In the Tamil country Buddhism of an Asokan type appears to have been prevalent about the time of our era. The poem Manimegalei, which by general consent was composed in an early century A.D., is Buddhist but shows no leanings to Mahayanism. It speaks of Śivaism and many other systems[118] as flourishing, but contains no hint that Buddhism was persecuted. But persecution or at least very unfavourable conditions set in. Since at the time of Hsüan Chuang's visit Buddhism was in an advanced stage of decadence, it seems probable that the triumph of Śivaism began in the third or fourth century and that Buddhism offered slight resistance, Jainism being the only serious competitor for the first place. But for a long while, perhaps even until the sixteenth century, monasteries were kept up in special centres, and one of these is of peculiar importance, namely Kancîpuram or Conjeveram.[119] Hsüan Chuang found there 100 monasteries with more than 10,000 brethren, all Sthaviras, and mentions that it was the birthplace of Dharmapâla.[120] We have some further information from the Talaing chronicles[121] which suggests the interesting hypothesis that the Buddhism of Burma was introduced or refreshed by missionaries from southern India. They give a list of teachers who flourished in that country, including Kaccâyana and the philosopher Anuruddha.[122] Of Dharmapâla they say that he lived at the monastery of Bhadratittha near Kancipura and wrote fourteen commentaries in Pali.[123] One was on the Visuddhi-magga of Buddhaghosa and it is probable that he lived shortly after that great writer and like him studied in Ceylon. I shall recur to this question of south Indian Buddhism in treating of Burma, but the data now available are very meagre. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 10: _E.g._ Burma in the reign of Anawrata and later in the time of Chapaṭa about 1200, and Siam in the time of Sûryavaṃsa Râma, 1361. On the other hand in 1752 the Sinhalese succession was validated by obtaining monks from Burma.] [Footnote 11: Geiger, _Literatur und Sprache der Singhalesen_, p. 91.] [Footnote 12: Compare the history of Khotan. The first Indian colonists seem to have introduced a Prakrit dialect. Buddhism and Sanskrit came afterwards.] [Footnote 13: Literally demons, that is wild uncanny men. I refrain from discussing the origin and ethnological position of the Vaeddas for it hardly affects the history of Buddhism in Ceylon. For Vijaya's conquests see Mahâvaṃsa VII.] [Footnote 14: IX. 26.] [Footnote 15: Dîpavaṃsa I. 45-81, II. 1-69. Mahâvaṃsa I. 19-83. The legend that the Buddha visited Ceylon and left his footprint on Adam's peak is at least as old as Buddhaghosa. See Samanta-pâsâdikâ in Oldenburg's _Vinaya Pitaka_, vol. III, p. 332 and the quotations in Skeen's _Adam's Peak_, p. 50.] [Footnote 16: Dîpa. V. x. 1-9. Mahâvaṃsa VIII. 1-27, IX. 1-12.] [Footnote 17: Mahâvaṃsa X. 96, 102.]