The impalement of the Jains is an alleged 7th-century event, first mentioned in an 11th-century Tamil language text of Nambiyandar Nambi. According to this hagiographic text, Jain monks allegedly persecuted the 7th-century Shaivite child-saint Sambandar and tried to kill him. When that failed, they challenged him to a philosophical debate. Sambandar defeated the Tamil Jain monks in a series of debates and contests on philosophy, thereby converted a Jain Pandyan king to Shaivism. The episode ended with the impalement of 8,000 Tamil Jains or Samanars as they were called. According to the early version of the legend, the Jains voluntarily impaled themselves in order to fulfill their vow after losing the debate. According to a later version of the legend found in Takkayakapparani – a war poem,