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JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
who makes vēdadhyayana whereas the term andanan is defined in a different manner as “as one who is all love and mercy to all the living creatures.” Evidently the term andaṇaḥ was conventionally used by early Tamil authors to describe the followers of the ahimsā doctrine irrespective of birth, while the term üpddard was reserved by them to designate the social caste of the brahmaņas. This suggestion is worth investigating by scholars interested in the social reconstruction of the early Tamils.
Jivaka-Cintāmaņi :- This work, the greatest of the five mahakāvyas, is undoubtedly 'the greatest existing Tamil literary monument.' In grandeur of conception, in elegence of literary diction and in beauty of description of nature it remains unrivalled in Tamil literature. For the later Tamil authors it has been not only a model to follow but an ideal to aspire to. The story is told of Kamban, the author of the great Tamil
1. Kura 30 which mentions the andaņar, reads as follows:
Andanar-enbör-asavõr-marr-evv-uyirkkuñCendanmai-pū nd-o lugal-än "Towards all that breathe, with seemly graciousness
adorned they live ; And thus to virtue's sons the name of
'Anthanar' men give'. - (G. U. Pope). 2. The following are the editions of the Jivaka-Cintamaņi :
(i) Jivaka-Cintāmaņi, part I-Ed. by Rangaswami
Pillai, Madras, 1883; (ii) Jivaka-Cintamani, text and commentary-Ed.
by V. Swaminatha Iyer, Madras, 1887; (iii) Jivaka-Cintāmaņi, 1888.
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