Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/196

Rh Aputra went ashore on the island. But during the night, a favorable breeze rose, and the captain set sail, not knowing that Aputra was still on the island. The latter finding that the ship had sailed away, and that the island was uninhabited was plunged in grief. Annoyed at the thought that his wonderful cup will remain useless in his hands, he threw it into the tank Gomuki praying that it should appear once a year on the surface of the tank, and go into the hands of a pure minded and charitable person. Unwilling to feed alone out of the cup which had fed thousands of people, he decided to starve himself to death. I happened to visit Mani-pallavam just then and learnt from his own mouth his unhappy tale.

Aputra was reborn in Chavakam in the hermitage of Man-muka. The king of that country being childless obtained the child from Man-muka and brought him up as heir to his throne. In course of time Aputra succeeded his father, and is at present king of Chavakam. His miraculous cup should not remain useless in your hands, and you should therefore feed the beggars of this city, out of the cup, for there is no greater charity than that of feeding the poor”

Manimêkalai took leave of the monk reverently, and as desired by him wished to begin at once the work of charity. When she appeared in the street with the alms-bowl in her hand, in the attire of a Bikshuni or religious mendicant, the people passing in the street gathered round hers wondering why she who was courted by the son of the king should have put on a mendicant’s garb. Being a mendicant, she deemed it proper that she should first receive alms from a married woman, an going to the house of Athirai, the wife of a merchant, accepted alms from her in the miraculous cup.

She then commenced giving out food from the cup, and the first person who received food was Kaya-Chandikai, wife of a Vidyadhara. She had been suffering with a disease which caused insatiable craving for food, and this strange malady was cured by her eating the meal served out of the cup. She blessed Manimekalai most fervently and desired her to go to the