Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s14.2

c23.s14.2

Jainism declined steeply in the Tamil country from about the end of the 6th century A.D. when there was a tremendous upsurge of the Saiva and Vaishnava sects revitalised by the Bhakti movement led by the Nāyaṉmār and Āḻvārs. The Tamil Jainas were persecuted during this period. However, the persecution, uncharacteristic of Indian polity, did not last too long and the rulers resumed grants to the Jaina monasteries (*paḷḷi*) from about the end of the 8th century A.D. as attested by epigraphical evidence from the Pallava and Pāṇḍiya regions.⁴ It was during this period of revival that many of the earlier cave shelters with stone beds and Tamil-Brāhmī and/or Early Vaṭṭeḻuttu inscriptions were re-occupied by the Jainas who marked their renewed presence with relief sculptures and inscriptions in the Vaṭṭeḻuttu script of the period.⁵ The following is a list of the sites reoccupied during 8th-10th centuries A.D.