Neelakesi (Tamil:நீலகேசி,romanized: Nīlakēci,lit. 'Woman with blue hair') is aTamilJainepic poetry. Tamil literary tradition places it among thefive minor epic poems, along withNaga kumara kaviyam,Udhyana kumara Kaviyam,Yasodhara Kaviyam andSoolamani. It is apolemical work written as a Jain rebuttal to theBuddhist criticism in theGreat Tamil epicKundalakesi.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
It tells the story of the Jain nun of the same name who was a rival of the Buddhist protagonist of theKundalakesi. According to the epic, when animal sacrifices of a temple of theKali inPanchala 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 (Tamil: Mokkala) and evenGautama Buddha himself. Nīlakēci also defeats votaries from other schools ofIndian philosophy, includingSamkhya,Vaisheshika,Mīmāṃsā andCārvāka. The story of the epic mainly serves as a framework to present these debates and extol the tenets of Jainism.[8]
The epic and its commentary by the Jain saintVamanar quote extensively fromKundalakesi to counter Buddhist arguments. Since the original text of theKundalakesi 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.[1][3][6][9] The epic is made up of 10Charukkams (chapters) and 894Viruttam meter stanzas. It has been dated to the later half of the 10th century CE. Vamanar's commentary ofNeelakesi shed light on the religious controversies of that period and also mention the names of many other Jain literary works (now lost) likeAnjanakesi,Pinkalakesi andKalakesi.[2]
