The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

60 - How Far Historical in Character?
dealing actually with the supernatural element and not ordinary
human beings.
The author carries this distinction to a point of fineness when the
heroine returns to Maṇipallavam with Āputra from his kingdom,
Śāvakam. Maṇimēkhalai as usual flies through the air. Āputra on the
contrary has to order a fleet to be got ready to take him to the same
destination. Therefore we are distinctly in a position to examine the
human element in the poem as such in all [26] its human aspects and
human surroundings just to find out how far this proves to be
historical. The superhuman elements themselves can easily be proved
to be not beyond the credibility of an average Buddhist of the time to
which the author obviously makes reference. It would, therefore,
seem justifiable that, notwithstanding the element of the supernatural
in the poem, there is much in it that is capable of being used for
purposes of history, not only history of a general character, but also in
regard to even the specific details and incidents.
It has been described above that the Maṇimēkhalai is a professedly
Buddhist work. As such its cultural character can be expected to be
more or less North Indian and Sanskritic. But great poet that the
author is, he certainly draws very freely upon Buddhist as well as
Sanskritic culture. A careful reader would notice that he does not
sacrifice any of the classical South Indian or Tamil features of his
poem by so doing. It may almost be said that he is hardly conscious
that he is producing in his work the blend of the two cultures. It is a
Tamil classic out and out, but a Tamil classic with a great infusion of
Sanskrit culture, producing the impression that the author is hardly
aware of anything like a distinction between the two. In those
circumstances, there is hardly room for the feeling that there was any