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160
Study of Civakacintamani
to the Pañcanamaskāra mantra as 'aimpatam'. The following lines relate the incident in which the dog after hearing the Pancanamaskāra mantra turns to be a deva destroying all its karmas.
katrav aimpatanka nirak karu vinai ka! uvappatļu marravan tēva nāki.. .. .. 1
(He became deva after having wasbed all the bad deeds (karu vinai) by the water of the aimpatam (Papicanamaskāra mantra) which he had learnt ..)
In the Cc. in some instances, the benediction to lord Arhat alone is mentioned. Caccantan, the father of Civakan before sending his wife Vicayai in the flying machine pronounces the benediction to god. Here the god to whom he prays is lord Arhat.
in pa mikk uțaiya cirttiy iraivanat āņai kūrit
tunpam il paravai ürti carttinān .. .. ..3
(He after pronouncing the benediction to lord Arhat, put [her] in the harmless vehicle which was in the shape of a bird.)
A part from pañcanamaskāra, the Jains also say catuḥ-sarana (four goings for refuge). This is the recourse to the four refuges of the Arhats, the Siddhas, the Ācāryas and the law (of the Jinas) (dhamma). This catuhsarana runs as follows:
ashamte saranam pavaj jami, siddhe saranain pavaj jami, sahi saranam pavajjami, kevali-pannattam dhammam saranam pavajjami.3
(I go to the Arhat for refuge, I go to the Siddha for refuge, I go to the Sadhu for refuge and I go to the religion which is pronounced by the souls which attained omniscience for refuge )
This catuh-sarapa is found in the Cc. in the benedictory stanzas. The first verse is the recourse to the lord Arbat, the second to Siddha, the third to the Sadhu and to the Dhamma.4
Thus in the course of the discussions in this chapter we have seen how Tēvar has struck a new line in the comsitioa of a paru kāppiyam in Tamil with a religious motive. His literary predecessors, Iļanko, and Korkuvēlir , though they were Jains dealt with themes which did not have a religious motive. Accordingly here ale only a few references scattered here and there in the Cilappatikāram and the Perunkatai to Jainism which serve as reflections of the social status accorded to the religion in their times rather than as manifest religious propaganda. In the Manimek alai of Cättanār this is no more the case and his poem is full of religious debates employing highly Sanskritised and specialised Buddhist philosophical jargon. The Cc. is a book written with similar motive from the hands of a Jaina author. As we have seen in the course of this chapter, the Cc. displays the erudition of the author in 1 Ibid, v. 951
3 Williams, op. cit. p. 186 2 lbid.v. 273
4 Cc. v. 1-3
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