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Paper: Jeffrey F. Meyer (5750 words) |
 | Beginning with the first great Pallava king, Mahendravarman, Kanchipuram became a center of both art, literature and sacred spaces as he developed rock-cut and free-standing temples for both Vaisnavas and Saivas (Mahalingam, 64 ff.) Or, more specifically, they became the s ite of murti, the most distinctive characteristic for Southern tirtha. |
 | In the late sixth century CE, the mother of the Pallava king, Simhavisnu, constructed a Jaina temple for the Yavanika Sangha Jainas in Kanchi, enhancing the sacred statu s of the city for yet a fourth Indian tradition. |
 | A century later, the Pallava king, Rajasimha (i.e., Narasimhavarman II), who constructed the great Kailasanatha temple as an important tirthayatra for Saivas, is proclaimed "Dhanasura", "he w ho goes to war only in order to procure the means for gifts," to construct temples and give gifts to the devas. |