The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

64 - How Far Historical in Character?
with the appearance of the beautiful Maṇimēkhalai in the garb of a
Buddhist nun (bhikṣuṇi). There is another reference which may be to
the Mahābhārata, but does actually belong to the Viṣṇupurāṇa and the
Bhagavāta. This is a reference to a peculiar kind of a dance 19 which
ṣṇa’s son Pradhyumna is said to have danced at the capital city of
Bāṇa, by name Śōnāgaram. The allusion here is to Pradhyumna
assuming the form of a eunuch and dancing in the streets of the
capital of this Bāṇa-asura to recover his son Aniruddha who had been
thrown into prison in a love adventure with Uṣā, Bāṇa’s [30]
daughter.
In the Śilappadhikāram 20
ṣṇa having enacted
a similar dance. The city of Śōnāgaram is not mentioned in the text as
ṣṇa’s pastoral dance, 21 the dance
ṣṇa, his elder brother and sister is brought into comparison with
the movement of a peacock, a peahen and a royal swan moving about
to get her in the garden. In another place in the same canto, line 76 to
ṣṇa and Balarāma
standing. These instances are under frequent reference in the
Śilappadhikāram, and other instances connected with these in other
Śangam works. In the same canto, lines 51 to 56, there is a reference
to the Vāmanāvatāra of Viṣṇu and the gift that Bali made to him, in
connection with the descent of the Cōḻa queen from the family of the
Bāṇas who traced their descent to Mahābali himself. There are
numbers of other stray instances, such as Viśvāmitra’s attempt, 22 in an
19 Canto III, ll. 222-125
20 Canto VI, ll. 54, 55.
21 XIX, ll. 65-66
22 XI, ll. 84.