be to ignore the taste of the times in which the great epic was born.

VI. Manimeekalai

This Buddhist saint named after a patron goddess of navigation, is the heroine of a Buddhist 'epic' in which the social and philosophical doctrines of Buddhism are expounded through episodes connected with the main characters. This long poem is of a later date than the Cilappatikaram, though there is an obvious attempt in the poem to relate it to the earlier epic as if the two epics were sung by contemporaries. The following reading is from A History of Tamil Literature, Annamalai University, 1961 by Professor T. P. MEENAKSHI SUNDARAN. The Reading is from pages 43 to 46.

CILAPPATIKARAM Is SAID to form a Twin Epic with Maṇimekalai.Maṇimekalai is by a great poet, Cāttanār, often mistaken for a poet of the earlier period. Epic ceases to be, by now, a mere" collection of monologues. Though it is sometimes claimed to be earlier than Cilappātikram, a careful reading shows that this epic could have meant nothing to an audience which was not familiar with Cilappatikāram.

The story starts with Mātavi speaking tearfully of the greatness of Kaṇṇaki and refusing not only to take part any more in the public dance but also to allow this to her daughter, Manimekalai who has become a perfect danseuse. Maṇimekalai overhearing this conversation is overwhelmed by grief. The prince of the land given away to pleasure is incited by the mother of Mātavi, who believes that it is a sin to depart from the hereditary duty of her clan, to become passionately attached to Maṇimekalai. Later we learn that the prince and Manimekalai were husband and wife in a series of previous births.

Thus there is within and without her a struggle between her passion for the prince and her spiritual leanings, the first fanned by the grandmother, the prince and the general disposition of the society, the latter strengthened and developed by her mother, the angels and the great Aravaṇa Aṭikaḷ, the saint of the epic. The prince pursues her but an angel magically removes her to a distant island to reveal to Maṇimekalai her birth and mission in life. From her guardian angel, after whom she is herself named, she attains certain magical powers. She comes to receive from a sacred pond on the anniversary of the Buddha's birth a magical bowl which,