Acharya Hasti Mala
From the writings in Periyapurāṇam, a historical fact of great significance emerges. In 6th century A.D i.e. V.N. 11th century, Kalabhroṃ with the aid of a very powerful and strong army created havoc throughout the state of Tamilnadu and defeated the long established rules of Pāṇḍya, Pallava, Colā and Cera, the four powerful dynasties ruling in different parts of the state of Tamilnadu. He thus brought the entire state of Tamilnadu under his rule. Immediately on ascending to the throne of Tamilnadu, Kalabhroṃ adopted Jainism as his religion. At that time, the Jains were innumerable in numbers in Tamilnadu.
When Kalabhroṃ defeated Pāṇḍya rule and brought the same under his rule for some time, as per the writings in 'Velvikuṃdī Dānapatra', he was called as 'Muttārāina' as he had defeated the rulers of three provinces namely Pāṇḍya, Cera and Colā.
It cannot be established firmly as to the place from where Kalabhroṃ came. However it can be definitely said that he was a native of southern India. After a short while of the establishing his rule till Kāverī and establishment of Draviḍa congregation in Madurai, Kalabhroṃ in a short time invaded and defeated the three provinces ruled by Pāṇḍya, Colā and Cera dynasties and brought them under his rule.
Kalabhroṃ ruled the entire state of Tamilnadu for approximately 50 years. Kaduṃgona of Pāṇḍya dynasty and ruler of Madurai from one side and Pallavarāja Siṃhaviṣṇu, ruler of Kāṃcī from the other side organized a well-planned armed attack on Kalabhroṃ and succeeded in finishing the rule of Kalabhroṃ.
Pallavarāja Siṃhaviṣṇu, ruler of Kāṃchī was not content after defeating Kalabhroṃ. He defeated all the rulers till Kāverī. He thus extended his rule from Kāṃcī to Kāverī.
Pallavarāja Siṃhaviṣṇu ruled from V.N. 1102 to 1127 and made his empire strong and follower of Jainism.
In V.N. 1127, Mahendra Varman-I ascended to the throne of Pallava dynasty. He was endowed with all round skills, an efficient ruler, poet and a musician. Like his father, he was also keen to extend his empire. He therefore extended his empire in the north upto river Kṛṣṇā and beyond.
Destroyer of the supreme influence of Jainism in south was a Śaiva monk Tiruappara who was his (Mahendra Varman-I) contemporary as well as his teacher. Under the influence of his teacher Tiruappara, Mahendra Varman-I left Jain congregation and became a follower of Śaiva religion.
Another Śaiva great monk Jṅānasambandhara, who was a contemporary of Tiruappara influenced Pāṇḍya ruler Sundara of Madurai by his miracle producing skills. Sundara also gave up Jainism and became a follower of Śaiva religion. Three other names of Sundara Pāṇdya are mentioned in the literature, namely, Nedumāra, Kuna Pāṇḍya and Kubja Pāṇḍya.
Like Pallavarāja Mahendra Varman-I and Sundara Pāṇḍya were contemporaries, similarly great Śaiva monks Jṅānasambandhara and Tiruappara were also their contemporaries. Tiruappara and Jṅānasambandhara are both considered as the fountains of Śaiva revolution in Tamilnadu and both Pallava ruler Mahendra Varman-I and Sundara Pāṇḍya as the rulers who established Śaiva religion in south. The period of Mahendra Varman-I rule is estimated as V.N. 1127-1157 (or Vikram 657-687) which appears to be definite also.
Tiru Jṅānasambandhara made Sundara Pāṇḍya his profound devotee and under his direction had 5000 Jain monks crushed in the oil mill. Similarly Tiruappara made Kāṃcī ruler, Mahendra Varman-I as his profound disciple and forcefully converted Jains to Śaiva religion. Before becoming a Śaiva saint, Tiruappara was not only a leading Jain monk but was the head of a group of monks in Pātalipurama. After converting to Śaiva religion, he proved to be the biggest destroyer of Jainism.
Till the first half of Vikram 7th century, Jainism was the main, most popular and powerful religion of Tamilnadu. However, during the rule of Kāṃcī Pallava ruler Mahendra Varman-I and Pāṇḍya of Madurai, Jainism came under the clouds of profound troubles and disgrace. Actually this was a great and deep blow / scar on Jainism in southern India. This attack inflicted severe losses on Jainism which could not be compensated even by the sincere efforts of last thirteen centuries.
Jainism in great difficulties in Southern India
From 2nd to 7th century AD, Jainism was the most influential religion in southern India. From the writings in 'Jain saṃhāra Caritam' and 'Periya Purāṇa', it is evident that till the time of great Śaiva saints Appar and Jṅānasambandhara etc, who initiated the Saiva revolution in south; Jainism was the most popular and most influential religion of the south. At that time in 7th century AD, Śaiva monks started preaching Śaiva religion in Pāṇḍya dynasty capital Madurai and Pallava dynasty capital Kāṃcī.
Śaiva monks estimated that they cannot succeed and prosper until they uproot completely the influence of Jainism. Considering Jainism as a roadblock in the success of their ambitious, they decided to first attack Jainism. But the Jain congregations of Madurai and Kāṃcī were very powerful at that time and had royal patronage as well. So it was an extremely difficult proposition to cause any harm to them. To make these congregations weak, the Śaiva monks decided to first bring the rulers of these two dynasties into their fold.
Ruler of Madurā Sundara Pāṇḍya was a Jain but his wife (daughter of Colā ruler) and his prime minister were both followers of Śaiva religion. Famous Śaiva monk Jṅānasambandhar established contacts with the queen and the prime minister of Sundara Pāṇḍya first. During consultations with the Śaiva saint, the queen said, 'Her husband has become a hunch back; he is always worried and pained to be a hunch back. If you can, through some miraculous powers treat his hunch back and make it straight, then your purpose can be achieved'.
Jṅānasambandhara said, 'with the blessings of Lord Śaṃkara, he is confident that he can treat the king'. The queen then said, 'O teacher, then consider your objective achieved'.
After some introspection, the queen said, 'I have a good-looking plan in my mind. I will immediately request the king that Jain monks are extremely powerful and endowed with many extraordinary powers. Hence they should be invited tomorrow in the royal court to treat your hunch back and make it straight with their extraordinary powers. But those Jain monks will not be able to do so. Before these Jain monks utter any word, I shall tell those Jain monks in clear terms in the royal court and announce that whosever religious teacher can relieve the king of his incurable hunch back, the same monk will be anointed as the religious teacher of the ruler and his religion will become the religion of the state. The Pāṇḍya ruler is extremely keen to get rid of his sickness. He will immediately accept this suggestion. This way you will have no difficulty in establishing Śaiva religion in the Kingdom of Pāṇḍyadynasty.'
Considering this suggestion of the queen as an extremely potent opportunity to achieve his objective, he (monk Jṅānasambandhara) said 'Please have faith in me. Based on the Yogic activities I shall definitely cure Pāṇḍya king of his ailment for his life'.
The queen presented her proposal to king in a very clever manner. The king accepted this proposal by queen. He authorised his officer to invite with due respect Jain monks to the royal court next morning.
Next morning, Jain monks appeared in the royal court. The prime minister respectfully requested them to take their appropriate seats and cure the king of his ailments from its roots.
The queen requested the Jain monks thus, 'Lord, you are the religious teachers of the king. Kindly leave no stones unturned in relieving the king of his ailments. Therefore from all of us and the King, certain conditions have been made essential today. Any one saint who cures the King of his ailments will become the royal religious teacher. Being the royal religious teacher, you are given the first opportunity to do so. On your being unsuccessful other religious teachers will also be given this opportunity'.
According to writings in 'Periya Purāṇa', the first opportunity was given to Jain monks. They used all types of mantras, tantras etc but could not succeed in treating the king.'
Later on Śaiva saint Jṅānasambandhara was invited. After telling him the terms of the opportunity, he was requested to use his extraordinary powers to treat the King of his incurable disease.
Jṅānasambandhara, meditating on Lord Śaṃkara, started treating the king. In front of all present, he quickly cured the king of his incurable disease and made the Hunch (Kubja) Pāṇḍya into handsome (Sundara) Pāṇḍya. As per the terms of the treatment, Sundara Pāṇḍya declared Jṅānasambandhara as the royal religious teacher and converted ceremonially into Śaiva religion.
This conversion of Sundara Pāṇḍya from Jainism to Śaiva religion highly influenced the commoners as well. In the process, Jṅānasambandhara also enhanced his influence over the commoners. Jṅānasambandhara, in connivance with the queen and the prime minister of Sundara Pāṇḍya made several offers to Jain monks to prove the greatness of their religion and thus got them engaged in several miraculous debates. Based on the defeats of Jain monks in these debates, and as per the writings in 'Jain Saṃhāra Caritam' he had 5000 Jain monks crushed to death in the oil mills of Madurai. In this way, Jṅānasambandhara forcefully started destroying Jain temples and monasteries and converted Jain followers as Śaiva followers.
On the other hand, Śaiva saint Appara also had Pallavarāja Mahendra Varmana-I converted from Jainism to Śaiva religion. He, like Jṅānasambandhara, started collective destruction of Jain temples, monasteries and maṭhas along with torturous and forceful mass conversion of Jains to Śaiva religion.
All these acts resulted in mass exodus of Jains from Kāṃcī and Madurai to other safe heavens. The remaining Jains either converted to Śaiva religion or those who considered Jainism as dearer than their life were killed by the followers of these two Śaiva saints.
These acts were so destructive on Jainism that it can be termed as religious uprising and mass murder. This attack made Jainism, which was most influential religion in Tamilnadu for centuries, bruised so badly that all efforts of last thirteen centuries have not been able to even remove scars of mass destruction on Jainism, what to talk of revival of the same.
Texts such as 'Periya Purāṇa' and 'Sthala Purāṇa' of Śaiva religion credit Tiru Jṅānasambandhara, Tiru Appara, King Sundara Pāṇḍya, his queen and prime minister for this mass destruction of Jainism in Tamilnadu and establishment of Śaiva religion there.
Śaiva saint, primarily Jṅānasambandhara gave the foremost credit to the queen and prime minister of King Sundara Pāṇḍya amongst the 63 prominent personalities for supporting the success of this uprising of Śaiva religion in Tamilnadu.
There are many inscriptions and writings available which prove that even these destructive attacks on Jainism, Jainism continued to prosper in several parts of Tamilnadu for the next 4 to 5 centuries. Some of these places even continued to remain as the main centres of preaching and propagating Jainism. Again Cola dynasty emerging as a powerful dynasty started treating Jains in a friendly and supporting manner. They started donating villages, land and money to several Jain temples and maṭhas in different parts of Tamilnadu. With such gestures, Jainism though could not overcome the destructive invasion of Śaivas, but continued to prosper and make Jainism powerful.
