Manimekalai

Manimekalai — 12 chapters, 120 questions. Tamil epic — the Manimekalai (traditionally by Sittalai Sattanar).

The Manimekalai is a Tamil Buddhist epic, not a Purana — one of the five great epics of Tamil, and the sequel to the Silappadikaram. This retelling is written from a direct reading of Kausalya Hart's complete English translation (Project Madurai). By tradition the poet is Kulavanikan Sittalai Sattanar; the date is disputed between the 2nd and 9th century, with the mid-6th century the firmest view. It is a Buddhist text, not a Hindu one — in which Vedic, Shaiva, Vaishnava, Ajivika and Jain traditions also speak.

Why This Story Is Told — A girl who refuses to dance, and a bowl that never empties — the story that comes after the Silappadikaram, from the pen of a grain-merchant poet
The Days of Indra's Festival — A twenty-eight-day festival to which one mother did not bring her daughter — and the whole of Puhar talked of nothing else
The Marble Pavilion — A maddened elephant, a prince, a locked door — and in the night a sea goddess who carried Manimekalai off into the sky
Manipallavam — A girl wakes alone on an unknown island, and a shining seat shows her her past births — and it turns out why she cannot forget the prince
The Amudhasurabhi — Once a year, on the full moon of the Buddha's birthday, a bowl that never empties rises from a pond — and on that day it comes into the hands of a courtesan's daughter
Aputran — A child raised on a cow's milk who stole a sacrificial cow, fed the hungry by begging at a temple in Madurai — and laughed in Indra's face
The First Alms — A young nun with a bowl on the streets of Puhar, a chaste wife whom the fire would not burn, and an apsaras whose hunger had not ended in twelve years
The Grandmother's Vow — The grandmother goes to the prince, the prince reaches the temple, and Manimekalai takes the shape of a starving apsaras — by which a king turns his prison into an alms-house
Kanchanan's Sword — A vidyadhara searching for his wife after twelve years, a prince who returns to the temple at midnight — and a misunderstanding that takes a life
The King's Justice, the Queen's Schemes — A king who orders his own son to the pyre, a mother who wants revenge, and a girl whom poison, lies and hunger cannot touch
The City the Sea Swallowed — A king who digs up his own past life's bones, a stopped festival whose price a whole city pays — and a statue that speaks like a mother
From Vanji to Kanchi — An assembly of philosophies heard in the guise of a male ascetic, a rain of bowl-food in famine-dried Kanchi — and the teaching on which this epic ends

Questions about Manimekalai

How is Manimekalai divided here?

This retelling of Manimekalai has 12 chapters: Why This Story Is Told, The Days of Indra's Festival, The Marble Pavilion, Manipallavam, The Amudhasurabhi, Aputran, The First Alms, The Grandmother's Vow, Kanchanan's Sword, The King's Justice, the Queen's Schemes, The City the Sea Swallowed, From Vanji to Kanchi.

What is Manimekalai about?

A bowl that never empties — and a courtesan's daughter who held hunger to be the greatest disease.

What is the source of this retelling?

Tamil epic — the Manimekalai (traditionally by Sittalai Sattanar).

Is there a quiz on Manimekalai?

Yes. Each chapter ends with 10 questions, and behind every right answer there is a short story that explains it. In all, 120 questions.