No. 44—1893.] CHILAPPATIKARAM. 89 



arrival of her husband, their reconciliation, and, " old fate 

 forcing, they set out before sunrise " to Madura to sell the 

 anklets. 



The next two parts, consisting of twenty chapters, 

 relate their travel to Madura, the death of Kovalan, the 

 destruction by fire of Madura, the end of Karmakai's 

 earthly life, and her worship by the several princes already 

 mentioned. 



I have written these lines in the hope that some of the 

 eminent scholars who are members of this Society will be 

 induced to make a careful study of this poem, one so valued 

 by the Tamil scholars of old that it is known as one of the 

 Panchakdviyas, "the five poems" par excellence in Tamil, 

 and to publish the results of their studies. I also trust that 

 European scholars will be induced to study Tamil literature 

 more than they have hitherto done, because I feel sure that 

 that mine contains gems at least as valuable as those found in 

 Pali. The Jain literature, which, if not more interesting 

 than, is at least equal to, Buddhist literature, is mainly in 

 Tamil. 



Before concluding, I would like to render thanks to Mr. 

 Suvaminatha Aiyar, Tamil Pandit of the Government College, 

 Kumbhakonam, for publishing for the first time this ancient 

 work after much labour. 



And I the more appreciate this, as he was induced by me 

 to undertake the task of collating and publishing what, in a 

 few years more, would have been utterly lost to the world, 

 in the same manner as several hundreds of equally valuable 

 Tamil works have been lost. 



The President hoped they were going to have some discussion 

 on the Paper read. There were two points in particular which had 

 given him considerable anxiety. 



He could not help thinking, as regarded one point, that there was 

 a mistake in the passage which represented the Kandyan king as having 

 sacrificed a thousand goldsmiths! During the earlier part of the 

 present century a Frenchman might have been said to have sacrificed a 



