Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/191

Rh Lakshmi, the daughter of Ravi-varman, king of Asodhara, and of his wife Amuta-pati; and had married Râhula, son of the king Attipati and of his wife Nilapati, who was the daughter of Sri-dhara, king of Siddhipura. Myself and Rahula also fell at thy feet on that occasion, and thou foretold that Râhula will die on the sixteenth day from the effects of the bite of a venomous snake and that I will ascend his funeral pyre. Thou told me further that I shall be re-born at Kavirip-paddinam, and that when I am in a serious peril, a goddess will remove me at night from that city to an island in the south: and that I shall there worship the sacred seat where Buddha had once sat and preached the law, and purified the hearts of the Naga kings, who had been furiously fighting with each other for possession of the seat. I then beseeched thee to tell me what will be the re-birth of my beloved husband, and thou told me that the goddess who brought me here will point him out to me. Will not that goddess appear before me now?

The goddess Manimêkalai who knew that her namesake had learnt her previous birth at the sacred seat of Buddha, and that she was now a fit person to receive further favours, appeared before her and said “In your former birth, when you were seated with your husband Râhula, in a pleasant grove, a Buddhist saint Sâdhu-chakra who was returning from Ratna-dvipa after ‘turning the wheel of Law,’ alighted from the clouds in your presence, and you gave him food and water. The effect of that good deed will save you yet from re-births. Your former husband Râhula is now re-born as Udayakumâra, whom you met at Uva-vana: and hence, your heart was attracted towards him. Târai and Veerai, your elder sisters in your former birth, were both wedded to Thuchchaya, king of Kachchayam in Anga-desa. When they were staying with their husband on the banks of the river Gangai, a Buddhist monk visited them, and at his advice they worshipped the sacred feet of Buddha, on the hill where the Buddha had formerly taken his stand and preached his religion. By virtue of this good deed they are now born as Mâthavi and Sutamati. Before being instructed in the true Law, you shall have to learn the tenets of other religions; and the teachers of those faiths may not