The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai comprising a translation of the poem Maṇimēkhalai by the Merchant Śāttaṉār and an essay Maṇimēkhalai in its Historical Setting by Rao Bahadur (Very Honourable) S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, M.A., Hony, Ph.D. Professor of Indian History and Archaeology, University of Madras. Reader, Calcutta University, Honorary Correspondent of the Archaeological Department of the Government of India. &c. &c. &c. 2 Inscribed With A Father’s Affection To The Memory Of Jayalakshmi Who Died On Her Fourth Birth Day 2nd January, 1928 3 Table of Contents Introduction to the Digital Edition Preface Maṇimēkhalai in its Historical Setting Introduction Supplement 1. The Poem II. How Far Historical in Character? III. The Historical Materials IV. The Philosophical Systems V. Other Views on the Philosophical Systems Appendix. The Authorship of the Nyāyapravēśa Maṇimēkhalai Prologue [A Synopsis of the Story] Book I [Indra’s Festival] Book II [Mādhavī Languishes] Book III [Maṇimēkhalai goes to the Garden] Book IV [The Prince pursues Maṇimēkhalai] 4 Book V [Sutamatī and the Kind Bhikṣu] Book VI [The Burning Ground] Book VII [Maṇimēkhalai is Spirited Away] Book VIII [The Buddha Seat] Book IX [Maṇimēkhalai recalls her Previous Life] Book X [Interview with a Goddess] Book XI [The Magic Bowl] Book XII [The Dharma of Mercy] Book XIII [Āputra’s Birth] Book XIV [Āputra gives up his Life] Book XV [Maṇimekhalai feeds the Poor] Book XVI [Adirai’s Eminence in Chastity] Book XVII [Kāyaśaṇḍikai’s Story ] Book XVIII [The Grandmother’s Scheme] Book XIX [Maṇimēkhalai feeds Prisoners] Book XX [Kāñcana kills Udayakumāra] Book XXI [Maṇimēkhalai receives a Prediction] Book XXII [Protection of the Chaste] Book XXIII [The Queen seeks Revenge] Book XXIV [Good and Bad Deeds] 5 Book XXV [The King learns his Previous Life] Book XXVI [Kaṇṇakī’s Teaching on Karma] Book XXVII [The Various Systems of Beliefs] Book XXVIII [Maṇimēkhalai feeds the Hungry] Book XXIX [Buddhist Logic] Book XXX [Noble Truths and the Twelve Conditions] 6 Introduction to the Digital Edition The story of Maṇimēkhalai is one of the five great classics in Tamil literature, and a sequel to another story, the Silappatikāram, which tells the story of her parents. Both stories are very well known in Tamil-speaking lands to this day, but are relatively unknown outside of that provenance. It seems to have been written before the 5th century when Buddhism was flourishing in the south of India, and besides telling a memorable story has a didactic purpose too: to assert the superiority of Buddhism over the rival religions of the time, both of the priests (brahmins) and ascetics (like the Jainas and Ājīvikas). The first translation of this text in modern English was made S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar in 1928, who also provided a much needed introduction to its historical setting, and it is a transcription of this translation and study which I am publishing on Ancient Buddhist Texts. The story tells of the heroine, Maṇimēkhalai, who, coming form a dancing caste, is being pursued by a young prince. She herself wants none of it, as she has set her mind on higher things. Her namesake goddess Maṇimēkhalā takes her to an island (Maṇipallavam, or Nāgadīpa) where she worships the Buddha-seat found there and remembers her past lives. She also receives a magical bowl from the goddess of the island, Tīvatilakai, and returns to the Cōḻa capital Puhār (Kāvēripaṭṭiṇam), where she is urged to feed the poor. She adopts the form of a bhikṣuṇī, 7 and goes about supplying the needy with an endless supply of food from the magical bowl. While doing her charitable works she also feeds the prisoners in the state prison, which is reported to the King, who is astounded with her miraculous powers. He asks what he can do for her, and she replies that he should destroy the prison, and build a monastery in its place, which he consents to. Maṇimēkhalai assumes the form of the Vidyādhara Kāyaśaṇḍikai, which leads to Kāyaśaṇḍikai's husband killing the prince. The King then jails Maṇimēkhalai for her own protection, but at the request of the Queen, who wishes her dead because of the killing of the prince, she is released into the court, where, however, she manages to convert the Queen. There are many other sub-plots and legendary tales told in the poem, and it closes with Maṇimēkhalai seeking to understand the teachings of the other great religions of the time, and then hearing the Buddha-Dhamma from Aṟavaṇa Aḍigaḷ, a Buddhist monk of great learning. He teaches her the central teaching of the Buddha concerning the four noble truths and the twelvefold conditional origination, and it is with this, and Maṇimēkhalai's determination to follow the teaching, and assurance therefore of liberation, that the poem ends. To my mind, at least, chapters XXVII and XXVIX, valuable as they are for understanding the date of the work, could easily be skipped, as they interrupt the plot greatly, and seem to be a separate disquisition 8 on the valid means of knowledge (pramāṇa) as taught in the various religions and inserted without just cause. The main work of transcribing this work has been done by my good helper Donny Hacker again, who despite having three jobs and full-time study and a family to look after, still finds time for Dhamma work. I am very grateful to him indeed. The final proofing and corrections have been done by myself, and I have made certain small changes to the original printed text, which I will enumerate here: 1. The paragraphs have been divided up into smaller sections to add to the readability, 2. Direct speech has been indented and isolated, the better to follow the conversations, 3. Small corrections to the English, like adding or removing the definite article, and other small adjustments of the same kind. 3. The transliteration of Tamil as best I could to include proper diacritics, but, as I am not an expert in Tamil, there may still be mistakes. 4. The transliteration of Sanskrit in line with the Unicode standard and other works found on this site. 5. In the body of the text itself the translator had included a number of explanations. I have kept these in round brackets, but placed them in the footnotes. 6. I have added explanatory chapter titles, in square brackets, so the development of the story is better outlined. 9 7. I have changed the original title, which was Maṇimekhalai in its Historical Setting, to refocus on the central character. Ānandajoti Bhikkhu June 2017 10 Preface [vii] The study of Maṇimēkhalai presented in the following pages was intended to be delivered as the ninth of my courses of special lectures at the Madras University in the last term of the academic year 1925-26, but was held over as some points required further study. The course was ultimately delivered in March and April of the current year rather later than usual in the academic year to suit the exigencies of other University fixtures. This classic and its twin, the Śilappadhikāram, formed part of my study in connection with the investigations on the age of the Tamil Śangam, which was undertaken at the instance of the late Mr. L. C. Innes, a retired Judge of the Madras High Court and an ex-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras, in the early years of the century. The first fruit of this study was published as the Augustan Age of Tamil Literature, the first constructive effort on my part to solve this problem on which a few remarks and criticisms were made, in a paper on the Age of Kamban written by the esteemed scholar above mentioned, in the pages of the Asiatic Quarterly for the year 1898. The Augustan Age of Tamil Literature contains matter taken both from the Śilappadhikāram and Maṇimēkhalai. This naturally led to a considerable amount of criticism as to how far these two works, distinct from the various collections generally known as the Śangam collections, could be regarded as Śangam works, directly or indirectly. The late Mr. V. Venkayya, Epigraphist to the Government of India, was willing to admit that the age of the Śangam was the [viii] second century A.D., but was in doubt whether these two works could be regarded as belonging to that collection. Mr. K. V. Subramania Aiyar of the Department of Epigraphy, took a similar line and wished to 11 - Preface draw a distinction between the Śangam works as such, and these romantic poems. The matter, therefore, required further investigation, and I have had to re-consider the whole question both from the point of view of the Śangam works themselves, of which two or three important collections had become accessible to me, some in print and some in manuscript. My further study of this subject was incorporated in a course of lectures delivered before the University, constituting the second of the Series, Beginnings of South Indian History, which was published in book form in 1918. In the course of work ranging over a score of years on this particular classic, books XXVII, XXIX and XXX remained but little used as a specific item of investigation for lack of leisure for the subsidiary studies that that investigation would have involved. In the course of a controversy, however, as to the actual date of the Śangam in which my late esteemed friend, Mr, L. D. Swamikannu Pillai had joined issue on astronomical grounds based on poem II of the Paripāḍal, a newly published Śangam work, the suggestion that the philosophical systems of the Maṇimēkhalai may be usefully studied was made by Professor Jacobi of Bonn in a letter that he wrote to me in May 1922.