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CONCLUSION
The investigations described in conclusions :
the foregoing chapters lead to the following
The questions regarding the source and the date of the Cc. have been discussed in the first chapter of this thesis. A comparative study of the Cc. with earlier texts which deal with the story of Jivaka showed a remarkable similarity between the Cc. and the works of Vadibhasimha, the Gc. and Kc. The similarities between these works have been listed and from an analysis of these similarities it is concluded that Vadıbhasimha has consulted the Cc. By fixing the date of Vādıbhasimha as the period between the latter half of the 10th century A.D. and the beginning of the 11th century A.D., the lower limit of the date of the Cc. is also determined. Among the other texts, the Up. of Gunabhadra and the Mp. of Puspadanta are earlier than the works of Vädjbhasimha. It is found that Jivaka story narrated in the Mp. of Puşpadanta follows the story of Jivaka narrated in the Up. of Guņabhadra. As the date of the Up. of Guņabbadra (A.D. 897) is earlier than that of the Mp. of Puşpadanta (A.D. 965) a comparative study of the Jivaka story narrated in the Up. with the story of the Cc. is described in chapter 3. This comparative study does not provide evidence to definitely fix the Up. as the original source for the Cc. From the Prakrit origin of some of the names of the characters in the Cc. there are grounds to suspect that there could have been a Prakrit version of the Jivaka story which is not available now and dated earlier than the Up. and the Cc. However, regarding the source of the Cc. there is no doubt that a Sanskrit or Prakrit version of the story, either in a book form or existing in the form of oral tradition, must have inspired Tēvar. Next, an analysis of available external evidence which could help to determine the date of the Cc. is carried out. From this study it appears that the probable date of the Cc. may lie between the latter half of the 8th century A.D. and the early 9th century A,D.
In the fourth chapter we have traced the influence of Sanskrit on the literary style of the Cc. It is pointed out here that definition laid down by Sanskrit rhetoricians for a mahakavya hase xerted a great influence on the composition of the Cc. This can be clearly seen in the way in which Tēvar handles the theme, his versification, the figures of speech and allusions, the descriptions, the structure and the division of the story and the other features such as the invocation, the apologia (avaiy-ațakkam) etc. It has also been indicated how, in spite of this influence of Sanskrit, Tēvar has not given up established poetical traditions of earlier Tamil poems. He combines the two traditions very effectively.
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