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A. CHAKRAVARTI :
with interest by the royal ascetic. The story narrated by Sattan contained three important and valuable truths in which the royal ascetic took great interest. First, if a king deviates from the path of righteousness even to a slight extent, he will bring down upon himself and his kingdom a catastrophe as a proof of his inequity ; secondly, a woman walking the path of chastity is deserving of adoration and worship not only by human beings but also by dēvas and munis; and thirdly, the working of karma is such that there is an inevitable fatality from which no one can escape, and the fruits of one's previous karma must necessarily be experienced in a later period. In order to illustrate these three eternal truths the royal prince undertook the task of composing this story for the benefit of mankind.
In this classic called Silappadikäram or the epic of the anklet, the first scene is laid in Puhār, the Coļa capital. This was evidently an important port at the mouth of the Cauvery, and it was the capital of the Cāļa king Karikāla. Being an important commercial centre, several great commercial houses were situated in the capital. Of these there was one Māśattuvan, a merchant prince belonging to this noble family of
1. Silappadikāram, Padigam. [This and the following references to this work are to be referred to V. Swaminatha Aiyar's edition (1892) and V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar's translation (1939)].
2. Ibid., Puhār-kkäņdam. 3. P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar : op. cit., pp. 224, 376.
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