The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

40 - The Poem
At the conclusion of the great Indra festival at Puhār
(Kāvēripaṭṭiṇam), he went out along with Mādhavī to spend the day
in enjoyment on the seashore. In the course of his stay there, he
discovered, at least he thought he had discovered, that Mādhavī was
not perhaps quite as sincerely attached to him as he thought she was.
Somewhat estranged in feeling, he went home, and found his wife
more than usually solicitous to please him as she observed that he was
somewhat troubled in mind. In a moment of contrition, he explained
his position to his wife and regretted that he had not the means to set
up as merchant again and recover his lost wealth as he intended to do
in a distant place like Madura. Nothing daunted by her previous
sacrifices in this direction, she offered the only valuable jewel yet left
with her, that is, the anklet, for him to make use of for that purpose.
They left the city unknown the next morning, early enough not to be
discovered, and set forward on their journey to Madura. Having
entered the city, Kōvalaṉ left his wife in charge of a shepherdess
outside the fort and went into the bazaar of the city to sell the jewel.
The queen having lost a similar jewel some time before, the goldsmith
who was responsible for the theft and to whom by chance Kōvalaṉ
offered this for sale, reported that he had discovered the thief with
the jewel in possession.
The infatuated Pāṇḍyan king ordered the recovery of the jewel from
the culprit after decapitating the thief as a punishment. The virtuous
wife got so indignant at this perpetration [7] of injustice that she
brought about the destruction of the city by fire and passed across the
frontier into the Cēra country before putting an end to herself. There
the husband was shown to her and the two together were taken to the
world of gods. Hearing of all this, and, on the advice of his