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Once, two great Acharyas Anantakirti and Jinachandra were seen in the jungle near the city. Padma also went to have darshan of them. In the jungle, the saints were meditating and delivered their sermon at the conclusion of their meditation. Padma was very much impressed by the preaching. Acharya Jinachandra praised his sublime thoughts during his discussions with Padma. When Padma was about to enter his 11" year, the family organized grand birth day celebrations for three days including many religious activities, many people were invited. However, the boy became very serious in his pursuit of the path to moksha and expressed to his parents the desire to give up family life and become a monk. His mother wanted him to be the Mayor of the town and was not happy with his decision. Padma's determination was firm and the mother could not stop him. The mother did not want to become an obstacle in the noble path of salvation for her son and ultimately yielded and allowed him to become an ascetic.
Kundakund At the age of 11 years, Padma renounced the family life and became a Jain muni and was then addressed as Padmanandi. His penance impressed all and his fame spread all around. He became known as Kundakund because of his birth place being Kaund Kundpur. Interesting to note here is that though the names changed from Padma to Kunda, both words have the same meaning - lotus flower. It was said that he was like "kundan" which means very fine and pure gold. Indeed, he was a purified and glittering Soul. Kundakund was declared as Acharya by the Sangh at the age of 44. King Shivaskandha of Pallava dynasty, a King of Kerala region was so impressed that he renounced royal life and became a member of his Sangh. Many others followed the King. Penance made Kundakund's body very strong and other ascetics in the group realized that he was able to walk even without touching the surface of the earth.
One day, Archarya Kundakund had a keen desire to know some subtle facts about scriptures. Only Thirthankar Simandhar of Mahavideh region could tell that. It is a place in the middle part of the Universe where Thirthankars are always there. Strangely enough, Thirthankar Simandhar although millions of miles away, blessed, and said "May the dharma prosper". The Chakravarty King of Mahavideh who was present there wondered what it meant. The King realized that it was a blessing for Acharya Kundakund. Two heavenly beings present there heard this and wanted to have glimpse of such a great saint. On arrival on earth to Ponnur Malai in Tamilnadu (125 kms away from Chennai) where Acharya was having penance for four months of rainy season, the two gave their introduction and requested him to accompany to Mahavideh. Kundakund Acharya accompanied them and had darshan of Thirthankar Dev and also of Samosharan, a gathering of noble souls of the Universe. The King and others there had a gigantic body of more than 2000 feet, while he was only about 6 feet. The King lifted the Acharya on a palm of his hand with joy. Acharya looked like a piece of cardamom in a hand and hence called as Elaacharya. He stayed there for 8 days and gained subtle knowledge of pure soul and the path to moksha. While returning, on the way, his peacock pichhika fell down and he used for a short time, pichhika of Griddha, a vulture, and he was named as Griddhapichha Acharya. Thousands of people had gathered to witness a rare event of return of Acharya from the flying visit. As it was not known when he would return, many disciples (monks and others) had fast for eight days since no one wanted to miss that great scene of Acharya's return from the other world. His body was glittering like gold when he returned. The word “Ponnur Malai" means golden hill. There was resounding voice everywhere in and around this hill as follows:
Mangalam Bhagwan Viro, Mangalam Gautamo Ganee Mangalam Kundakundaryo, Jain Dharmostu Mangalam
On return to Ponnur Malai, he composed several scriptures and laid a very strong foundation for Jain literature as taught by the Thirthankara. He was acclaimed by the people then as "kalikal sarvajna"- the omniscient of the present era and was awarded the third place after
