Manimekalai

MAṆIMĒKALAI
Text, Transliteration, Translations in English Verse and Prose

Maṇimēkalai translation represents another significant milestone in the massive translation project of the Institute. For Maṇimēkalai is not only a great epic in Tamil endowed with the honour of being considered a sequel to the unmatched epic Cilappatikāram, but also an avowedly Buddhist epic associating the life and time of the protagonist Maṇimēkalai with the Buddhist logic, ethics, beliefs and
values.

For the translators of these languages, the English translation compendium on hand that comprises the Tamil text, transliteration in the Roman script, three translations, introductions, glossary and notes, could be an invaluable aid.

Maṇimēkalai, one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature, gives us a delightful insight into the ways of life, the pleasures, beliefs, and philosophical concepts of a refined civilization. The story relates the adventures of a dancing girl who becomes a convert to Buddhism. Maṇimēkalai calls into question many of our received ideas concerning ancient India as well as our interpretation of the sources of its present-day religion and philosophy. In its clear accounts of the philosophical concepts of the time, Maṇimēkalai presents the various currents of pre-Aryan thought (mainly preserved by the Ajivika ascetics
and Jain monks) which gradually influenced the Vedic Aryan world and became an essential part of it and, through Buddhism, spread over the whole of the Far East and Central Asia.


The three translations of Maṇimēkalai included in this volume conform to the following order:

1. Verse translation by Prema Nandakumar
2. Verse translation by K.G. Seshadri
3. Prose translation by Alain Daniélou.