Biography
Sattanar is the Tamil Buddhist poet who composed the epic called Manimekalai. He lived in the period of Ilango Adigal. He was also known as Seethalai Sattanar or Sithalai Sattanar.
The full name of the author of Manimekalai was Madhurai Kulava?ikan Sithalai Sattanar. Madhurai refers to his native city, Madhura. Kulava?ikan indicates his profession as that of a grain merchant. Sithalai means ?from whose (fore-) head pus flowed.? It is told that when he found mistakes in the works of contemporary poets scrutinized by him, he used to strike his forehead with his iron style and this caused frequent wounds which suppurated. Sattanar is an honorific address of his personal name, Sattan. He was not only a first class poet and an eminent literary critic, but also an able exponent of the Buddhist doctrine. Well versed in religion, logic and philosophy, he showed the superiority of Buddhism, evaluating it against the background of contemporary religious thought.
There were several other poems by him, verses from which are found in poems such as Na??i?ai, Kurunthokai, Pu?ana?u?u and Akana?u?u. The aim of writing the Ma?imekhalai was the propagation of the Buddha Dharma. It is seen that Ma?imekhalai was written after the Tirukkural was composed, because there are two verses from the Tirukkural quoted in Ma?imekalai. Therefore it can be assumed that Sattanar lived in the latter half of the 2nd century. ..
