BUDDHIST CENTRES Padmakumari Amma. B Jain-buddhist centres in the early history of Kerala Thesis. Department of History, University of Calicut, 1995
CHAPTER SIX DECLINE
DECLINE Buddhism and Jainism have almost disappeared from Kerala in the modern.age. There are no records with reqard to the exact period or the specific causes of their decline. ~GralGlpatti claims that it ie Brahmins who had divine powera uprooted Buddhism from this land. 1 An important factor behind the decline of Buddhisam and Jainism was the Bhakti movement. It embraced both Tamilnadu and Kerala during the 9th, 10th century A.D. The Alwars and Nayanars of Tamilakam and Kulasekhara Alwar and Cheraman PerumZt Nayanar of Kerala went into the midst of 1. "!%strika+um Budhanma'rumai vzdam ceytu, BudhanmZruFe uktivinu avar talkukayum ceytu. PerumT; avaru$e na'vu muyiccug SSsamu+\avare n2;tilninnum kalavztum ceytu". Sastri argued with the Buddhists. Buddhist failed. Peruma? cut the tongue of the Buddhists and driven away from the land. KeralolpattiyuJm marrum. (Ed-Gundert ) Kottayam. 1992. p. 168.
common people and etirred them up through the stories and songs relating to the goodness of Hindu Gods. People were made intoxicated with Bhakti. The development of philosophical movements in the South 1ed.to a clear rejection of tho Buddhist and the Jain ideoloqies by the learned strata of the society. Brahmin Philosophers like Sankaracharya, Ramanujacharya and Hadhvacharya vigorously attacked these heterodox religions with their respective systems of Vedantic thought. They defeated the Buddhist and Jain scholars in public debat es. This led to the utter humiliation of these religions in the sight of even common men. During the early days, several kings of South India had made generous grants to Buddhists and Jains. The properties received aa Pallichandam Virutti, helped the growth of the Sanghams. In Kerala, kings like Vikramaditya Varagupa, and 2. Keralolpatti refers to the debate conducted at Trikk&PiyGr. This is described in detail in Catt irankam
RLmagha$a Mcsika gave liberal contributions to them as mentioned earlier. It. seems that petty kingdoms like ry and MC?ika patronised these religions. No records are available to show whether any other king after them had given such grants. On the other hand there are oeveral records relating to the grants to the Hindu temples. ' This resulted in the growth of Hindu religion and the decline of the Buddhist and the Jain religione. Conflicts among the followers of these religions were another cause, and the inteneification of these conflicts put an end to their growth. These de.velopments are described in 3. All the other recordo of the Cera period numbering about 130 are of this category. The Huzur office plates, Mitrananda puram copper plates, the inscriptions of Manalikkarai and the record of Vira Ravi Varma are clear evidences to this fact. See. T.A.S. vol. I1 pp. 16,131-158; T.A.S. vol. I11 p. 1-21,65-66.
Sanskrit works like Mat tavilasa 4 and ~hapavada j juka5 by the Pallava king Mahendra Varman. The cikyars of Kerala used these worke in ~Gttu and they composed seperate Sttaprakaraa for them in which these passages are elaborated. That is an indication that these ~Hkygrs of Kerala were acquainted with the conflicts and the degenaration of Jain and Buddhist culture. They could have added those passages only if they imagined that the natives of Kerala who found the audience would apperciate such comments. This ahows that the contents of the above mentioned works were applicable to the Buddhists and Jains in Kerala alao. 4. Mattavilasa, (Hadras 1981). 5. Bhagavadajjuka (Madras 1978).
Changes which took place in the socioeconomic conditions of ancient Kerala, may be cited as factors influencing the decline of these creeds. The expanaion of Brahmin settlements led to the growth of feudal tendencies in society which caused the decline of these creeds. After dealing with this problem in detail, Kesavan Vetuthat, rightly pointed out that "in analyaing the social significance of the Brahman settlement it has been shown that it created a typically feudal society, heirarchically graduate according to birth and occupation and with the brahman contact as the point of reference in fixing eocial and ritual status. Brahmins were placed on the top of the caste heirarchy. They became land lords. Common people turned out to be dependants of them. Tho supremacy of Brahmins in aociety contributed to 6. Kesavan Veluthat, Brahman Settlements in Kerala, (A.D. 1100-1500), M. Phil. Dissertation. J.N.U., 1978.
the deterioration of the position of Jains and Buddhists in Kerala. The Jains and Buddhists were responsible for opening some new markets and trade routes connected with land trade. But this trend was arrested soon afterwards. From the 9th century A.D. the Jews Syrian Christians and Arabs grew into formidable forces in the trade centres of Kerala and sea trade became more important than land trade. In the medieval period land trade in the form of long distance trade between different regions dried up in the sub-continent as a growing feudal order gave rise to small self-sufficient units with a closed economy and only coastal trade centres involved in sea trade flourished. Syrian Christians were given permission to enter trade in a big way with Kollam and Kodungalloor ae their centre. They were also permitted to build churches, and propagate Christianity. The kings helped them generoualy. Necessary help was given by the kings to the Arabs
also.' These developments might have led to the decline of Jains. Their limited machinery was attuned to land trade and did not permit them to enter into the field of West Asia and European trade. As for the Buddhists who were involved in sea trade with Srilanka, the political anarchy and confusion which developed in that country might have contributed to their decline. The submergence of ~rimiilavisam in the sea accelerated the process and sealed their fate in Kerala. The Jain and Buddhist communities in Kerala were basically the community of the traders. Therefore, when land trade stagnated, the Jain centres where the temples were kept alive by donations from the caravans, loet their prosperity. 7. "Three Inscriptions of Sthanu Ravi" T.A.S. vol.11, part I, gp. 60,86. See also. The Muccunti Mosque Inscription, Cultural Symbiosis, op-cit. pp. 95,96.
Gradually the temple must have become deserted and neglected, and some of them were taken over by Brahmanical groups and converted into Hindu temples. Similarly in the case of the Buddhist centres on the seacoast, which were obviously the offshoots of the seatrade with Srilanka, the Cola imperial wars of the 11th. 12th and 13th centuries created anarchy in the island and caused the disruption and decline of their trade and commerce. Bodhisatva ~val6kitgssvara of crrmulav&a vihara, the protector of sailors and merchants became incapable of ensuring the prosperity of seatrade. Perhaps the encroachment of the sea described in the ~tisikavamsa kavya also increased and swallowed the temple in course. Therefore the Buddhists of Srimulavasam in central Kerala spanned out to the neighbouring villages where they got isolated and stagnant, without the support of incoming rich traders from Srilanka, and surrounded by the hostile Hindu community. this must have led them gradually to get absorded in the Hindu community of Eehavas enaaged in toddy tapping and petty trade.
There might have been no difficulty for the Jain temple priests and temple servants to join the Hindu fold. Having developed in the game circumstances, the followers of these religions worahipped the same deities. So most of them might 8 have returned to Hinduism. But, though Hindus accepted those who had returned, they were given only an inferior etatus. There is a strong opinion that the Pisharati community of Kerula is the product of such reconversion. They have their own customs and rituals which are quite distinct from those of other Hindus. It is said that the Clkyara, who present the forms of art such as Kiittu and KCdiySttpm, came from the &kya origin. The term 'CZkyar' can be derived from the word '!%kyav means Buddhists 9 CikyHrs who are proficient in Sanskrit language are goods echolars in Prakrit also. These made us to 8.The Cult of Goddess Pattini,op.cit.pp.519,520. 9. Gundert, A Malayalam and Enpliah Dictionary, Plangalore, 1872. p.352.
believe that CGkyPrs were the followers of the Buddhism who went back to the Brahmanikal fold at some stage. The popular view about the origin of the Ezhavas, a strong community in Kerala, is that their ancestors were Buddhist emigrants from 10 Srilanka. The term Ezhava is derived from the word Simhala. l1 The land of Simhala was also ref erred to as ~zhattunadu". Another term which is used to denote this community is 'Tiyya'. This 10. Buddhism in Kerala, op. cit, p. 126. 11. A Malayalam and English Dictionary, op. cit, p. 121. Some scholars derive this term from 'Ulava'. Sarvavijnana Kosam, Vol. IV, Trivandrun, 1978. p. 559 See also P.K. Gopalakrishnan Keralathinte Samskarika Caritram, Trivandrum, 1991. p. 290. 12. Malayalam Lexicon, Vol. I1 Trivandrum, 1970 p. 463.
is from '~iva*, the corrupted form of '~vlpa. 13, They are intimately connected with coconut trees which are the main source of agricultural crops in era la. l4 Thie assumption is baaed not on concrete evidences but only in stories and traditions. Several Devi temples oe Kerala like K a l l i l and Citaral were once Jain temples. This change waa another consequence of conversion to Hinduism by the Jains who lost their patrons under changed circumstances. When Buddhism declined some of the Buddhists of Kerala might have migrated into Sri Lanka. The grounds for thie inference are as > followa: 1. "The Kerala families effectively controlled the Uestern, Southern, and Northern parts of the central provinces of Sri Lanka for more than 50 13. A Malayalam and English Dictionary, op. cit, p. 462. 14. "Images of man:" op. cit, p. 52.
years. According to Obeyesekhere, they were originally merchants from Vanchi and probably came to Sri Lanka about 1100 A.D'~. 2. The climatic conditions of Ceylon are like those of Kerala and so it was the most suitable place for those who went away from Kerala. Alakakonar and the Mehnavar families who had great political influence in Ceylon, are immigrants from Halabar. 16 Kerala chieftains, and very likely other Kerala immigrants, were well established in the area of the Western, Southern and Sabargamuva provinces by the middle of the 14th century. A section of people in Jaffna still maintains the system of matrilineal succession. Hair-style on the front side of the head which was a custom followed exclusively by Keralites has also been found in Jaffna. The thdda worn by the women and 15. The Cult of Goddess Pattini, op.cit.,,p. 526. 16. Ibid, p. 527. See also. M.D. Raghavan, India in Ceylonese History, Society And Culture. Madras. p.150.
Kadukkan worn by the men reveal the Keralite influence. South Indians wear dhotis in a peculiar manner, and the same style is found to be in practice at Jaffna. There are also similarities in cooking and the preparation of curries by the Keralites and the people in Jaffna. The marriage customs followed by the communities in Jaffna is exactly similar to the practice in Kerala. Both are known by the term Sambandham. Theae similarities must be duo to the migration of Buddhists from Kerala to 'Sri Lanka.,17 On the basis of the above facts it can be inferred that the Buddhists and Jains who were forced to leave Kerala made a silent withdrawal, so that the only traces of their pockets are confined to converted or neglected shrines or scattered images, along with a few inscriptions which recorded the gifts received in happier times. 17. K.K. Pillai, South India and Sri Lanka, pp. 163, 166. See for detail8 Ibid 152-156.