‘Silappadhikaram’ the story of the anklet, which describes the fury of a chaste woman, ruining the whole city

‘Silappadhikaram’, the epic of the anklet (silambu in Tamil) is one of the five great epics of Sangam Tamil literature. Its author is Saint Elango known as Elango Adikal. He was a senguttuvan brother prince of Cheran but renounced worldly life and took up Jain holiness to make way for his brother to occupy the throne, thus falsifying a saying that the younger brother would replace the older brother in the occupation of the throne. They were from the port capital, Vanchi, and the epic was written by the poet from the kingdom of Chera (now part of Modern Kerala).

Silappadhikaram’s story is nothing short of a modern suspense thriller. This was the first of its kind to portray ordinary citizens as heroes and heroines versus other epics that only have gods and kings as main characters. Its main female character, Kannagi, is celebrated as the goddess Durga throughout India and there is a temple known as Kannagi temple in Kerala. The story explains in detail the three kingdoms that prevail in South India, namely the Chola, Pandiya and Chera kingdoms that occupied then South India, their rulers, the life and practices of the people who lived in that times. Emphasis is placed on the high moral values ​​of the people and the excellent sense of justice among kings. Without a doubt, this is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature.

The story in brief:

Although the author Elango belonged to the kingdom of Chera, the main characters belonged to the kingdom of Chola. Kannagi, the female protagonist of the story, was the daughter of a prosperous businessman from Poompuhar, the coastal seat of the Chola kingdom. She was married to Kovalan, the son of another equally wealthy businessman. Their married life was very happy and peaceful until Kovalan met Madhavi, a beautiful dancer at a dance concert. Kovalan fell in love with Madhavi and began living with her, abandoning Kannagi. Both had a very happy coexistence until the day of Indira’s party. That day, along the Poompuhar beach, dance, music and merriment used to take place. During the joy, Madhavi sang a poem that indirectly implied that all men were women (including Kovalan, of course). Enraged by this, Kovalan left her and returned back to Kannagi. (Madhavi gave birth to a beautiful girl, Manimekalai, whose life was described in another Manimekalai epic. The two epics Silappadhikaram and Manimekalai are known as twin Tamil epics)

At that time, as is customary among those who live with concubines, Kovalan had lost all wealth and Kannagi was in possession of only two valuable anklets. They did not wish to return to their parents, but instead decided to leave the Chola kingdom and go to Madurai, the then capital of the Pandya kingdom.

They get a traveling companion by the name of Kavundhi adikal, a Buddhist saint who guided them to Madurai.

Once they reached Madurai, Kannagi gave Kovalan an anklet to sell at the market and went in search of a potential buyer. Unfortunately, just the day before, Pandiya Queen Kopperum Devi lost her anklet and spies were looking for the thief. The prospective buyer took it to The Royal goldsmith for verification. Unfortunately, the real culprit was the goldsmith, who locked him in a cell and informed the king that he had caught the thief.

The king, without hearing, ordered that he be beheaded immediately and his order was meticulously carried out.

What followed was the essence of the epic. Upon hearing the news, his wife Kannagi stormed into the king’s court with the remaining anklet in hand. She powerfully questioned the wisdom behind the sentence without probing and giving the accused a chance to defend themselves. Both King Pandiyan Nedncheziyan and Kopperundvi were speechless. Finally, in a weak defense, the king asked, “Where is the proof that your husband was innocent?” Kannagi vehemently joked, “It could have been better if you had asked this question before beheading my husband” and also defended her case by asking “What was the content of the queen’s anklet?” The queen replied that her anklets contained pearls. Kannagi demanded that Kovalan’s anklet be retrieved and she threw it hard to the ground. To everyone’s total disbelief, it contained ruby ​​beads. Not completely satisfied with the ordeal, Kannagi also broke her remaining anklet.

It! That also contained ruby ​​beads that proved without a doubt that Kannagi’s anklets were totally different from the queen’s. Kovalan’s was not the queen’s and an innocent person was brutally murdered by wrong judgment.

Unable to bear the impact, the king yelled “Am I a king, am I the thief?” (Naano Arasan? Naane Kalvan). Saying this, he fell from the throne and died immediately. The queen also immediately followed her husband dying instantly.

There was a great commotion in the court. The real thief, the royal goldsmith, was immediately arrested.

But Kannagi was not satisfied. No one could control the fury of that absolutely chaste woman. Due to his fierce gaze, the entire city of Madurai was set on fire. All were burned to death except good people, holy people, women, and livestock who were allowed to survive.

Finally, the story ends by describing the event of the gods descending from heaven and taking that goddess of virtue to her heavenly abode.

There is a temple for the goddess Kannaki built by the Cheran king Senguttuvan, older brother of Ilango Adikal, the author of Silappadhikaram. An annual festival is also held regularly to pray to the goddess Kannaki.

This is the story of Silappadhikaram and the merits are as follows:

The story is woven around the three capitals of ancient South India. Consequently, the whole plot revolves around three acts namely:

1. Puhar kandam, events in Poompuhar, capital of the Chola kingdom (central Tamilnadu)

2. Madurai kandam events in Madurai, capital of the kingdom of Pandiya (South Tamilnadu)

3. Vanchi kandam: events in Vanchi, capital of the kingdom of Chera (West Tamilnadu and Kerala)

Therefore, the cultural and commercial practices that are prevalent throughout South India from north to south and from east to west are well described. Trade contacts with foreign countries were also discussed in detail.

The wars won by the Tamil kings were well described.

Poetic standards have a very high literal value.

Three religions were given importance and their customs which are Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were well described.

The chastity of women was given due importance by making Kannaki the central character.

The first moral is “The chaste woman would be highly worshiped by superior people.”

The Karma of the previous birth will decide the punishments of the current birth. Thus highlighting the existence of various births, Karma and also the concept of destiny. The second moral is (“The karma of the previous birth will definitely give its judgments”)

The third moral is “if a king errs in his judgment, the God of Dharma would kill him without fail.”

You can see that these morals are woven into all the episodes.

Several great scholars have contributed to the Renaissance of the earlier classical epic. Among them, two scholars deserve a special mention.

Mahamahothpayaya (The Great Teacher) UV Swaminatha Iyer, a Tamil teacher who searched all the palm leaves and who made the printing of the book possible and Silampu selvar (Dean of the epic of the anklets) Shri Ma.Po.Sivagnam, who dedicated his life to writing, publishing and lecturing on this epic. In fact, there are dozens of Tamil scholars who have contributed to the great recognition of the epic.

Let us also have the pleasure of going through the epic in Tamil, English or both.