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AGASTHYA
V. G. Nair
According to a copper plate inscription of the 10th century A.D., discovered at Chinnamannur in Tamilnādu, ascribed to the period of Rājasimha, the Pāņdyan King, Muni Agasthya, who was also known as Tamil Muni, was the spiritual preceptor of King Vira-Pāņdyan. This king is described in the inscription as 'Agasthya Sisya'. Kālidāsa, in his Raghuvamsa has mentioned that the Pandyan king was the disciple of Muni Agasthya. Mankuļi Maruthanar, a Samgham poet in his ‘Mathurai Manchi has also mentioned that the Pāņayan king (probably the first Pandyan who founded the Pāņdyan-kingdom at Kavatapuri) was a disciple of Agasthya. The Iraivanar Kalaviyal Urai of the 1st Samgham has mentioned Agasthya as 'Kuru Muni', the (dwarf ascetic) as the author of a monumental work in Tamil.
The late Rao Sahib M. Raghava Iyangar, the noted Tamil scholar in his "History of Tamil Poets" has stated that the Sutras on the Maha Bhāratam included in the Tolakapyam Commentary of Nachinarkiniyanar were current in the time of the first Sangham, which existed about four thousand years ago, and that this Maha-Bhāratam was translated into Tamil from North Indian language (Vatamozhi), at that time. It seems that on the basis of the pre-historic Sutras of the Sangham Mahā Bhāratam, another Tamil Bharatam was composed in the 9th century A.D., during the reign of the Pallava King Nandi-Varman, the Third.
Another substantial piece of evidence to confirm my findings that Sri Krşņa was a Jaina by faith could be found in the Maha Bhārata, in the following verse:
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