Book Title: Medieval Jainism
Author(s): Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House

Previous | Next

Page 255
________________ 240 MEDIÆVAL JAINISM Elācārya. Moreover, the intimate association of the Jaina gurus with the Tamil people seems to have begun only after the time of Samantabhadra. Hence we cannot conceive of Kondakundācārya visiting the south in order to inspire a great Tamil poet to present his work to the Sangham at Madura. A second Elācārya has already figured in the above pages. He was the disciple of Sridharadeva, and is supposed to have lived in circa A.D. 910.2 This age would be too late for Ēlācārya, the contemporary of Tiruvalluvar, whose lowest age, according to some, is the sixth or seventh century A.D. Then there is another Elācārya, mentioned in a record assigned by Rice to circa A.D. 1060. Nothing more is known about this person than that his lay disciple was Bindayya. Secondly, the name as it appears in Tamil literature and in Ceylon chronicles is not ēlācārya but Elesingha, Elala, and Aļāra. It is said that the profound scholarship of Tiruvaļļuvar attracted the notice of Elesingha, a great merchant who carried an overseas trade. This merchant accepted Tiruvalluvar as his preceptor ; and at the former's request Tiruvalluvar composed the great Kural. According to the Ceylonese chronicles it was Eļēra or Aļāra (which word seems to have been a corruption of the Tamil Elēla), a Cola nobleman, who invaded Ceylon, slew the local ruler Asēla, and ruler over that island from B.C. 145 to B.C. 101.6 The Tamil 1. Upadhye, op. cit., pp. xx-xxi. 2. See also E. C., Yd. 28, p. 56. But Rice assigns this record to circa A.D. 1100. 3. Dikshitar, Studies in Tamil Literature, p. 38. 4. E. C., IV. Ng. 67, p. 129. 5. Dikshitar, ibid., p. 128. 6. Geiger, Mahavamso, Intr. p. xxxvii (1912, ed) ; Dikshitar, ibid., pp. 129-130.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448