Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa and MaNimEkalai

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 3/3/99 8:03:54 AM Central Standard Time, lengqie at GMX.NET
writes:

> I previously believed that Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa is a South Indian
>  text.
>
>  K. P.  Jayaswal in his rendition of the historical part (part III of
>  Trivandrum edition - pp. 579-656) of the Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa
>  called "An imperial History of India in a Sanskrit text with a special
>  commentary on later Gupta period" published in 1934, claims on page
>  3 of the introduction that Ma~Nju/SrImUlakalpa was written in
>  Bengal.

Apparently, at one place, the author refers to vidiza (modern Bhelsa, M.P.) as
being situated between west and north (pazcimottarayomadhyam). This is taken
by scholars to imply that the place of authorship was probably dhAnyakaTaka.
You may want to compare this against the suggestion of Bengal and see which is
more likely.

>  Are there any ancient manuscripts or engravings related to
>  MaNimEkalai or how is its age prooved?

May be Dr. A. Veluppillai at Uppasala can discuss this more.

>  I heard that Danielou's translation of MaNimEkalai  is not very
>  accurate, if that is true - is there any better English translation?

See my posting "Re: Re Potala(ka), etc" on 2/27/99 for the reference.

>  It may be intersting to Mr. Sarma that AMMK also mentions /SrI
>  Parvata.
...
>  Is that related to Andhra?


Yes. It has been discussed by other scholars such as Lal Mani Joshi. Please
note even here it is "zrIparvata" and not just "parvata".

In an earlier posting Petr Mares mentioned that vajrabodhi visited Lanka
before he visited Ceylon. In this connection, has Petr explored why the name
of the river which originates from the Potiyil (malaya) mountain of south
India is also the name for the island of Ceylon, tAmraparNi?

maNimEkalai does mention cAvakam (Java).

According to Lal Mani Joshi the sarvatathAgatAdhiSThAna-vyUha, a semi-tantric
Buddhist text found in Gilgit and belonging to the 5th or 6th century A.D.
states that the Lord delivered this text at Potalaka parvata. Does anybody
know more about this text and what exactly it says regarding the location of
Potalaka? How old is the manuscript?

Regards
S. Palaniappan