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JULY, 1986
namely, Srimad Bhāgavatham, the Mahābhāratham and the Rāmāyaṇam besides a few other minor works on ethics and philosophy. Thunchath Acarya was a Nayar (the term Nair is the Anglicised form of Nayar) and this celebrated poet is considered in great veneration as the father of Malayalam language and its literature by the people of Kerala. The Acarya has paid his homage to the Jaina ascetics in the Rāmāyaṇa composed by him.
King Senkuttuvan ruled Kerala from Kodungallur, the international port city noted for its overseas trade. Scriptural evidence states that foreign sea-fairing vessels brought cargoes to Kodungallur and imported commodities and that these vessels could be seen anchored at the port of the Kodungallur. A cosmopolitan city Kodungallur was populated by different nationalities and religionists. Numerous Jainas from all parts of India lived in the port city engaged on export and import business, trade and industry. There were also Hindu, Buddhist and Roman traders. A Roman colony and a temple dedicated to Apollo, the Greek God existed at Kodungallur. Roman ladies were exceedingly fond of pearls that they paid fabulous prices to them especially to the pearls of Kanyakumari. Ptolemy, the Greek historian of the 2nd Century B.C., has described Kodungallur in the name of Muziris. Excavations carried out at the city have unearthed valuable relics including a number of coins of the early Emperors of Rome.
There were several Jaina temples, monasteries and a large number of ascetics at Kodungallur. Scriptures have referred to temple towers rising to the skies. These towers were mostly those of Jaina temples. Kodungallur was a noted centre for Jaina scriptural studies and also for other branches of learning.
Senkuttuvan had a younger brother, who was the Crown-prince of the Cera kingdom. The young prince was an accomplished scholar in Tamil literature. A man of sterling humanitarian character he took keen interest in all affairs which promoted public welfare. He was an uncompromising advocate of religious toleration, inter-religious cultural understanding and co-operation, brotherhood and peaceful co-existence among people professing different religions. The prince was a great humanitarian, the protector of animals, birds and all sentient life. He propagated the transcendental philosophy of universalism, according to Jaina doctrines that all life is one although they differed in their senses and physical forms and every living being has liberty and are entitled to live their full span of life. He was also a protector of the weak, the low, the lowest of the low, the poverty-stricken and those who suffered from
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