A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c10.21

c10.21

The exact contents of these inscriptions still remain obscure, but a few facts emerge from tentative studies of them. We can say, for instance, that among the donors of monuments were a husbandman (*kuṭumbika*) of Ceylon (Iḷa), besides a woman, merchants (*vaṇikar*), and members of the Karani caste. These brief inscriptions are thus seen to bear testimony to the support commanded from all classes of the laity by the ascetics who pursued their spiritual life in the solitudes of mountains and forests. Yet it seems easy to exaggerate their social and religious significance; there is no evidence that the Tamil people in general had accepted Jainism or Buddhism in this early period; and the evidence from the literature of the succeeding age, that of the Śaṅgam, shows the Vedic religion of sacrifice and some forms of popular Hinduism entrenched in the affections of the people and their rulers.