The Colas c33.43

c33.43

The picture of religious life in the country is thus a complex one. There was a perpetual stirring and mixing together of various creeds each influencing the others and being influenced in turn. As a result of this long process of assimilation, the Buddhist *vihāra*, the Jain *paḷḷi*, and the Hindu temple presented many similarities in their worship, organisation and festivities in the midst of equally striking differences; and the ideals of asceticism and renunciation made a common appeal to all these religions alike. On the whole the religious differences of the time, such as they were, did not tend to produce social discord, and a general attitude of mutual tolerance, if not respect, seems to have been well sustained.