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JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
ever they went, carried with them their fundamental doctrine of ahimsā, preached against animal sacrifice and promulgated vegetarianism are facts which every student of Indian History ought to acknowledge. In the drama Uttararāmacarita by Bhavabhūti this fact is well borne out in one of the scenes laid in Vālmīki's asrama. Both Janaka and Vašiştha visit the āśrama as guests. When Janaka is entertained as guest he is given pure vegetarian food and the āśrama is cleaned and kept pure. But on the day when Vaśiştha visits the āśrama, a fat calf is killed in honour of his visit. One of the disciples of the āśrama cynically asks a codisciple of his whether any tiger had visited the āśrama; and the other rebukes him for his disrespectful references to Vaśiştha. The former apologises and explains himself by saying that, because a fat calf did disappear, I had to infer that some carnivorous animal like tiger must have entered the āśrama,' over which the former offers the explanation that the Rājarşi being a strict vegetarian must be entertained accordingly, whereas Vaśiştha not being a strict vegetarian was entertained to suit his taste. These facts clearly indicate the significance and potency of the ahimsā doctrine, and it is well reflected in Tamil literature after the migration of the Jainas to the south and due to their participation in the creation of Tamil literature. The early Jainas should have adopted the propaganda work of their
1. Bhavabhūti's Uttararāmacaritam (Ed. M. R. Kale, 1934, pp. 99-103), Act iv, dialogue between Sandhyātaki and Dāņdāyapa..
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