in upholding its prestige and the honour of the land, Jainism had retired into the background to devote itself exclusively for the cause of Peace and Learning. Its success was ensured in this field. For more than any other faith, Jainism was essentially a religion which had advocated Peace. And in the Tamil land, the Andhradeśa, and Karnataka it had for centuries, as we have already seen, carefully created and fostered literature, arts, and science. The fact that its leaders had occasionally rejuvenated political life was incidental ; their primary concern lay in advancing the cause of Peace and Knowledge, while that of their lay disciples, in giving a practical expression to the Jaina ideal of human brotherhood in the shape
