Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s13.6

c23.s13.6

Dēvasēna, the author of *Darśanasāra*, a Prakrit work written in 853 A.D., states that Vajranandi, the pupil of Pūjyapāda, founded the Drāviḍa Saṅgha in Mathurā in the south (Madurai) in Vikrama Era 525 (468-69 A.D.).³ This Jaina saṅgha was so famous that it is referred to in Kannada inscriptions from Karnataka.¹ The legends relating to the three successive Tamil Caṅkams (literary academies) at Madurai are probably based on later recollection of the name Drāviḍa Saṁgha. It is likely that the Saṁgha, though a Jaina monastic institution, acted also as an assembly for the cultivation of Tamil language and literature. It is no coincidence that this was the period of notable literary output by Jaina authors, mostly monks.