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JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
43 None is entitled to be called a Tamil scholar unless he is thorough with these two great works.
On account of the word Muttaraiyar which occurs in one or two quatrains, it is contended by some scholars that the work must be brought down to this side of the 8th century. They take their stand on the fact that this word Muttaraiyar refers to a minor chief within the Pallava empire.” This conclusion is entirely resting upon a meagre philological evidence of this single word. There is no further evidence to connect this chieftain with the Jaina ascetics who were no doubt responsible for the composition of the quatrains. On the other hand, the word Muttaraiyar may very well be interpreted as "King of pearls” referring to the Pāņdya kings. It is a well-known fact of ancient history that pearl-fishery was an important industry of the Pāņdyan country, and that pearls were exported to foreign countries from the Pāņdyan ports. It is but fitting and natural that the Jaina munis should pay a glowing compliment to their patron belonging to the Pāņdya dynasty. There is another line of arguement
1. The references to Muttaraiyar occur in stanzas 200 and 296 of the Nāladiyār.
2. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai (History of Tamil Language and Literature, 1956, p. 19), for instance, says : 'The Muttaraiya family came into prominance only at the beginning of the seventh century and Peru-muttaraiyar referred to was most probably Perum-bidugumuttaraiya, the feudatory of Paramēšvaravarman Pallava I who had the title perum-hiềugu and who flourished in the middle of the seventh century'.
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