The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

249 - The King learns his Previous Life
‘Pīlivaḷai, the daughter of the king of Nāga Nāḍu, when she had borne
a son for the king of the solar race, was worshipping the Buddha-seat
when there arrived the ship of Kambaḷa Śeṭṭhi. Finding out who he
was, she handed over the child to him with the message that the child
was the Cōḻa king’s. Immensely pleased, the merchant took charge of
the child and sailed away with it homewards. In the deep darkness of
the night, the ship was wrecked near the shores, and nobody knew
what had happened to the baby.
Learning from such of them as escaped that the child was among
those whose whereabouts were not known, king Kiḷḷi 105 set about
searching here, there and everywhere, and, in his anxiety, forgot that
the time had arrived for the celebration of the great Indra festival.
Goddess Maṇimēkhalā, as the guardian deity, invoked the curse that
the city be destroyed by the sea. Hence the destruction of
Kāvēripaṭṭiṇam. The king went away, like Indra when the whole of
his prosperity was also swallowed up by the sea, all alone.
The sage Aṟavaṇa Aḍigaḷ and your mother and others went away in
safety to Vañji. If you should feel sorry to hear of the curse of the
goddess Maṇimēkhalā, the guardian of the sea, you will hear the
consoling information, that she was the cause of the saving of the life
of one of your ancestors who was about to be drowned in a shipwreck,
and who lived, in consequence, to do many acts of charity and earn
the reputation of being the most charitable man at the time. You will
hear of this from Aṟavaṇa Aḍigaḷ.’
So saying the Goddess of the Isle disappeared. Overcame with [186]
grief, the king with Maṇimēkhalai dug up his bones that lay buried
and discovered the bones all in position notwithstanding the fact the
flesh and the sinews that bound them together had been eaten up. He
105 (Vaḍivēl-Kiḷḷi).