Neelakesi ( ta, நீலகேசி, lit=Woman with blue hair, translit=Nīlakēci) is an epic of

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...

. Tamil literary tradition places it among the five lesser Tamil epics, along with ''Naga kumara kaviyam'', ''Udhyana kumara Kaviyam'', ''Yasodhara Kaviyam'' and ''Soolamani''. It is a

polemic Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...

al work written as a Jain rebuttal to the

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

criticism in the Great Tamil epic ''

Kundalakesi ''Kundalakesi'' ( ta, குண்டலகேசி Kuṇṭalakēci, ''lit.'' "woman with curly hair"), also called ''Kuntalakeciviruttam'', is a Tamil Buddhist epic written by Nathakuthanaar, likely sometime in the 10th-century.Aiyangar 2004 ...

''. It tells the story of the Jain nun of the same name who was a rival of the Buddhist protagonist of the ''Kundalakesi''. According to the epic, when animal sacrifices of a temple of the

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...

in Panchala were stopped due to the influence of the Jains, the Goddess dispatched the local deity Nīli to seduce and destroy the monk responsible for it. However, Nīli herself is converted to Jainism by the monk. Nīlakēci, as she is renamed, travels the country indulging in philosophical debate with rhetoricians of other religions. She debates and defeats several Buddhist rhetoricians like Arkachandra, Kundalakesi,

Moggallana Maudgalyāyana ( pi, Moggallāna), also known as Mahāmaudgalyāyana or by his birth name Kolita, was one of the Buddha's closest disciples. Described as a contemporary of disciples such as Subhuti, Śāriputra ('), and Mahākāśyapa ( pi, ...

(Tamil: Mokkala) and even

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

himself. Nīlakēci also defeats votaries from other schools of

Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...

, including

Samkhya ''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...

Vaisheshika Vaisheshika or Vaiśeṣika ( sa, वैशेषिक) is one of the six schools of Indian philosophy (Vedic systems) from ancient India. In its early stages, the Vaiśeṣika was an independent philosophy with its own metaphysics, epistemolog ...

Mīmāṃsā ''Mīmāṁsā'' (Sanskrit: मीमांसा) is a Sanskrit word that means "reflection" or "critical investigation" and thus refers to a tradition of contemplation which reflected on the meanings of certain Vedic texts.

and Cārvāka. The story of the epic mainly serves as a framework to present these debates and extol the tenets of Jainism. The epic and its commentary by the Jain saint ''Vamanar'' quote extensively from ''Kundalakesi'' to counter Buddhist arguments. Since the original text of the ''Kundalakesi'' itself has been lost, the fragments cited in them have served as the main source for reconstructing that work. The name of the epic's author is not known. The epic is made up of 10 ''Charukkam''s (chapters) and 894 ''Viruttam'' meter stanzas. It has been dated to the later half of the 10th century CE. Vamanar's commentary of ''Neelakesi'' shed light on the religious controversies of that period and also mention the names of many other Jain literary works (now lost) like ''Anjanakesi'', ''Pinkalakesi'' and ''Kalakesi''.

References

{{Authority control Jain texts Tamil-language literature Tamil epic poems Jainism and women

See also

References