Manimekalai

Topics in Tamil literature
Sangam Literature
Five Great Epics
Silappatikaram Manimekalai
Civaka Cintamani Valayapathi
Kundalakesi
The Five Minor Epics
Neelakesi Culamani
Naga Kumara Kaviyam Udayana Kumara Kaviyam
Yashodhara Kaviyam
Bhakti Literature
Naalayira Divya Prabandham Kamba Ramayanam
Tevaram Tirumurai
Tamil people
Sangam Sangam landscape
Tamil history from Sangam literature Ancient Tamil music
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For other uses, see Manimekalai (disambiguation).

Maṇimēkalai (Tamil: மணிமேகலை, lit. 'jewelled belt, girdle of gems'), also spelled Manimekhalai or Manimekalai, is a Tamil Buddhist[1] epic composed by Kulavāṇikaṉ Seethalai Sataṉar probably somewhere between the 2nd century to the 6th century.[2] It is an "anti-love story",[3][4] a sequel to the "love story" in the earliest Tamil epic Cilappatikaram, with some characters from it and their next generation. The epic consists of 4,861 lines in akaval meter, arranged in 30 cantos.[5]

The title Manimekalai is also the name of the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, who follows in her mother's footsteps as a dancer and a Buddhist nun.[6] The epic tells her story. Her physical beauty and artistic achievements seduces the Chola prince Udayakumara.[7] He pursues her. She, a nun of Mahayana Buddhism persuasion, feels a commitment to free herself from human ties. She rejects his advances, yet finds herself drawn to him.[8] She hides, prays and seeks the help of her mother, her Buddhist teacher Aravana Adikal and angels. They teach her Buddhist mantras to free herself from fears. One angel helps her magically disappear to an island while the prince tries to chase her, grants her powers to change forms and appear as someone else. On the island, she receives a magic begging bowl, which always gets filled, from Manimekhala.[9] Later, she takes the form and dress of a married woman in the neighborhood, as the prince pursues her.[8] The husband sees the prince teasing her, and protects "his wife" – Manimekalai-in-hiding – by killing the prince. The king and queen learn of their son's death, order the arrest of Manimekalai, arrange a guard to kill her. Angels intervene and Manimekalai miraculously disappears as others approach her, again. The queen understands, repents. Manimekalai is set free. Manimekalai converts the prison into a hospice to help the needy, teaches the king the dharma of the Buddha.[7] In the final five cantos of the epic, Buddhist teachers recite Four Noble Truths, Twelve Nidanas and other ideas to her. She then goes to goddess Kannaki temple in Vanci (Chera kingdom), prays, listens to different religious scholars, and practices severe self-denial to attain Nirvana (release from rebirths).[7][8]

The Manimekalai is one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature, and one of three that have survived into the modern age.[10][11] Along with its twin-epic Cilappatikaram, the Manimekalai is widely considered as an important text that provides insights into the life, culture and society of the Tamil regions (India and Sri Lanka) in the early centuries of the common era. The last cantos of the epic – particularly Canto 27 – are also a window into then extant ideas of Mahayana Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivika, and Hinduism, as well as the history of interreligious rivalries and cooperation as practiced and understood by the Tamil population in a period of Dravidian–Aryan synthesis and as the Indian religions were evolving.[12][13][14]

  1. ^ Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, ed. (2009). A Social History of Early India. Jointly published by CSC and Pearson Education for the Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture. p. 238.
  2. ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 140–143.
  3. ^ Paula Richman (1988). Women, Branch Stories, and Religious Rhetoric in a Tamil Buddhist Text. Syracuse University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-915984-90-9.
  4. ^ Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya (2009). A Social History of Early India. Pearson Education. pp. 238–239. ISBN 978-81-317-1958-9.
  5. ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 140–141.
  6. ^ Alain Danielou (Translator) 1993.
  7. ^ a b c Alain Danielou (Translator) 1993, pp. xxi–xxiv.
  8. ^ a b c Kamil Zvelebil 1974, p. 141.
  9. ^ A. K. Warder (1994). Indian Kavya Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 217–218. ISBN 978-81-208-0449-4.
  10. ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 130–131.
  11. ^ Mukherjee 1999, p. 277
  12. ^ Alain Danielou (Translator) 1993, pp. vii–xvii.
  13. ^ Anne E. Monius (2001). Imagining a Place for Buddhism: Literary Culture and Religious Community in Tamil-Speaking South India. Oxford University Press. pp. 87–96. ISBN 978-0-19-803206-9.
  14. ^ Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 140–142.