Impalement of the Jains in Madurai

The impalement of the Jains is the alleged 7th-century event mentioned in an 11th-century Tamil language text of Nambiyandar Nambi on Sampantar. According to this text, a 7th-century Shaivite saint defeated the Jain monks in a series of debates and contests on philosophy, and thereby converted a Jain Pandyan king to Shaivism. Subsequently, the king allegedly ordered the impalement of 8,000 Jains. This event is not mentioned in texts of Campantar, nor any other Hindu or Jain texts for four centuries. After Nampi Antar's work, the story appears in many inconsistent versions. Scholars question whether this story is a fiction created in the 11th-century, or reflects an actual massacre.

According to the one version of the legend, the newly-converted king ordered the Jains to be massacred at Sambandar's instigation; according to another version, the Jains voluntarily impaled themselves in order to fulfill their vow after losing the debate. The Pandyan king, variously called "Koon Pandiyan" or "Sundara Pandyan" in the legend is identified with the 7th century ruler Arikesari Maravarman. The site of the event is identified as Samanatham. The Jain sources do not mention the legend either, and there is no historical evidence of the event having taken place. The myth appears to have been invented by the Shaivites to prove their superiority over the Jains.

Parallel mythical stories in 11th and 12th-century texts allege persecution of Shaiva Nayanar saints by Jains.

According to one version of the legend, the Pandyan ruler, who was a Jain, once suffered from high fever. As part of a conspiracy against the Jains by Sambandar, the queen and a minister, Sambandar announced his intention to cure the king. The Jain monks opposed this, arguing that a Brahmin from the Chola country should not be trusted. The Jains challenged Sambandar to a debate, and declared that they would become his slaves if defeated. Sambandar rejected the condition about slavery, and proposed that the Jains be impaled if defeated. He defeated the Jains in the ensuing debate, and the Shaivite devotees impaled the defeated Jains. Some Jains converted to Shaivism to escape the impalement.

In another version, the condition about the losers' impalement was put forward by Shiva (instead of Sambandar). Yet another version states that Sambandar requested the Jains to become Shaivites after defeating them in a debate. However, the Jains refused the offer and voluntarily impaled themselves.

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