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| Sunday, 30 January 2005 |
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Manimekhala, the Goddess of the Sea Sunday parable by Sunanda Mahendra Sankha, a poor good-hearted merchant was to set sail to a foreign land in search of wealth when he saw at a distance the approach of a Paccheka Buddha. Sankha worshipping the Buddha and said, "Our great lord, please accept this pair of sandals from me as a gift, as you are burning your feet by walking on the burning sandy sea shore."
Sankha was the merchant leader of the troupe who went in search of more wealth from the city of Molini to the city of Aritta. Sankha was quite pious, courageous and meditative in his day to day dealings. He worshipped his ageing mother and got her blessings too. "You are my only son and I want to see you as soon as possible. Have a safe journey," blessed the mother. Sankha had a servant, who was not too pious and in certain ways self-conscious. "You should change some of your habits. That will help you lead a better life here and hereafter," said Sankha several times to his servant, but the servant would not listen with much attention. "Are you ready now?" asked the master from his servant. "Yes master, the others are waiting for you." "Tell them that I will be with them as soon as possible and see that they have got everything ready for the long journey." The servant went to the ship and saw that everything was ready, the food, water and the rest of the things. Gradually the ship set sail and when more than half the journey was traversed there came an unforeseen disaster. To their great surprise they saw water seeping into the ship. Sankha was quite surprised to see this unusual happening, as it was he, who built it with much care. "Anyway let us be diligent and remove water from the ship in the best possible manner," said Sankha giving a helping hand to the others who came to help him. But the water kept on seeping rapidly. Sankha was for a moment was helpless and went on concentrating about his good deeds in his life. "May I be saved together with my retinue from this disaster through the blessings of the triple gem," he meditated. But it was a tough fight, with the sea water seeping into the ship. Gradually sinking it in mid sea. So what did the good merchant do? He wanted to sail the ship to a safer place. He could not gather his thoughts properly. Then he applied some ghee on his body and ate some of the remaining ghee to fill his stomach to avoid the impending hunger. He got the others to do the same. Then he climbed the topmast to watch the sea, while the others struggled hard to empty the water in the ship. At this point he saw some sharks and carnivorous approaching the ship to eat human flesh. Sankha avoided all of them through his powers of speech. "Get off you all for we are innocent humans ... please don't touch us. We have never harmed you in our life... So get off." The fish, who heard his voice avoided the scene and went off. Then came the most important event in the adventure, as the ship was sinking gradually, there was no way of helping the retinue. He wanted to take one by one on his back and swim on to the shore. He was determined to do that. For seven days and seven nights he was struggling to take one by one and swim across the mighty sea, when all of a sudden, he heard the voice of a woman, saying "Eat this food, Sankha. You are hungry aren't you?" He heard the voice several times, but did not want to pay any heed, thinking that it was his imagination. "Don't you hear me Sankha, I have come to rescue you as you, are one of the finest human beings." Sankha did not pay any heed, even to this statement. "This is surely a woman, who has come to entice me and bring me down from my meditative mood and act of truth, satyakriya," thought the good merchant sailor Sankha. Then came the stern voice. "You might not know me. I am Manimekhala, the Goddess of the Sea. I was watching the great struggle you underwent from the time of your departure. This sea is not going to devour you and your retinue of merchants." Saying thus the Goddess Manimekhala appeared from the sea to the surface and showed herself. Even at that moment he just smiled and attended to saving the lives of the others. "Get on to the new ship you all, and partake in the meals therein," at this gesture Sankha, looked at her and recognised what some of his elders had declared earlier to him, when he was a very young man. They had said, "The Goddess Manimekhala is one of the great helpers of sailors, when they are in trouble. She has the ability to make the sea calm or callous as she desires and that is her nature. She can be good to any good sailor or a crew of travellers. So one must take Goddess Manimekhala seriously," he recalled the voices of the elders. "Are you Manimekhala?" Sankha asked her "Yes I am," she replied and was silent for sometime. Then said "Your new ship is ready. Get into it as soon as possible. See that you sail to the city of Aritta safely and earn wealth for your mother who is waiting for you." Sankha thanked Goddess Manimekhala and called his retinue of merchants. "Get into the new ship of the Goddess Manimekhala." They all realised that there was some power within Sankha that helped them all in the middle of the sea. They all became much more pious than they were before. Then they all got into the new ship, sailed safely and earned wealth and returned to their city to tell the story. (The stories connected with the Goddess of the Sea Manimekhala appear in several jataka stories such as Sankhajataka and Mahajanaka jataka in the collection of pansiyapanas jataka pota or five hundred and fifty jataka stories. Perhaps from those sources many a story had entered into literature). |
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The Buddha accepted the gift and wished Sankha a safe journey. Then the
merchant offered a meal made out of honey to be put into the begging bowl.
