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A. CHAKRAVARTI:
not speak with any certainty. Of the remaining three, tradition makes Silappadikāram and Manimekalai contemporary works whereas Cintāmaņi is probably a later one. Maạimekalai, being a Buddhistic work, cannot be brought in our review, though the story is connected with that of Silappadikāram, which is distinctly a Jaina work.
Silappadikāram", ' the epic of the anklet is a very important Tamil classic, in as much as it is considered to serve as a land-mark for the chronology of Tamil literature. Its author is the Cēra prince, who became a Jaina ascetic, by name lụangõvadigaļ. This great work is taken as an authority for literary usage and is quoted as such by the later commentators. It is associated with a great mercantile family in the city of Puhār, Kāvēripūmpattiņam, which was the capital of the Cāļa empire. The heroine Kaņņaki was from this mercantile family and was famous for her chastity and
1. The following are the editions of the Silappadikäram:
(i) Silappadikāram, Puhār- kkāņdam-Ed. by T. E. Srinivasaraghavachari, 1872;
(ii) S'ilappdikäram, text and Adiyarkku-Nallār's commentary-Ed. by V. Swaminatha Aiyar, Madras, 1892;
(iii) Silappadikāram, text with Arumpadavurai and Adiyarkku-Nallār's commentary-Ed. by V. Swaminatha Aiyar, Madras, 1920;
(iv) The Silappadikäram or The Lay of the Anklet, translated with Introduction and notes by V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, Madras, 1939;
(v) S'ilappadikāram, text with Venkataswamy Nattar's commentary, Madras, 1942, 1947, 1950 and 1953.
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