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This post is part of the Tamil Heritage Month Initiative. Tamil Heritage Month
seeks to celebrate Tamil heritage, culture, and history. Throughout this month
and January, we will be providing you with educational material and poetry that
seeks to help us celebrate and understand our culture, roots and heritage.
From the outset, the name Iymperumkaapiyangal denotes to the five great
historical legends which provide the conceptual framework to understanding
ancient Tamil Sangam literature and to be specific, the 5 narratives include
Silappathikaaram, Manimekalai, Civaka Cinthamani, Valaiyapathy and
Kundalakesi. The first reference to the saga was seen Mayilainathars text
Nannul, from 14th century CE. However the actual titles of the tales were only
cited in the work Thiruthanikaiula. The great 5 epics delve deeply into the
themes crucial to the life of the individual Aram (Ethics), Porul (Meaning),
Inbam (Pleasure) and Veedu (Household). Hence, through an examination of the
way of life of historic Tamil populations, the legends contain morals and
philosophies of life to guide an individual towards a virtuous, just life.
Silappathikaaram deals with the story of Kannagi, a young virtuous and just
woman. To begin, Kannagi lived with her husband Kovalan in the city of
Poomboohaar (Puhar) of the Chola dynasty. Kovalan, after meeting Madhavi, he
had an extramarital affair with her and ended up spending his wealth on her.
After having realized his mistake, he returned to Kannagi with only a pair of
anklets (Silambu) and the couple decided to move to Madurai, in an effort to
start a new life. In Madurai, while trying to sell the anklets for cash, Kovalan was
accused of stealing the anklets of the Queen and was held captive by the Pandya
Based on the various settings of the text, Silappathikaaram is divided into 3 main
sections Puhaarkaandam, Maduraikaandam and Vanchikaandam. The
Puhaarkaandam, set in the territory of the Chola Empire, contains 10 Kaathais or
portions while Maduraikaandam includes 13 Kaathais and Vanchikaandam
consists of 7 Kaathais.
Kovalan and Kannagi reside in the Chola city of Poomboohaar, then pursue
economic activity in Madurai and then at last Kannagi finds her place with her
gods in the Chera city of Vanchi. Thus, Silappathikaaram confirms the existence
of the Chera, Chola and Pandya dynasties in Tamil history, in using these
dynasties as the historical backdrop to the story. Moreover, the literary work,
describes the 5 geographic regions which existed throughout the Sangam period.
Silappathikaaram also addresses the folklore traditions, songs as well as the
different traditional dance forms which existed and were highly valued by the
Tamils of this era.
In the epic Manimekalai, the main protagonist Manimekalai was the daughter of
Kovalan and Kannagi. Manimekelai, loved by Udayakumaaran (the Prince of the
Chola dynasty), was actually keen on pursuing a monastic, religious life.
Suddenly, she then encountered Manimekala Devi, the goddess of the sea with
whom Manimekalai arrives on the island Manipallavam. Manimekalai, in this
island then comes to learn about the power of the Dharma seat a devotee of
the Dharma seat is able to know about the events which may have taken place in
their past life. Manimekelai worshipped the Dharma seat and in return
DeevaTeevalakai, the goddess of the Dharma seat gave Manimekalai a bowl of
an extraordinary type called the Amuta Surabi. The Amutha Surabhi possessed
the capability of providing an infinite amount of food. After having received the
Amutha Surabi, Manimekelai set off to see Aravana Adigal in Kaveripattinam,
who explained to Manimekelai the purpose of life and existence. Finally, with all
this new wisdom and knowledge, Manimekalai decided to convert to the Buddhist
religion to become a Buddhist monk.
Through the story of Manimekelai, one is able to see the influence of Buddhism in
shaping Tamil culture and arts in 6th century CE. In addition, Manimekelai takes
place in the setting of Kaveripattinam which includes the region of Northeastern
Jaffna as well as the city Poomboohar this address the idea of how Tamils once
lived together historically before political and national borders were drawn.
Civaka Cinthaamani deals with the adventures of Civakan and his efforts to
reclaim his entitled throne. Long ago, there was a king by the name of
Sachchanthan who was engulfed in the sexual pleasure from his wife to the point
that he gave his kingdom to be ruled by his evil minister Kattiyangkaran.
Kattiyangkaran in return attempted to kill Sachchanthan. As a result,
Sachchanthan then sent his pregnant wife on a peacock as he tried to defeat
Kattiyangkaran. Landing on a cemetery, the Queen gave birth to Civakan who
then grew to become a hero. Civakan then embarked on his mission to defeat
Kattiyangkaran and to gain the throne that is rightfully his. He succeeded in his
task- only to realize that this life does not confer happiness and he decided to
live a monastic, religious life.
Civaka Cinthamani can retain its position as a significant text among the 5 great
epics as it was a writing that portrayed the dynamics of the Chola dynasty.
Specifically, Civaka Cinthamani was a text that depicted the Cholas support in
encouraging academics and culture. Through the epic, a great deal of
information is learned about a dynasty that was crucial to spreading Tamil pride
globally during the golden ages of Tamil heritage.
While only certain verses remain of the original tale Kundalakesi, the legend is
still a tale that ceases to exist in Tamil literature. This once again reinforces the
importance of the dark ages in Tamil literature in where many of the literary
works produced in Tamil disappeared as a result of imperial forces and natural
disasters. Despite so, Kundalakesi is still valued as an important tale because it
had been this tale which caused the birth of the new tale, Neelakesi. On this
note, one can say that Kundalakesi still remains as a source of influence for
present day Tamil literary pieces.