Jaina Literature in Tamil

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

Page 90

JAINA LITERATURE IN TAMIL
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cared to write poetry in srngära-rasa. They could very well do it as well as the others, but the fact that they did not indulge in such literary compositions was merely the result of their dislike of such sensual subjects and not due to literary incapacity. But when his friends taunted whether he could produce one, he accepted the challenge. Returning to his āśrama he reported the matter to his master. While himself and his master were seated together there ran a jackal in front of them which was pointed out by the master to his disciple who was asked to compose a few verses relating to the jackal. Immediately Tiruttakkadēva, the disciple, composed verses relating to the jackal, hence called Nari-viruttam, illustrating the instability of the body, the ephemeral nature of wealth and such other topics. The master was pleased with the extraordinary poetic ability of his disciple and gave him permission to compose a classic describing the life history of Jivaka. It contained all the various aspects of love and beauty. To mark his consent the master composed an invocatory verse to be used by the disciple as the first verse of his would-be work. Then his disciple Tiruttakkadeva started composing another verse in adoration of Siddha which was accepted by his guru as much more beautiful than his own and instructed him to keep this as his first verse while his own was assigned a second place. Thus the verses containing Siddha-namaskāra starting with the words mūvāmudala is the first verse in Jivaka-Cintamani while arhan-namaskāra composed by the guru beginning with the words semponvaraimēl