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{{Use British English|date=October 2011}}
{{Sangam literature}}
'''Neelakesi''' ({{lang-ta|Nīlakēci}}) is an [[Epic poetry|epic]] of [[Jainism]]. Tamil literary tradition places it among the [[The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature|five lesser Tamil epics]], along with ''Naga kumara kaviyam'', ''Udhyana kumara Kaviyam'', ''Yasodhara Kaviyam'' and ''Soolamani''. It is a [[polemic]]al work written as a Jain rebuttal to the [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] criticism in the [[The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature|Great Tamil epic]] ''[[Kundalakesi]]''.<ref name="zvelebil"/><ref name="zvelebil2"/><ref name="thinnai">{{Cite news|title=Kundalakesi: Some notes|url=http://www.thinnai.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=60405271&format=print|work=thinnai.com|date=27 May 2004|language=Tamil|author=vanava. Thurayan}}</ref><ref name="reader">{{Cite news|title=Kundalakesi|url=http://www.tamilreader.com/MTExMDkxMDUzMTAwOTQ3|work=tamilreader.com|language=Tamil}}</ref><ref name="vu">{{Cite news|title=Kundalakesi Lesson 1|url=http://www.tamilvu.org/courses/diploma/a071/a0713/html/a0713167.htm|work=[[Tamil Virtual University]]|language=Tamil}}</ref><ref name="krishnamurthy">{{Cite book| title=Glimpses of art, architecture, and Buddhist literature in ancient India| last=Krishna Murthy| first=K. | year=1987| pages=102| publisher=Abhinav Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tD-7sojtDdYC&pg=PA102|ISBN = 978-81-7017-226-0}}</ref><ref name="Parmeshwaranand">{{Cite book| title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Purāṇas| last=Swami Parmeshwaranand| year=2001| pages=1151| publisher=Sarup & Sons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FdIkaccgneAC&pg=PA1151|ISBN = 978-81-7625-226-3}}</ref>

''Nilakesi'' "The Blue-Haired" 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]] 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, [[Maudgalyayana|Moggallana]] (Tamil: Mokkala) and even [[Gautama Buddha]] himself. Nīlakēci also defeats votaries from other schools of [[Indian philosophy]], including [[Samkhya]], [[Vaisheshika]], [[Mīmāṃsā]] and [[Cārvāka]]. The story of the epic mainly serves as a framework to present these debates and extol the tenets of Jainism.<ref name="warder">{{Cite book| title=Indian Kāvya Literature: The bold style (Śaktibhadra to Dhanapāla)| last=Warder| first=Anthony Kennedy| year=1988| pages=670| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LgBzfaARMNoC&pg=PA670|ISBN = 978-81-208-0450-0}}</ref>

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.<ref name="zvelebil">{{Cite book| title=Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature| last=Zvelebil| first=Kamil |authorlink=Kamil Zvelebil| year=1992| pages=69–70| publisher=BRILL|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC&pg=PA70|ISBN = 978-90-04-09365-2}}</ref><ref name="thinnai"/><ref name="krishnamurthy"/><ref name="singh">{{Cite book| title=Popular literature and pre-modern societies in South Asia| last=Singh| first=Surinder |author2=I. D. Gaur| year=2008| pages=102| publisher=Pearson Education India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVA0JAzQJkYC&pg=PA218|ISBN = 978-81-317-1358-7}}</ref> 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''.<ref name="zvelebil2">{{Cite book| title=Handbuch der Orientalistik, Part 2| last=Zvelebil| first=Kamil |authorlink=Kamil Zvelebil|author2=Jan Gonda| year=1975| pages=175| publisher=BRILL|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HgLjrX3Y1g8C&pg=PA175|ISBN = 978-90-04-04190-5}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Tamil literature]]
*[[Kundalakesi]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2011}}

{{Jainism topics}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Jain texts]]
[[Category:Tamil-language literature]]
[[Category:Tamil epic poems]]
[[Category:Jainism and women]]

Neelakesi - Revision history

imported>Invokingvajras: +cat Category:Jainism and women