Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/192

Rh be willing to impart instruction to you as you are a young girl. I shall therefore teach thee the incantations which will enable you to assume any form you like or to fly through the air, wherever you wish to go. Rest assured that you shall attain the true knowledge of Buddha, on the holiest day of the Buddhists.” Having said so, she taught the spells to Manimêkalai, and ascended to the sky: but returned immediately to the earth and said “I have forgotten to teach you one thing more. This mortal body is sustained by food. Learn therefore the great charm by which you can remain without food.” She then taught her the third charm, and then flew away out of her sight.

“After the departure of the goddess, Manimêkalai walked about the island, admiring the strange scenery of the sand hills, flowery groves and glassy lakes. She had hardly gone the distance of a Kâvatham when a Buddhist nun appeared before her, and enquired “who art thou maiden, that appearest on this island like a shipwrecked passenger?

“In which birth do you ask ?“ replied Manimèkalai, "In my former birth I was Lakshmi, wife of Prince Râhula, and in this birth, I am Manimêkalai, the daughter of the actress Mâthavi. The goddess, whose name I beat, having brought me hither, I have learnt my former birth, by worshipping the sacred seat of Buddha. May I ask who art thou?“

“Close by this island, in Ratnadvipa, is the high mountain Samantam, on the top of which are the impressions of the sacred feet of Buddha, the worshippers of which will be freed from the bondage of births. I worshipped the feet and and now returning thence. I guard the sacred seat of Buddha in this island, under the order of Indra, the king of the celestials, and my name is Deeva-thilakai. Opposite the sacred seat is the tank Gomuki, where an alms-bowl which was once the property of Aputra comes up to the surface of the water, once a year, on the birthday of Buddha, that is on the day of the 14th Lunar asterism, in the month of Idapam. To-day is that auspicious day, and that alms-bowl is, I believe, destined for your use. Out of that bowl you may give alms to as many as may appear before you, and