Pallava Architecture, Part I (MASI 17) c2.19

c2.19

Like the great Asoka, Mahēndra had occasion to change his religion. He was at first a Jaina, but was afterwards converted to the cult of the linga by the saint called Appar or Tirunāvukkaraiyār, who was first persecuted and then patronised by Mahēndravarman I (Epigraphia Indica, Volume III, page 278) The two great Saiva devotees Appar and Tirunānasambandar were contemporaries of the two Pallava kings Mahēndra and his son Narasimhavarman I. Having once adopted Saivism, Mahēndra lost no time in giving a new impulse to that religion in the Tamil country by excavating a number of imperishable rock-cut Siva temples in the Kanchipuram district. Other inscriptions show that he was a poet and a musician, a soldier and a good administrator, and he also constructed several useful irrigation tanks in his kingdom. Mahendravarman I may be regarded as one of the greatest figures in the history of Tamil civilization and the founder of Hindu architecture in Southern India.