Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta

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RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
Yāpparungalam and its Kārigai (ccmmentary) were produced in this period, i. e. between the 9th and 12th centuries A. D.
The Jains of the Tamil country, including Tondaimaņdalam, looked upon Śravana Belgola as the principal seat of their religion. The hills of Sravaņa-Belgola are full of later epigraphs recording the visits of monks and lay worshippers from the south. The fortunes of Jainism in Tamilnadu were closely linked with the history of the faith in Karnāțaka. The activities of some of the celebrated Jain teachers and their achievements in the field of religion and philosophy, not to speak of literature, brought the Tamil land into close touch with Karņāțaka. 21 The most celebrated names of Jain teachers who were responsible for the diffusion of Jainism in the Tamil country were Sāman tabhadra, Pūjyapāda and Akalanka. The necessary resources for the spread of the Jain faith thus seems to have come from Karņāțaka. Of the above three, Samantabhadra and Akalanka were more closely connected with Tondaimandalam, particularly Kāñci.
Kundakundācārya, who is said to be the first in almost all the genealogies of the southern Jains (as the founder of the Müla Sangha)22 is also associated with the spread and dissemination of Jain ideals in the Tamil country. He is said to have lived in the beginning of the Christian era and is believed to have become the Pontiff of the Jains about 8 B. C. with his seat at Pataliputra (same as Patalipura in the South Arcot District), written several works in Prakrit for the benefit of his royal disciple of the Pallava dynasty, Sivakumāra, and made successful journeys to the Pandya, Cola and Cēra kingdoms as a missionary spreading the Jina-dharma and converting people.28 Jain tradition further says that he also bore the name Elācārya (or Helācārya), composed the Kural and gave it to his disciple Tiruvalluvar who introduced it to the
21 See B. A. Saletore, Medieval Jainism with special reference to Vijayanagar, Bombay, 1938, pp. 223-24.
22 Ep. Carn., Vol. II, No. 66; also T. N. Ramachandran, op. cit., p. 4.
23 M. V. Krishna Rao, Jainism in Gangavadi' in Quart. Journ. Myth. Soc., Vol. XXIV, p. 53.