The Buddha’s Bowl

One may compare Manimekhalai’s magic bowl, with the story of the Buddha’s bowl.
According to the Chinese pilgrim Fa Hsien, who was in India from 399-414 CE, a king of the Yeuh-shi [possibly Kanishka, the Kushana king of the first or second century CE] attempted to take the bowl away. But, no matter what he tried, the bowl would not leave the country.
‘The king knew that the time for an association between himself and the bowl had not yet arrived, and was sad and deeply ashamed with himself.’ He, therefore, built a stupa and a monastery where the bowl was kept. It was brought out at midday and in the evening. Fa-Hsien records : ‘Its thickness is about the fifth of an inch, and it has a bright and glossy lustre. When poor people throw into it a few flowers, it becomes immediately full, while some very rich people … might not stop till they had thrown in hundreds, thousands and myriads of bushels [of flowers] and yet would be unable to fill it.’