A peep into thousand years of the history of Sri VaishNavam : Part V

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear Fellow Students of the History of Sri VaishNavam :

 

The Four Southern Kingdoms : Part I

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(1) The PallavAs : A pastoral tribe with roots on the border of Andhra

PradEsah and Tamil Naadu moved from their center of power in Bhavathri

( Nellore ) to ThonDaimaNdalam , where AchArya RaamAnuja , Swamy Desikan

and many other AchAryAs would be born later . The late PallavAs made

Kaanchi their capital . PallavAs were traditionally Jain kings .

For instance , the early pallavAs ( 250-340 C.E) and the middle pallavAs

( 340-575 C.E) were either Jainis or Buddhists . Both these avaidhika

Mathams do not accept as Vedam as PramANam ;our SanAtana dharmam

suffered as a result of the king's patronage of these faiths

and the undue influence that the monks had over the kings and

their family members . Late PallavAs ( 575-800 C.E) changed from

Jainism to either Saivite or VaishNavite faith . Late PallavAs time was

the time of ascendancy of the Bhakthi movement . AzhwArs and NaayanmArs

had successfully removed the threats of these avaidhila Mathams

through intellectual debates and succeded with Para Matha Bhangam .

We have referred earlier to AzhwAr's paasurams , which condemned

Jainism and Buddhism as religions based on untenable doctrines .

Buddhism has disappeared from the land of its birth and the hold of Jainism

shrank and pracised in limited areas of India today .

 

The first of the Late PallavAs , Simha VishNu ( r575-615 C.E) reigned for

four decades and is recognized as the founder of the Pallava dynasty ,

which at times spread from northern orissa to Trichi in the South .

The Jainism thus spread all the way to the South . The traditional enemies

of PallavAs were PaandyAs in the South and ChalukyAs of BaadhAmi (Vaathapi)

in the North . In the ninth century , the ascendant ChOlAs from the south

defeated the last of the PallavAs and became the rulers of South

and beyond stretching all the way to Sri Lanka on one end and

Sri Vijaya ( Malaysia, Indonesia) onn the other end .

 

Simha VishNu's son , MahEndra Varman was a Jain and got converted to

Saivite faith later and commenced the building of the shore temples at

MahAbalipuram . MahEndra Varman was humiliated in a war with Pulakesi II ,

the aggressive king from ChAlukya dynasty in 620 A.D . The city of Kaanchi

was destroyed . The king died heart broken . His son Narasimha Varaman

( r630-668 C.E) avenged his father's defeat and burnt down the Chalukya

capital in the year 632 C.E.

 

The Jain monks (8000 of them) had migrated from north during King

Chandra Guptha's time ( 3rd Centrury B.C.E) during a time of famine

and established their roots . By 300 C.E , the time of Kalabhras , the Jains

attained supermacy in Tamil country and PallavAs gave them patronage .

Kanchipuram became a center of Jainism and they established schools

called PaLLi . The PaLLis of the Jains ( Known as SamaNa PaLLis ) became

centers of advancement of Jain religion . Today , we call schools

PaLLikkUdam . That is connected to the PaLLi nomenclature .

There was a section known as Jaina Kaanchi just as Siva Kaanchi

and VishNu Kaanchi.

 

At VishNu Kaanchi or Chinna Kaanchipuram , the dhivya dEsam for

Lord Varadaraja thrived and there were many VaishNavite dhivya desams

were sites of MangaLAsAsanam by various AzhwArs . Kaanchipuram ,

Srirangam and Thirumalai became great centers of VaishNavite faith

and the power of Jainism declined in Tamil Naadu .

 

We will cover the the remaining three Southern kingdoms of Tamil People :

PaaNDya , ChOLaa and Sangamaa ( Vijaya nagar ) and their impacts on

Bhakthi movement .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappn Koil V.Sadagopan