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APPENDIX III
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The chronology of the Adiyārs has not been settled in all its details, but the saint Appar and his younger and more influential contemporary Sambandar are known to have lived in the first half of the seventh century A, D. Sambandar was a contemporary of another Saiva devotee, Siruttoņdar, who was the general of the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I, and conquered with him Vātāpi, the Chālukyan capital, about 642 A. D.' The next important saint, Sundaramurti, has been assigned to the early part of the ninth century A, D. The saint Seramān Perumal was a contemporary of Sundaramūrti.
The hymns composed by Appar, Sambandar and Sundaramūrti form the first seven sections of the Saiva canonical literature in Tamil. Of the eleven sections of this literature, the first three contain the hymns of Sambandar, and the next three those of Appar; while the seventh is composed of the hymns of Sundaramūrti. These seven sections, or rather collections, constitute the group known as the Tevāram,3 The eighth section contains the famous Tiruvāśakam of the great saint and poet Māņikkavāśagar. He has been assigned to various dates, but it is almost certain that he is considerably earlier than the seventh century, as Appar refers to a well-known miracle associated with his life, and mentions a Vācaka who seems to be identical with the saint. The hymns of the Adiyars give fervid expression to intense, self-effacing devotion to Siva, and proclaim absolute faith in His abounding grace and beneficent mission. Their religious fervour and spiritual depth represent an early phase of Saivism of which the keynote is bhakti.
Tamil Saivisnı has an important bearing on the religious conflict, to which we have referred in this work. Here, Saivism was in open conflict with Jainism, and the antagonism was far more deep-rooted than in the Deccan, where the Jaina faith continued to be in a favoured position until long after its discomfiture at Kāñci and Madura. In the Tamil country Jainism lost effective royal patronage as early as the seventh century A. D. when it had only commenced to obtain royal favour in the Deccan, for example, under Pulakesi II. The great Pallava king Mahendravarman I was converted from Jainism to the Saiva faith by Appar in the first quarter of the seventh century A. D. The Saiva saint had been persecuted by Mahendra; but, after his conversion, the king became an ardent champion of the new faith, and is said to have demolished the Jaina monastery at Pătaliputtiram, a seat of Jaina learning in the South Arcot district, and built a Siva temple on the spot. Appar himself was born a Saiva, became a Jaina and leader of the Jaina settlement at Pätali now the modern town of Cuddalore), and later reverted to his former religion. Further to the south, Kün Pāņd ya of
1 Jouveau-Dubreuil : The Pallavas, p. 68. 2 Aiyangar: Some Contributions of South India to Indian Culture, p. 217. 3 Tamilian Antiquary (op. cit.), p. 2. 4 Ibid. No. 4, pp. 1-55. See also Sastri: The Pandyan Kingdom, p. 67. 5 Jouveau-Dubreuil: Pallava Antiquities, Vol. I, p. 40; Longhurst: Pallava
Architecture, Part I, p. 7. 6 Aiyangar (op. cit.), p. 237. 63
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