Jivandhar Champu

SR No.: 010390
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Pannalal Jain
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith
Publication Year: 1958
Total Pages: 406
Language: Hindi, Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 52 MB

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to the throne in A. D. 1062-3) refers to the Nariviruttam of Tiruttakka Devar. That means Tiruttakka Devar lived before the 2nd half of the 11th century A. D. T. A. Gopinatha Rao has, however, suggested that JCi is the earliest known tale of Jivandhara, that Tiruttakka was also a title and that the Tamil work is to be assigned to the latter half of the 9th century A. D. about the reign of Satyavakya-Kongunivarma Permanadi Rajamalla (A. D. 870-71). The latest view on the date (S.V. Pillai : Hist. of Tamil Lang. and Lit., Madras 1956, p. 160) is that Tiruttakka Devar probably lived in the first half of the 10th century A. D. during the reign of Satyavakya Kongunivarma Bhutagapperumānaḍigal (A. D. 908-950).
Very lately (1952), a compilation of appreciative essays (in Tamil, pp. 256) by well known Tamil scholars on the Jivaka-cintamani is published by The Kancheepuram Jain Tamil Ilakkiya Manram. Most of the essays bear out G. U. Pope's famous remarks on this poem: "The great romantic epic which is at once the Iliad and Odyssey of the Tamil language, is one of the great epics of the world.' The difference of opinion about its date still continues. "One of the contributors in this book points out that one of the Thevaram singers was acquainted with Cintamani and quotes from it. Hence its date must be about 5th century A. D. when the Madura Sangam was in existence."
It is obvious from his critical reviews of Kuppuswami's editions that right from the beginning E. Hultzsch was interested in the story of Jivandhara and the literature that has grown round about it. He reviewed the position of these studies from time to time; and it was he who gave us an English translation of the earliest known redaction of the story of Jivandhara, namely, the one furnished by Gunabhadra in his Uttarapuraṇa, and left a detailed examination of the later versions to future researches (QJMS, XII, 4, Bangalore 1922).
In the light of the earlier researches, recounted in brief above, Professor K. K. Handiqui has kindly contributed to this volume his learned Foreword which enables the reader to assess the Jivandhara-Campu as a Campu Kavya in the perspective of Sanskrit literature as a whole.
5. Some Problems pertaining to Jivandhara Story.
There are, however, still a few problems connected with the Jivandhara story and literature bearing on it which need solution and further elucidation in the light of fresh evidence.