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92 JAINS AND TAMIL LITERATURE.
dawned, these Jains prepared to go back to their own country. The Pandyan king was very unwiling to lose the company of these learned men and refused them permission to return. Thereupon, one night, these 8,000 Jains placed under their respective seats, each one quatrain, and gently slipped out of the city. When the king heard of this, he got angry and ordered a search to be made of their residence. The 8,000 quatrains were brought to the king. He ordered them to be thrown into the river Vaigai. Much to the astonishment of the king, 400 of these bits swam against the current and came to the bank. These were then picked up, collated and published.
Apart from traditions, there is no doubt that some Jains of Madura were the authors of these poems containing excellent moral sentiments. The period of their composition must be referred to the time after the founding of the Digambara Jain Sangam at Madura (470 A.D.) ; the references in the anthology to Muttaraiyar would further show that these quatrains were written at a time when the Kalabhras were in occupation of the Madura country.
Pazhamozhi Nānūru. - The author of this work was a Jain king of Munrurai, perhaps a feudạtory of the Pandyan kings. As every stanza has a proverb tacked to it in the end, it is called Pazhamozhi (a proverb). These proverbs, now little remembered, were current in the days of the last Academy at Madura. A careful ,study of these proverbs will enable us to form an idea
Pazhamozhi
Naniru.
