Note 17 — J
Reading edition
Near the town of Madura is a large isolated mass of naked rock, which is known as Ānaimalai (elephant hill). “The Madura Sthala Purāna says it is a petrified elephant. The Jains of Conjeeveram, says this chronicle, tried to convert the Saivite people of Madura to the Jain faith. Finding the task difficult, they had recourse to magic. They dug a great pit ten miles long, performed a sacrifice thereon, and thus caused a huge elephant to arise from it. This beast they sent against Madura. It advanced towards the town, shaking the whole earth at every step, with the Jains marching close behind it. But the Pāndya king invoked the aid of Siva, and the god arose and slew the elephant with his arrow at the spot where it now lies petrified.”17