Temple building on a large scale was begun during the second half of the sixth and early part of the seventh centuries by Kocchengat Chola, Sundara Pandya Deva and Mahendra Varma Pallava. They tolerated all sects and religions—Saiva and Vaishnava, Jainz and Buddha—the last of which, however, was then on the decline at least in the extreme south. Though nominally worshipping any one of these gods, the kings were in the habit of invoking the triad in their grants. In the same family the father night be a Saiva whilst his son professed Vishnuism or very rarely even Jainism. Thus the Chera king Senguttuvan (about A. D. 250) was a worshipper of Siva and Vishnu, while his younger brother was a Jaina ascetic ; the Saiva saint Tirunavukkarasu-Nayanar was a Jain in his early days while his sister Tilakavati was a Saiva devotee ; and the Pallava king Simha Vishnu (A. D. 590) was a staunch worshipper of Vishnu, whilst his son Mahendra Varman was first a Jaina and then an orthodox Saiva. It is no wonder, therefore, that when Hwen Tsang visited Conjeevarain in A. D. 640 there were in that city 100 Buddhist monasteries, with about 10,000 Brethren and about 80 temples the majority of which belonged to the Digambara Jains. And he goes on to say that in Molokuta (probably the Pandya territory) the people were ot mixed religions. There were many remains of old monasteries, very few being in preservation. There were hundreds of Deva temples and the professed adherents of various sects, especi-
