Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/209

Rh left Vanchi and gone to Kanchi. Her grandfather advised her to go to Kanchi and feed the poor of that city, as a famine was raging in that part of the country. She took her miraculous cup and flew through the air to Kanchi, and visited the Buddhist Chaitya which had been built by king Killi, the younger brother of Killi-valavan. Her arrival having been reported to the king by his officers, he visited her accompanied by all his ministers. “Thou pious maid!” said the king “my kingdom groans under a severe drought, and I am glad therefore that thou hast appeared with this wonderal cup. I have built a tank and planted a grove just like those at Mani-pallavam,” and pointed out the place to her. At her request, the king built a sacred seat for Buddha, and temples for the goddesses Deepa-thilakai and Mani-mêkalai. She then fed all the deformed and aged and destitute persons who came to her. The Buddhist monk arrived later on, with Mâthavi and her friend Sutamati: and Manimêkalai received them with every mark of respect and feasted them Then she sat at the feet of the venerable abbot and learnt the doctrines of Buddha. When she was convinced that the doctrines were true, and was prepared to take refuge in the threefold gem, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the monk initiated her further in the duties of a nun, and she was admitted into the order, with due ceremony, amidst a grand display of lights.