History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c18.s2.14

c18.s2.14

The reference in *Manimēkalai* is longer and more important. The poem treats of the religious quest of the heroine Manimēkalai, who, after many adventures of a magical and mystical type, arrives at Vañji, where she finds many religious teachers of different sects, and listens to their doctrines. Already a convinced Buddhist, she decides that no other sect has any profound knowledge of the truth, and becomes a nun. The text is an example of a class of philosophical literature which, stripped of its fictional trappings, resulted in such works as Civañāṉacittiyār, and the Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha. The doctrines of the opposing sects are stated in Maṇimēkalai briefly, with an attempt at objectivity. Among the teachers of Vañji is “The Elder, knowing the book of the Ājīvikas”,¹ who delivers a lecture which is of great importance for the elucidation of Ājīvika doctrine and which will be considered in our second part. The author to whom the work is attributed, Cāttaṉ of Madurā, seems to have looked upon Vañji, the ancient capital of the Kerala kingdom, as a centre in which representatives of many religions and sects rubbed shoulders. His testimony suggests that Ājīvikism had by this time penetrated to Malabar. Some doubt exists as to the exact location of the ancient Vañji, which was probably at what is now Tiru-karur, near Cochin.²