Mahavira and his Teaching

Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

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V. G. NAIR
have been a disciple of Jaina Ācāryas from whome he studied Prakrit, Sanskrit and the Agama Sāstras of Jainism.
A tradition tells that after the composition of Tirukural, it was submitted to the Tamil Academy at Madurai. But the members of the Academy did not approve the Kural for release. After Valluvar's passing away, Aouvvai, his sister submitted the Kural to the Tamil Sangham and got it approved. Many notable kings and chieftains were devotees of Aouvvai. The Kural consists of three parts dealing with Aram, Porul and Inbam. Veetu and mokśa is left out. According to the Late Kanakasabhai, the noted Tamil scholar who wrote a monumental work on Tamils entitled "Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago" the original Kural consisted of 2660 lines or 1330 couplets. The present Kural accordingly consists of 1330 couplets. But in my view the Kural might have contained more than the present figure. The last chapter dealing with Veetu or Nirvāņa might have been disapproved and destroyed by the Tamil Sangham.
The first chapter dealing with Aram or Dharma contains many of the moral precepts of Jainism. It has elaborately dealt with the five Mahāvratas of Jainism. Valluvar composed the Kural in revolt against Brahmanism--animal sacrifices to propitiate the heavenly deities, the sin of meat eating. begging for alms without renunciation, the importance of asceticism, the evils of caste and class distinctions and the necessity for building up an uninpeachable and sterling humanitarian character for reaping the blessings of life.
In the Tiruvalluvamalai, an ancient poetical work containing several tributes paid to Valluvar by a number of celebrated Samgham poets, there are some verses which support the contention that the original version of the Kural consisted of four parts dealing with Aram, Porul, Inbam and Veetu. It might have contained couplets presenting the doctrines of the last chapter Nirvāņa in accordance with the holy scriptures of Jainism. Some Tamil writers have expressed the view that the first chapter dealing with Aram also contains doctrines dealing with Veetu,