Jaina Literature in Tamil

Author(s): A Chakravarti, K V Ramesh
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 70

JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
Tirumunaippādiyār. He is said to have flourished in the last Sangam period. He describes in this great work five moral principles, associated with Jainism, though common to the other religions in the south. These principles go by the name of pañca-vratas, the five rules of conduct governing the householder as well as the ascetic. These are ahimsā (non-killing), satya (truth-speaking), astēya (non-stealing), brahmacarya and parimita-parigraha (avoiding unnecessary luxury and paraphernalia and limiting oneself to the bare necessities of life). These constitute the five-fold principles of ethical conduct, and they are enunciated in this work called Aranericcāram.
2. Paļamoļil or “Proverbs’-—The author is a Jaina by name Munrurai-araiyaņār?. It contains 400
scholars to the first half of the 13th century A. D. Aranericcaram, which treats its subject under three major heads, viz., kāțci, olukkam and jñünam, and consists of 222 veņbä stanzas, is taken to have been influenced by Arungalacceppu, another Jaina didactic work. It is interesting to note that Tirumuņaippādiyar refers to the Arhat as Sivan in his work. See Tamil-kkaļañjiyam, Vol. I (1954), p. 260. An edition of Arungalacceppu, under the title Tirukkalambagam, was brought out at Kanchipuram in 1883. 1. The following are the editions of this work:
(i) Palamoļi, text and commentary-Ed. by Narayana Ayyangar, Madurai, 1918.
(ii) Paļumo!i-Ed. by T. Chelvakesavaroya Mudaliar, Madras.
2. The name Munrurai-araiyan is taken to indicate that the author, whose proper name is otherwise unknown, was a chieftain (araiyan) of Munrurai, a place not yet identified. Pala
(Contd.)