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The Sanskrit interaction in the literary siyle..
needs of the women who were in his enemy's palace,1 Every marriage of his brings him wealth, but he does not in any way misuse it. On becoming king, he distributes all his wealth in such a way that all his subjects are well looked after. He demolishes all the prison buildings and exempts all his subjects from paying tax for sixteen years, He does not levy any tax on the lands of temples, astrologers, or brahmins. He donates gifts and helps the blind, the diseased, and women deserted by their husbands,
The enjoyment of pleasures (kama) by Crvakan can be seen throughout the story. His marriages with his eight wives and his sexual pleasures with them dealt with in detail in the Cc. The treatment of love in the Cc. bears the influence of the Tolkappiyam and early Tamil literary works as well as of Sanskrit literary works. These will be discussed in detail while analysing the descriptions of love. scenes and marriages.
The aspect of salvation (moksşa) is explained in the last ilampakam. the Muttiyilampakam. From the beginning of the story Tevar prepares Civakan to attain salvation. The last chapter explains the stages through which Civakan attained moksa. As these facts are explained in detail in the chapter on Jainism, they are not discussed here.
3. Coming now to the discussion of the hero of Cc.; we note that the Cc. does not have good precedents in Tamil for the development of the hero's character. In the Cilappatikaram everything else is subordinated to the interest in the characterisation of Kannaki. Kovalan is thus reduced to a kind of shadow designed to accentuate the characterisation of the heroine by contrast. Similarly in the Maņimekalai Utayakumaran is introduced in such a way as to enhance the spirituality of Manimékalai. CivakaB's character has been cast by Tevar in a fundamentlly different way. To understand this it would be necessary to briefly discuss the definition of a kavya nayaka as laid down by Sanskrit rhetoricians. Four types of hero have deen recog nised in Sanskrit All of them are noble and self-controlled, For this reason all of them are called Dhira, but they are distinguished as udatta (exalted), uddhata (haughty), lalita (light hearted) and santa (calm). The Dhira-udatta hero is a person of great excellence, exceedingly serious, forbearing, not boastful, resolute, without. self-assertion, and firm of purpose. The Dhiroddhata hero is dominated by pride.
1. Cc, v. 2372.
2. Ibid, vv. 2345-48.
3. Ibid, vv. 2372-2373.
4. Ibid, v. 2376.
95
5. mahāsattvo' tigambhiraḥ kṣamā vān avikatthanaḥ
sthiro nigūḍhāhamkaro dhirodatto drdhavrataḥ
Dhanamjaya, The Dasarūpa, 2,5 Indo-Iranian series, vol. 7, New York, 1912
6. darpamätsaryabhūyişṭho may&chadmapriyaṇaḥ dhiroddhatast vahamkari calas cando vikatthanaḥ Ibid, 2:3.
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