Shaivas by faith (devotees of Shiva) while the later Tuluva dynasty kings were Sri Vaishnavas (followers of Sri Vaishnavism). The Jain population appears to have begun its decline from this period; however, available records include a decree by King Bukka Raya I giving Jains freedom of worship, following their complaint of persecution. Although the influence of Jainism and its literature was on the wane, the coastal areas of modern Karnataka, where important Jain monuments and monoliths were constructed, remained a stronghold. As in earlier centuries, Jain authors wrote about tirthankars, princes and other personages important to the Jain religion. Most famous among Jain poets from the coastal Karnataka region were Ratnakaravarni, Abhinava Vadi Vidyananda, Salva and Nemanna. Ratnakaravarni of Mudabidri (1557), court poet at Karkala under the patronage of Bhairasa Wodeyar, is famous for successfully integrating an element of worldly pleasure into asceticism and for treating the topic of eros with discretion in a religious epic, his magnum opus the . One of the most popular poets of Kannada literature, Ratnakaravarni's writings were popular across religions and sects. He appears to have had tense relationships with both court and monastery, however, owing to writings on erotics and the science of pleasure, rather than purely spiritual poetry. A radical and sensitive poet, he once claimed that spiritual meditation "was boring". Tradition has it that Ratnakaravarni converted to Veerashaivism when his (also called ) was initially scorned, later to return to the Jain fold and pen other important writings. The is written in eighty cantos and includes 10,000 verses. His other important writings include the 2,000 spiritual songs called ("Songs of the Brothers") and the three : the , the (a discourse on Jain morals, renunciation and philosophy) and the , an account of the universe as seen by Jains, consisting of heaven, hell and the intermediate worlds. is a version of the earlier by Jinasenacharya and reflects a different perspective than the written by Adikavi Pampa c. 941. Centred on the glorification of the enlightened Bharata, the son of the first Jain Adinatha, Ratnakaravarni cleverly focuses on those aspects that the original by Pampa ignored. Ratnakaravarni goes into minute detail about prince Bharata who, according to the author, serves as the ideal balance between detachment () and attachment (). Though married to "96,000 women", Bharata is depicted as one who at once could separate himself from worldly pleasures. Unlike Pampa, who