The two great works, Kural and Naladiyar, were the works of Jaina teachers who settled down in the Tamil country.
The ethical work called "Kural" is a most important work in Tamil Literature judged from its popularity among the Tamil speaking people. It is composed in the form of couplets known as"kural venba" in metre peculiar to the Tamil literature. The book derives its name Kural from the the metre comployed in its composition. it is a work based on the doctrine of Ahimsa; and throughout, you have the praising of this Ahmisa dharma and the criticism of views opposed to this. The work is considered so important by the Tamils that they use various names to designate this great work such as 'Uttaraveda', 'Tamil Veda', 'Divine scripture', 'the great truth', 'non denominational Veda' and so on. The work is claimed by almost all the religious sects of the Tamil land. The Saivaite claims that it was composed by a saivaite author. The Vaisanavaites claim it as their own. The Reverend Pope who translated this inot Engilish even suggests that it is the work of an author influenced by Christianity. The fact that the different communities are vying with one another in their claim to the authorship of this great work, is itself an indication of its great eminence and importance. In the midst of all such various claimants we have the Jaina who maintains that it is the work of great Jaina Acharya. The Jaina tradition associates this great ethical work with Elachariyar which is the other name for Sri Kunda Kund acharya. The period of Sri Kund kundacharya is covered by the latter half of the first century BC and the former half of the first century AD. We have referred to Sri Kund kundacharya as the Chief of the Dravidian Sanghaat the Southern Pataliputra.
We are not merely to depend upon this tradition to base our conclusions.
We have sufficient internal evidence as well as circumstantial evidence to substantiate our view. To any unbiased student who critically examines the contents of this work it would be quite clear that it is replete with the Ahimsa doctrine and therefore must be a product of Jaina imagination. Unbiased Tamil scholars who are entitled to pronounce an opinion on this point have expressed similar opinions as to the authorship of this work. But the majority of the Tamil shcolars among the non-jains are not willing to accept such a verdict based upon scientific investigation. This opposition is mainly traceable to religious feeling. About the time of the Hindu revival
(about the 7th century AD) the clash betwen the Jaina religion and the Vedic sacrificial religion of the Hindu reformers must have been so tremendous that echoes of it are felt even now. In this conflict the Jaina teachers were evidently worsted by the Hindu revialists who had the support of the newly converted Pandyan King on their side. As a result of this it is said that several Jaina teachers were put to death by impaling them.How much of this is history and how much of this is the creation of fertile imagination fed by religious animosity, we are not able to assess clearly. But even to this day we have this story of impaling the Jainas painted on the walls of the Madura temple and annual festivals are conducted celebrating the defeat and destruction of religous rivals. This would give us an insight into the attitude of the Tamil scholars towards the early Jainas. It is no secret, therefore, that they generally resent the very suggestion that this great ethical work must have been written by a Jaina scholar.