The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

86 - The Historical Materials
however that Kōvalaṉ father first takes up the tale of his arrival there
at Vañji when Śenguṭṭuvaṉ actually entertained the holy ones, and
congratulates himself upon having had the benefit of what those holy
ones had to teach Śenguṭṭuvaṉ and his court. The purpose of his visit
he proceeds to narrate was to offer worship at the Caitya which his
own ancestor built in the outer gardens of the city of Vañji. The two
incidents are thrown together one after the other, and may be
mistaken at a somewhat casual reading. These passages in the
Maṇimēkhalai state in the clearest terms the contemporaneity of
Śenguṭṭuvaṉ Cēra to the events described in the Śilappadhikāram and
the Maṇimēkhalai. It is hardly necessary for us to go out of the
Maṇimēkhalai to establish this contemporaneity although we have
much valuable evidence to confirm it otherwise in the
Śilappadhikāram and the Śangam collection Padirruppattu.
Before concluding this part of the subject, it is necessary to consider
two points of some importance relevant to the subject. The first of
these is such astronomical details as we get in the Maṇimēkhalai
which may enable the fixing of a date by calculation, if need be. The
first chronological feature that appears is where the birthday asterism
of the Buddha is given in canto XI. The point of the reference is that
the [52] miraculous Buddha-seat is said to appear on the day when the
Buddha himself was born, namely in the season of the early sun, in the
second sign of the zodiac (Riṣabha), in the fourteenth asterism, ‘the
begging bowl would appear at the same point of time as the Buddha
himself.’ This is followed by a reference that that day and that hour
was that at which Tīvatilakai, the guardian deity was actually giving
this information.