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The Unknown Pilgrims
name;
she accompanies Kōvalan and Kannaki.283 Kayunti is the term used for a Jaina woman ascetic, but here the word is used as a proper 284 atikal is a title of respect for ascetics in general, used for both men and women and for ascetics of any religion. Sometimes the name Kavunti Aiyai is used, the word aiyai being also used to denote a woman ascetic. 285
234
When Kōvalan and Kannaki were walking along the bank of the Kāvēri, they came to a grove of flowering trees where Kavuntipalli, the hermitage of Kavunti, was located.286 They prostrated themselves at her feet. Straightaway Kavunti spoke to them of the Jaina dharma and offered to accompany the young couple as far as Madurai, for she was desirous of visiting the ascetics of that place and of listening to their spiritual discourses. She gave them a poetic and accurate description of the various roads they might take leading to their goal, being careful both to soften for Kannaki the hardships of the way and to respect ahimsā, mentioning punctiliously the places to avoid so as not to harm living beings. Then without delay, with her kaṭijñai
283 Cf. Cantos X-XV.
284 It is extremely possible, given the antiquity of the work, that Kavunti, her proper name, may later have been used to denote a woman ascetic, on account of the celebrity of the original bearer of the name.
285 Cf. e.g. X, 45; the original text sometimes has Kavunti, sometimes Kāvunti. We may note that: "In Tamil: Ammai, Kanni, Paimmai, Sāmi, Perumāṭṭi, Acăn, Talaivi, Aiyai, etc. were employed to refer to Jain women ascetics." Meenakshisundaram, 1961, p. 125.
286 Cilappatikāram, p. 177. It seems, judging from the inscriptions, that the ascetics had permanent dwellings. No mention is made of any companionascetics of Kavunti and it is possible that she had a type of hermitage in the srikōil, a complex consisting of a temple and dwellings for ascetics. Chakravarti, 1974, p. 54 mentions: "...an äśrama of the Jaina ascetics on the northern bank of the Cauvery. In that asrama he (Kõvalan) met the female ascetic Kaundhi..."
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