Jaina Literature in Tamil

SR No.: 001627
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A Chakravarti, K V Ramesh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 258
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Religion
File Size: 12 MB

Page 42

JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
17 was presided over by Sri Kundakundācārya, a great Jaina teacher who is held in high veneration by the Jainas all over India. The attempt by Vajranandi to revive the Tamil Sangam in Tamil Nadu' implies rather the downfall of the earlier Müla Sangha associated with Sri Kundakundācārya. This fact is mentioned merely for the information of research students who may be interested in the chronology of the Jaina influence in the Tamil land. One rather interesting fact which deserves to be mentioned, in this connection, is the reference to the Prāksta language and its prevalence in all countries. The collection of sūtras supposed to be the remnants of the great grammatical
1. Dēvasēna, in his Darsanasāra, written in 853 A.D., says that Vajranandi, the pupil of Sri Pūjyapāda, founded the Drāvida Sangha in Mathurā in the South in V.E. 525 =468-69 A.D. -
Siri-Pujjapāda-sīso Dāvida-Samghassa-kārago duțțho 1 ņāmeņa Vajjaņaṁdi pāhuda-vedi mahāsatto 11 pamca-sae chal vise Vikkamarāyassa maraņa-pattassa 1
dakkhiņa-Mahurā-jādo Dāvida-samgho mahāmoho | (See JBBAS., Vol. XVII, part I, No. xlvi, p. 74 ; P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar : op. cit., p. 247).
It has been suggested elsewhere [T. V. Sadasiva Pandarattar: A History of Tamil Literature (250-600 A. D.), 1957 (Tamil, pp. 26-27)] that three works, Nariviruttam, Eliviruttam and Kiļiviruttam, the first one mentioned by the Saiva saint-poet Tirunāvukkaraśu and the next two mentioned by his contemporary, Tirujñāna-Sambandar, may be assigned to about the 5th century A.D., and that they were, in all probability, written by Jaina authors who belonged to the Jaina Sangha established at Madurai by Vajranandi.