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Historical dictionary of Classical Tamil
TamilexHistorical dictionary
of Classical Tamil

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Tamilex

A Tamil Buddhist Narrative: Critical Edition, Annotated Translation and Glossary of Cāttaṉar’s Maṇimēkalai (Patikam & Cantos 1-10)

A Tamil Buddhist Narrative: Critical Edition, Annotated Translation and Glossary of Cāttaṉar’s Maṇimēkalai (Patikam & Cantos 1-10)

Iona Macgregor

Maṇimēkalai, or '[The Girl with] the Jewelled Girdle', is a 4,861-line poem in akaval metre in 30 kātai or pāṭṭu ('cantos' or 'stanzas') connected by an overarching narrative and themes. It is one of just two extant & complete Tamil Buddhist texts, and thus is of interest within the context of not only Tamil poetry and poetic theory but also Pan-Indian Buddhist literature. 


The poem narrates the trials and tribulations of its eponymous heroine, daughter of former dancer-courtesan Mātavi and her lover Kōvalaṉ–familiar from the Cilappatikāram–as she abandons her mother's profession to become a Buddhist nun. The physical journeys she undertakes–such as to the supernatural cremation ground of Cakkaravāḷakkōṭṭam (Canto 6), the magical isle of Maṇipallavam (Cantos 8-11, and Canto 25), and the cities of Vañci and Kāñci (Cantos 26-30)–provide structure and impetus for the heroine's internal journey towards enlightenment or mōkṣa. 


The aim of my Ph.D  project (started July 2024) is a digitised critical edition, annotated translation and glossary of the Maṇimēkalai (Patikam & Cantos 1-10). The critical edition is baded on a survey and collation of all extant available manuscripts. Currently I am collating the five palm-leaf manuscripts that I have collected thus far (from the UVSL, GOML and Bibliothèque nationale de France). Ultimately, my glossary of the Maṇimēkalai will be integrated into the Tamilex digital dictionary, providing valuable data for the phonological, morphological, semantic and syntactic developments of the Tamil language between the Caṅkam period and later peruṅkāppiyam. 


My supplemenary research seeks to contextualise the poem in the history of Tamil and Buddhist poetry. Some of the questions I am considering are: 

  1. What is distinctive about the language of the Maṇimēkalai in comparison to e.g. the Caṅkam corpus and later peruṅkāppiyam?
  2. To what extent is the Maṇimēkalai indebted to the Caṅkam Tamil poetic conventions (such as the tiṇai system)? In what ways does it innovate?
  3. What is the relationship of the text to Buddhist literature composed in other Indian languages (e.g. Pāli and Sanskrit)?