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172
Swami Samantabhadra.
This is a copper plate inscription from Merkara, which mentions the name of Kundakunda, and Gunachandracharya has revealed that he belonged to the lineage of Kundakunda. Then, the inscription mentions five generations up to the time of the copper plate.
Elâchârya. Professor A. Chakravarti, in his 'Historical Introduction' to the Panchastīkāya, based on the lists of the Nandisaṅgha edited by Professor H. Kern, has considered Kundakunda to be a scholar of the first century of the Vikram era - he has stated that he was installed as an Acharya in 49 Vikram Samvat (8 years before the Christian era), he received the Acharya position at the age of 44, he remained in that position for 51 years and 10 months, and his total lifespan is said to be 95 years, 10 months, and 15 days. At the same time, while revealing that Kundakunda also had the name 'Elâchârya', and regarding the Tamil language work 'Kural', it is said that 'Elâchârya' composed it and gave it to his disciple Thiruvalluvar, who is famous for it as his work, and who presented it before the Madurasangha (the assembly of poets of Madurai), he has tried to prove that the said Elâchârya and Kundakunda were the same person, and therefore the time of 'Kural' is also the first century of the Christian era*. But whether the time of 'Kural' is the first century of the Christian era or something else, and whether it was composed by Elâchârya or not, we do not need to go into this discussion, because based on it, Kundakunda's
* This identification of E'lâchârya the author of Kural with Elâchârya or Kund Kund would place the Tamil work in the 1st century of the Christian era.
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