RELIGIOUS SECTS OF THE HINDUS. 283 



Hemachandra, that he was the apostle of the Jain faith in that kingdom — 

 converting Kumara Pala, the monarch of Guzerat, to his creed. This 

 is also an occurrence of the twelfth century, or about 1174. The conse- 

 quences of this conversion are still apparent in the abundant reliques of 

 the Jain faith, and the numbers by whom it is professed in Marwar, 

 Guzerat, and the upper part of the Malabar Coast. 



On the Coromandel side of the Peninsula, the Jains were introduced 

 upon the downfall of the Bauddhas, in the reign of Amoghaversha, king 

 of Tonda Mandalam, in the ninth century, or according to some traditions, 

 in the eighth. Farther south, in Madura, the date of their introduction 

 is not known, but they were in power in the eleventh century under Kuna 

 PAndya. In this, and in the twelfth, they seem to have reached their 

 highest prosperity, and from that period to have declined. Kuna PXndya 

 became a Saiva — Vishnu Verddhana, Raja of Mysore, was converted 

 from the Jain to the Vaislmava faith in the twelfth century, and about the 

 same time the Lingavant Saivas deposed and murdered Vijala, the Jain 

 king of Kalydn. The sect, however, continued to meet with partial 

 countenance from the kings of Vijayanagar, until a comparatively modern 

 date. 



The conclusions founded on traditionary or historical records are 

 fully supported by the testimony of monuments and inscriptions — the 

 latter of which are exceedingly numerous in the south and west of India. 

 Most of these are very modern — none are earlier than the ninth century. 

 An exception is said to exist in an inscription on a rock at Belligola, 

 recording a grant of land by Chdmunda Raya to the shrine of Gomatiswara, 

 in the year 600 of the Kali age, meaning the Kali of the Jains, which 

 began three years after the death of Verddhamana. This inscription, 

 therefore, if it exists, was written about fifty or sixty years before the 

 Christian sera — but it is not clear that any such record is in existence, 



