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No. 9.) A NOTE ON MANIGRAMATTAR OCCURRING IN TAMIL INSCRIPTIONS. 73
“However little credit we may be disposed to give to the story about the conversion of the king of Ceylon, or to the identification of that king with the Gothakabhaya of the Mahavamia, I see no reason for hesitating to believe the Indian tradition that Mapikkavasagar visited Malabar and reconverted two families of Christians to Hinduism. The descendents of those families, who are still known as Manigrāmakåns, are not admitted to full privileges as caste Hindus. Some traditions place the reconversion as having occurred about A. D. 270. If that date be at all nearly correct, the Malabar Church must be considerably older. So far as I can appreciate the value of the arguments from the history of Tamil literature, there seem to be good independent reasons for believing that Manikkavāśagar may have lived in the third century. Some authors even place him about the beginning of the second century. If he really lived so early, his relation with the Church in Malabar would confirm the belief in its apostolic origin."
Evidently the name Sanghamitra, occurring in the Mahāva inka, could not belong to the Jain or Hindu community; but since he is called a Tamil heretic therein, we must take him to be a Mahāyānist, who, to the Hinayanist, is a heretic. There is nothing against his being a Tamil Buddhist, but it is impossible to identify him with a Tamil Hindu, as was attempted by Mr. K. G. Sesha Ayyar. The description of Sanghamitra as "versed in the teachings concerning the exorcism of spirits and so forth" clearly evidences his mastery of the Bauddha Tantrism and never points to a Hindu. Månikkavābakar refers to Varagona-Pandya twice in his Tiruchchirrumbala-kkovai and this Varaguna is the same as the Varaguņa-Mahäraja who was crowned in A, D. 862; and I have long ago arrived at the conclusion that Māņikkavāsakar lived in the first half of the 10th century.!
No Tamil work dealing with the life of Māņikkavāsakar states that he went to the West Coast of the Madras Presidency. They are uniform in asserting that he went to Tirupperundurai, or the modern Avadaiyārköyil, in the eastern part of the Presidency. He must have gone to purchase horses brought down from Pegu and other places in the east-places which were familiar to the Tamils. It is only when the Arabs came to the West Coast in mediaeval times that horses were imported from Arabia. Till then the chief sources of the supply of horses must have been the Eastern Archipelago and Burma.
No. 10.--INSCRIBED BUDDHIST IMAGE FROM GOPALPUR.
BY THE LATE PANDIT V. NATESA AIYAR, B.A., M.R.A.S. The village of Gopalpur is situated some three miles to the south-east of Bheraghat popularly known as The Marble Rocks,' in the Jubbulpore District : it lies on the right bank of the Narmadā. The village contains only a few scattered houses: owing to its secluded position the place is seldom visited by travellers or tourists. Sir Alexander Cunningham, the pioneer archæologist, however, seems to have visited the spot in the winter of 1874; for in one of his reports he gives an account of an inscribed stone tablet of the Chedi dynasty which, he says, was discovered there previously by Professor Hall. It was this fact alone which induced me to explore the place while I was encamped at Bheräghåt some eight years ago. Although, unfortunately, the inscription in question could no longer be traced, I was lucky enough to discover within a fortified enclosure, which, I learnt, was then in the occupation of a certain sadhu, named Vindhya-sari, five elegantly carved stone images of the medieval period. At
Ibid pp. 73--79., and pp. 53–55; and Mackenzie, p 138. The late Dr. Pope, shortly before his death, expressed his acceptance of the opinion that Manikkaväégar lived not later than the fourth century (Tam. Ant 166. supra, p. 54).
See my article on the Age of Manikkavichaker" in the Madras Christian College Magasine for 1006. 4. S. R., Vol. IX, p. 99.
