Studies in South Indian Jainism

Author(s): M S Ramaswami Ayyangar, B Seshagiri Rao
Publisher: M S Ramaswami Ayyangar

Page 64

48 THE JAINS IN THE TAMIL LAND.' Kõvalan and his wife were on their way to Madura, they met a Jain nun who warned them to be on their guard against causing pain or death to living creatures as, at Madura, it would be denounced as a heinous sin by the Nigranthas there. The Nigranthas of this period did not appear to have been hated so much as those who flourished in the sixth or sevenčh century A.D. The Jains in this period, we further learn from the epics, worshipped the resplendent image of Arhat who is generally represented as sitting underneath the Asoka tree with the triple umbrella held over him. That these Jains were the Digambaras is clearly seen from their description. Judging from the account of the society as depicted in Manimēkalai, the Tamil sovereigns appear to have been generally tolerant towards all the foreign faiths in the „country. Thus, on the occasion of the annual festival held in the city of Puhar in honour of Indra, the king asked all preachers of virtue belonging to all religious sects to ascend the public halls of debate and preach their respective doctrines to the people. The Jains took every advantage of the opportunity and large was the number of those that embraced this faith.
There are certain reasons why Jainism was so popular in those days. The masses of the Dravidians were remnants of the great Nāga race that held the sovereignty of the land before the Tamils conquered it. The Tamils themselves borrowed from the Nāgas some of their elements
Popularity of Jainism : its causes.