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ELACHARYAR.
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kēsi, a Jain work, calls Kural, Emmottu (ores Clombs), our own Bible. That shows that the Jains generally believed that Valluvar was a member of their community. The tradition is that one Elacharya, a Jain sage, was the author of Kural. This Elacharya, some say, was no was
• Elacharya other than Sri Kunda Kunda, a great:Jain Muni, Kunda well versed in Sanskrit and Prakrit, who carried himself ? on the work of propagating Jainism in the Tamil land, in or about the first century A.D. A sage: of great intellectual attainments, he is supposed to have written for the instruction of Sivaskandha, a ruler of Conjeeveram, the Panchāstikāya, which has been recently edited by Prof. Chakravarti, a prominent member of the Jain community. In the historical portion of the introduction to that book, the learned Professor identifies the author of the Kural with Kunda Kunda whose other name was Elacharya. From the Pattāvalis edited by Hoernle and Klatt, the date of Kunda Kunda can be ascertained as I century A.D. One other point may be briefly noticed. If, as Yet another has been contended, the author of Kural was a low càste Valluvar, .what is there in the history of ancient social institutions in the Tamil land to warrant the belief that a low caste man could obtain such a high education not only in the vernacular but also in the sacred language of Sanskrit, which is essential for producing such a work as Kural ; for it must be remembered
? Indian Antiquary, Vols. XX and XXI.
point.
