Jaina Literature in Tamil

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

Page 85

A. CHAKRAVARTI :
Thus arose the Kaņņaki worship which brought all prosperity and plenty to the worshippers. Thus ends the story of Silappadikāram.
It consists of three great divisions and 30 chapters on the whole. The great work has a very valuable commentary by one Adiyārkkunallār'. Nothing definite is known about this commentator. Since he is referred to by Naccinārkkiniyar, another commentator of a later period, all that we can say is that he is of a period earlier than Naccinārkkiniyar’s. That he must have been a very great scholar is evident from his valuable commentary on this work. That he was well versed in the principles of music, dance and drama is very well borne out by the elaborate details given by him in his commentary elucidating the text relating to those topics. This work, the epic of the anklets, contains a lot of historical information interesting to the students of South Indian history. From the time of Kanakasabhai Pillai, the author of the The Tamils 1800 years ago up to the present day, this work has been the source of information and guidance to the research students in the Tamil land. The information that Gajabāhu, the king of Ceylon, was one of the royal visitors to the Vañji capital is emphasised as an important point for determining the chronology
1. For additional information on this accomplished commentator, see The Silappadikāram (Madars, 1939), V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar's Introduction to his translation, pp. 71-73.
2. Silappadikāram, Canto 30: Varantaru-kādai text line 153 ; The Silappadikāram (V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar's Translation), p. 343.