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9/20/22, 1:24 AM Cilappatikaram - Wikipedia
Cilappatikaram
Cilappatikāram (Tamil: சிலப்பதிகாரம் , Malayalam: Topics in Tamil literature
ചിലപ്പതികാരം IPA: ʧiləppət̪ ikɑːrəm, lit. "the Tale of an Sangam Literature
Anklet"),[1] also referred to as Silappathikaram[2] or Five Great Epics
Silappatikaram,[3] is the earliest Tamil epic.[4] It is a poem of Silappatikaram Manimekalai
5,730 lines in almost entirely akaval (aciriyam) meter.[5] The epic is
Cīvaka
a tragic love story of an ordinary couple, Kannaki and her husband Valayapathi
Cintāmaṇi
Kovalan.[6][7] The Silappathikaram has more ancient roots in the
Kundalakesi
Tamil bardic tradition, as Kannaki and other characters of the story
are mentioned or alluded to in the Sangam literature such as in the Bhakthi Literature
Naṟṟiṇai and later texts such as the Kovalam Katai.[8][9][10] It is Divya
Tevaram
attributed to a prince-turned-monk Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ, and was probably Prabandha
composed in the 5th or 6th century CE.[2][5][11] Tirumuṟai
Tamil people
The Silappatikaram is set in a flourishing seaport city of the early Sangam
Chola kingdom. Kannaki and Kovalan are a newly married couple, Sangam
landscape
in love, and living in bliss.[12] Over time, Kovalan meets Matavi Tamil history
(Madhavi) – a courtesan. He falls for her, leaves Kannaki and moves Ancient
from Sangam
in with Matavi. He spends lavishly on her. Kannaki is heartbroken, Tamil music
literature
but as the chaste woman, she waits despite her husband's
unfaithfulness. During the festival for Indra, the rain god, there is a singing competition.[12] Kovalan
sings a poem about a woman who hurt her lover. Matavi then sings a song about a man who betrayed
his lover. Each interprets the song as a message to the other. Kovalan feels Matavi is unfaithful to him,
and leaves her. Kannaki is still waiting for him. She takes him back.[12]
Kannaki (above) is the central character of the Cilappatikāram epic. Statues, reliefs and temple iconography of
Kannaki are found particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Kannagi and Kovalan leave the city and travel to Madurai the capital of the Pandya kingdom. Kovalan
is penniless and destitute. He confesses his mistakes to Kannagi. She forgives him and tells him the
pain his unfaithfulness gave her. Then she encourages her husband to rebuild their life together and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilappatikaram 1/15
gives him one of her jeweled anklets to sell to raise starting capital.[13] Kovalan sells it to a merchant,
but the merchant falsely frames him as having stolen the anklet from the queen. The king arrests
Kovalan and then executes him, without the due checks and processes of justice.[12][14] When Kovalan
does not return home, Kannagi goes searching for him. She learns what has happened. She protests
the injustice and then proves Kovalan's innocence by throwing in the court the other jeweled anklet of
the pair. The king accepts his mistake. Kannagi curses the king and curses the people of Madurai,
tearing off her breast and throwing it at the gathered public. The king dies. The society that had made
her suffer, suffers in retribution as the city of Madurai is burnt to the ground because of her
curse.[13][14] In the third section of the epic, gods and goddesses meet Kannagi at Cheranadu and she
goes to heaven with god Indra. The King Cheran Chenkuttuvan and royal family of the Chera kingdom
(Today Kerala) learns about her, resolves to build a temple with Kannagi as the featured goddess.
They go to the Himalayas, bring a stone, carve her image, call her goddess Pattini, dedicate a temple,
order daily prayers, and perform a royal sacrifice.[12]
The Silappathikaram is an ancient literary masterpiece. It is to the Tamil culture what the Iliad is to
the Greek culture, states R. Parthasarathy.[12] It blends the themes, mythologies and theological
values found in the Jain, Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions. It is a Tamil story of love and
rejection, happiness and pain, good and evil like all classic epics of the world. Yet unlike other epics
that deal with kings and armies caught up with universal questions and existential wars, the
Silappathikaram is an epic about an ordinary couple caught up with universal questions and internal,
emotional war.[15] The Silappathikaram legend has been a part of the Tamil oral tradition. The palm-
leaf manuscripts of the original epic poem, along with those of the Sangam literature, were
rediscovered in monasteries in the second half of the 19th century by UV Swaminatha Aiyar – a pandit
and Tamil scholar. After being preserved and copied in temples and monasteries in the form of palm-
leaf manuscripts, Aiyar published its first partial edition on paper in 1872, the full edition in 1892.
Since then the epic poem has been translated into many languages including English.[16][17][18][19]
Contents
Nomenclature
Author
Date
Contents
Structure of Silappatikaram
Main characters
Story
Literary value and significance
Sanskrit epics
Tamil nationalism
Preservation
Reception
Translations
Rewritings
In popular culture
See also
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
External links
Nomenclature
According to V R Ramachandra Dikshitar, the title Silappatikāram – also spelled Silappadikaram[20]
– is a combination of two words, "silambu" (anklet) and "adikaram" (the story about). It therefore
connotes a "story that centers around an anklet".[21] The content and context around that center is
elaborate, with Atiyarkkunallar describing it as an epic story told with poetry, music, and drama.[4]
Author
The Tamil tradition attributes Silappatikaram to the Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ ("the
venerable ascetic prince"), also spelled Ilango Adigal.[23] He is reputed
to be as Jain Monk and the brother of Chera king Chenkuttuvan, whose
family and rule are described in the Fifth Ten of the Patiṟṟuppattu, a
poem of the Sangam literature. In it or elsewhere, however, there is no
evidence that the famous king had a brother.[24][23] The Sangam poems
never mention Ilango Adigal, the epic or the name of any other author
for the epic. The Ilango Adigal name appears in a much later dated
patikam (prologue) attached to the poem, and the authenticity of this
attribution is doubtful.[23] According to Gananath Obeyesekere, the
story of the purported Silappadikaram author Ilango Adigal as the
brother of a famous Chera king "must be later interpolations",
something that was a characteristic feature of early literature.[25]
The mythical third section about gods meeting Kannaki after Kovalan's Statues and reliefs of Ilango
death, in the last Canto, mentions a legend about a prince turned into a Adigal are found in India and
monk. This has been conflated as the story of the attributed author as a Sri Lanka. He is believed to
witness. However, little factual details about the real author(s) or be the author of
evidence exist.[23] Given the fact that older Tamil texts mention and Silappatikaram.[22]
allude to the Kannaki's tragic love story, states Parthasarathy, the
author was possibly just a redactor of the oral tradition and the epic
poem was not a product of his creative genius.[23] The author was possibly a Jaina scholar, as in
several parts of the epic, the key characters of the epic meet a Jaina monk or nun.[23] The epic's praise
of the Vedas, Brahmins, inclusion of temples, Hindu gods and goddesses and ritual worship give the
text a cosmopolitan character, and to some scholars evidence to propose that author was not
necessarily a Jaina ascetic.[26][27][28]
According to Ramachandra Dikshitar, the ascetic-prince legend about Ilango Adigal as included in the
last canto of Silappadikaram is odd. In the epic, Ilango Adigal attends a Vedic sacrifice with the Chera
king Cenkuttuvan after the king brings back the Himalayan stone to make a statue of Kannaki.[29] If
the author Ilango Adigal was a Jain ascetic, and given our understanding of Jainism's historic view on
the Vedas and Vedic sacrifices, why would he attend a function like the Vedic sacrifice, states
Ramachandra Dikshitar.[30] This, and the fact that the epic comfortably praises Shaiva and Vaishnava
lifestyle, festivals, gods and goddesses, has led some scholars to propose that author of this epic was a
Hindu.[29]
Ilango Adigal has been suggested to be a contemporary of Sattanar, the author of Manimekalai.
However, evidence for such suggestions has been lacking.[31]
Date
In the modern era, some Tamil scholars have linked the Ilango Adigal legend about he being the
brother of king Cenkuttuvan, as a means to date this text. A Chera king Cenkuttuvan is tentatively
placed in the 100–250 CE, and the traditionalists, therefore, place the text to the same period.[32][26]
In 1939, for example, the Tamil literature scholar Ramachandra Dikshitar presented a number of
events mentioned within the text and thereby derived that the text was composed about 171 CE.[33][34]
According to Dhandayudham, the epic should be dated to between the 3rd and 5th century.[35]
Ramachandra Dikshitar analysis that the epic was composed before the Pallava dynasty emerged as a
major power in the 6th-century is accepted by most scholars, because there is no mention of the
highly influential Pallavas in the epic. His chronological estimate of 171 CE for Silappadikaram
cannot be far from the real date of composition, states Alain Daniélou – a French Indologist who
translated the Silappadikaram in 1965. Daniélou states that the epic – along with the other four
Tamil epics – were all composed sometime between the last part of the Sangam and the subsequent
centuries, that is "3rd to 7th-century".[36]
Other scholars, such as Kamil Zvelebil – a Tamil literature and history scholar, state that the legends
in the epic itself are a weak foundation for dating the text.[37] A stronger foundation is the linguistics,
events and other sociological details in the text when compared to those in other Tamil literature, new
words and grammatical forms, and the number of non-Tamil loan words in the text. The Sangam era
texts of the 100–250 CE period are strikingly different in style, language structure, the beliefs, the
ideologies, and the customs portrayed in the Silappathikram, which makes the early dating
implausible.[37] Further, the epic's style, structure and other details are quite similar to the texts
composed centuries later. These point to a much later date. According to Zvelebil, the Silappathikram
that has survived into the modern era "cannot have been composed before the 5th- to 6th-
century".[37]
According to other scholars, such as Iyengar, the first two sections of the epic were likely the original
epic, and third mythical section after the destruction of Madurai is likely a later extrapolation, an
addendum that introduces a mix of Jaina, Hindu and Buddhist stories and practices, including the
legend about the ascetic prince. The hero (Kovalan) is long dead, and the heroine (Kannaki) follows
him shortly thereafter into heaven, as represented in the early verses of the third section. This part
adds nothing to the story, is independent, is likely to be of a much later century.[37]
Other scholars, including Zvelebil, state that this need not necessarily be so. The third section covers
the third of three major kingdoms of the ancient Tamil region, the first section covered the Cholas and
the second the Pandya. Further, states Zvelebil, the deification of Kannaki keeps her theme active and
is consistent with the Tamil and the Indian tradition of merging a legend into its ideas of rebirth and
endless existence.[37] The language, and style of the third section is "perfectly homogeneous" with the
first two, it does not seem to be the work of multiple authors, and therefore the entire epic should be
considered a complete masterpiece.[37][34] Fred Hardy, in contrast, states that some sections have
clearly and cleverly been interpolated into the main epic, and these additions may be of 7th- to 8th
century.[38] Daniélou concurs that the epic may have been "slightly" reshaped and enlarged in the
centuries after the original epic was composed, but the epic as it has survived into the modern age is
quite homogeneous and lacks evidence of additions by multiple authors.[39]
Iravatham Mahadevan states that the mention of a weekday (Friday) in the text and the negative
portrayal of a Pandya king narrows the probable date of composition to between 450 and 550 CE.
This is because the concept of weekdays did not exist in India until the 5th century CE, and the
Pandya dynasty only regained power in 550 CE, thus meaning that Jains could freely criticise them
without any threat to their lives.[40]
Contents
Structure of Silappatikaram
The Silappatikaram is divided into three kantams (book, Skt:

khanda), which are further subdivided into katais (cantos, Skt:
katha). The three kantams are named after the capitals of the
three major early Tamil kingdoms:[41]
Puharkkandam (Tamil: புகார்க் காண் டம் ), based in the

Chola capital of Pugaar (Kaveripumpattanam, where river
Kaveri meets the Bay of Bengal). This book is where Kannagi
and Kovalan start their married life and Kovalan leaves his
The epic is based in the ancient
wife for the courtesan Madhavi. This contains 9 cantos or
kingdoms of Chola (Book 1),
divisions. The first book is largely akam (erotic love) genre.[41]
Pandya (Book 2) and Chera (Book
Maturaikkandam (Tamil: மதுரைக் காண் டம் ), based in 3).
Madurai which then was the capital of the Pandya kingdom.
This book is where the stories about the couple are told after
leaving Puhar and as they try to rebuild their lives. This is also where Kovalan is unjustly executed
after being falsely framed for stealing the queen's anklet. This book ends with the apotheosis of
Kannaki, as gods and goddesses meet her and she herself is revealed as a goddess. The second
book contains 11 cantos, and belongs to the puranam (mythic) genre of Tamil literature, states
Parthasarathy.[41]
Vanchikkandam (Tamil: வஞ்சிக் காண் டம் ), based in the capital of Chera country, Vanci. The
third book begins after Kannaki has ascended to the heavens in the chariot of Indra. The epic tells
the legends around the Chera king, queen and army resolving to build a temple for her as
goddess Pattini. It contains the Chera journey to the Himalayas, the battles along the way and
finally the successful completion of the temple for Kannaki's worship. This book contains 5 cantos.
The book is the puram (heroic) genre.[41]
The katais range between 53 and 272 lines each. In addition to the 25 cantos, the epic has 5 song
cycles:[41]
The love songs of the seaside grove

The song and dance of the hunters
The round dance of the herdswomen
The round dance of the hill dwellers
The benediction
Main characters
Kannagi – the heroine and central character of the epic; she is the
simple, quiet, patient and faithful housewife fully dedicated to her
unfaithful husband in book 1; who transforms into a passionate,
heroic, rage-driven revenge seeker of injustice in book 2; then
becomes a goddess that inspires Chera people to build her temple,
invade, fight wars to get a stone from the Himalaya, make a statue
of Kannaki and begin the worship of goddess Pattini.[42] Lines 1.27–
29 of the epic introduces her with allusions to the Vedic mythology
of Samudra Manthan, as, "She is Lakshmi herself, goddess of
peerless beauty that rose from the lotus, and chaste as the
immaculate Arundhati".[43]
Statue of Kannagi at Chennai
Kovalan - husband of Kannaki, son of a wealthy charitable kind Marina Beach.
merchant in the seaport capital city of early Chola kingdom at
Poomphuhar; Kovalan inherits his wealth, is handsome, and the
women of the city want him. The epic introduces him in lines 1.38–
41 with "Seasoned by music, with faces luminous as the moon, women confided among
themselves: "He [Kovalan] is the god of love himself, the incomparable Murukan". His parents and
Kannaki's parents meet and arrange their marriage, and the two are married in Canto 1 of the epic
around the ceremonial fire with a priest completing the holy wedding rites.[44] For a few years,
Kannaki and he live a blissful householder's life together. The epic alludes to this first phase of life
as (lines 2.112–117), "Like snakes coupled in the heat of passion, or Kama and Rati smothered in
each other's arms, so Kovalan and Kannakai lived in happiness past speaking, spent themselves
in every pleasure, thinking: we live on earth but a few days", according to R Parthasarathy's
translation.[45]
Madhavi - A young, beautiful courtesan dancer; the epic introduces her in Canto 3 and describes
her as descended from the line of Urvasi – the celestial dancer in the court of Indra. She studies
folk and classical dances for 7 years from the best teachers of the Chola kingdom, perfects the
postures and rhythmic dancing to all musical instruments and revered songs. She is spellbinding
on stage, wins the highest award for her dance performance: a garland made of 1,008 gold leaves
and flowers.[45]
Vasavadaththai - Madhavi's female friend
Kosigan - Madhavi's messenger to Kovalan
Madalan - A Brahmin visitor to Madurai from Poomphuhar (Book 2)
Kavunthi Adigal - A Jain nun (Book 2)
Neduncheliyan - Pandya king (Book 2)
Kopperundevi - Pandya Queen (Book 2)
Indra – the god who brings Kannaki to heaven (Book 3)
Senguttuvan - Chera king who invades and defeats all Deccan and north Indian kingdoms to bring
a stone from the Himalayas for a temple dedicated to Kannaki (Book 3)
Story
Book 1 Canto V of Silappadikaram
The entire Canto V is devoted to the

The Cilappatikaram is set in a flourishing seaport city of festival of Indra, which takes place in
the early Chola kingdom. Kannaki and Kovalan are a the ancient city of Puhar. The
newly married couple, in love, and living in bliss.[12] Over festivities begin at the temple of the
time, Kovalan meets Matavi (Madhavi) – a courtesan. He
falls for her, leaves Kannaki and moves in with Matavi. He white elephant [Airavata, the mount
spends lavishly on her. Kannaki is heartbroken, but as the of Indra] and they continue in the
chaste woman, she waits despite her husband's temples of Unborn Shiva, of
unfaithfulness. During the festival for Indra, the rain god, Murugan [beauteous god of Youth],
there is a singing competition.[12] Kovalan sings a poem of nacre white Valliyon [Balarama]
about a woman who hurt her lover. Matavi then sings a brother of Krishna, of dark Vishnu
song about a man who betrayed his lover. Each interprets called Nediyon, and of Indra himself
the song as a message to the other. Kovalan feels Matavi is with his string of pearls and his
unfaithful to him, and leaves her. Kannaki is still waiting victorious parasol. Vedic rituals are
for him. She takes him back.[12] performed and stories from the
Puranas are told, while temples of the
Book 2 Jains and their charitable institutions
can be seen about the city.
Kannaki and Kovalan leave the city and travel to Madurai
of the Pandya kingdom. Kovalan is penniless and
destitute. He confesses his mistakes to Kannaki. She —Elizabeth Rosen, Review of Alain
forgives him and tells him the pain his unfaithfulness gave Daniélou's translation of
her. Then she encourages her husband to rebuild their life Silappatikaram[46]
together and gives him one of her jeweled anklets to sell to
raise starting capital.[12] Kovalan sells it to a merchant,
but the merchant falsely frames him as having stolen the
anklet from the queen. The king arrests Kovalan and then executes him, without the due checks and
processes of justice.[12][14] When Kovalan does not return home, Kannaki goes searching for him. She
learns what has happened. She protests the injustice and then proves Kovalan's innocence by
throwing in the court the other jeweled anklet of the pair. The king accepts his mistake. Kannaki
curses the king and curses the people of Madurai, tearing off her breast and throwing it at the
gathered public, triggering the flames of a citywide inferno. The remorseful king dies in shock.
Madurai is burnt to the ground because of her curse.[12][14] The violence of the Kannaki fire kills
everyone, except "only Brahmins, good men, cows, truthful women, cripples, old men and children",
states Zvelebil.[47]
Book 3
Kannaki leaves Madurai and heads into the mountainous region of the Chera kingdom. Gods and
goddesses meet Kannaki, the king of gods Indra himself comes with his chariot, and Kannaki goes to
heaven with Indra. The royal family of the Chera kingdom learns about her, resolves to build a temple
with Kannaki as the featured goddess. They go to the Himalayas, bring a stone, carve her image, call
her goddess Pattini, dedicate a temple, order daily prayers, and perform a royal sacrifice.[12]
Literary value and significance

The manuscripts of the epic include a prologue called patikam. This is likely a later addition to the
older epic.[48] It, nevertheless, shows the literary value of the epic to later Tamil generations:
We shall compose a poem, with songs,

To explain these truths: even kings, if they break
The law, have their necks wrung by dharma;
Great men everywhere commend
wife of renowned fame; and karma ever
Manifests itself, and is fulfilled. We shall call the poem
The Cilappatikāram, the epic of the anklet,
Since the anklet brings these truths to light.[49]
Twenty five cantos of the Silappatikaram are set in the akaval meter, a meter found in the more
ancient Tamil Sangam literature. It has verses in other meters and contains five songs also in a
different meter. These features suggest that the epic was performed in the form of stage drama that
mixed recitation of cantos with the singing of songs.[50] The 30 cantos were recites as monologues.[51]
Sanskrit epics
The Tamil epic has many references and allusions to the Sanskrit epics and puranic legends. For
example, it describes the fate of Poompuhar suffering the same agony as experienced by Ayodhya
when Rama leaves for exile to the forest as instructed by his father.[52] The Aycciyarkuravai section
(canto 27), makes mention of the Lord who could measure the three worlds, going to the forest with
his brother, waging a war against Lanka and destroying it with fire.[52] These references indicate that
the Ramayana was known to the Silappatikaram audience many centuries before the Kamba
Ramayanam of the 12 Century CE.[52]
According to Zvelebil, the Silappatikaram mentions the Mahabharata and calls it the "great war",
just like the story was familiar to the Sangam era poets too as evidenced in Puram 2 and Akam 233.[4]
One of the poets is nicknamed as "The Peruntevanar who sang the Bharatam [Mahabharatam]", once
again confirming that the Tamil poets by the time Silappatikaram was composed were intimately
aware of the Sanskrit epics, the literary structure and significance of Mahakavyas genre.[53] To be
recognized as an accomplished extraordinary poet, one must compose a great kavya has been the
Tamil scholarly opinion prior to the modern era, states Zvelebil. These were popular and episodes
from such maha-kavya were performed as a form of dance-drama in public. The Silappatikaram is a
Tamil epic that belongs to the pan-India kavya epic tradition.[53] The Tamil tradition and medieval
commentators such as Mayilaintar have included the Silappatikaram as one of the
aimperunkappiyankal, which literally means "five great kavyas".[54]
According to D. Dennis Hudson – a World Religions and Tamil literature scholar, the Silappatikaram
is the earliest and first complete Tamil reference to Pillai (Nila, Nappinnai, Radha), who is described
in the epic as the cowherd lover of Krishna.[55] The epic includes abundant stories and allusions to
Krishna and his stories, which are also found in ancient Sanskrit Puranas. In the canto where Kannaki
is waiting for Kovalan to return after selling her anklet to a Madurai merchant, she is in a village with
cowgirls.[55] These cowherd girls enact a dance, where one plays Mayavan (Krishna), another girl
plays Tammunon (Balarama), while a third plays Pinnai (Radha). The dance begins with a song listing
Krishna's heroic deeds and his fondness for Radha, then they dance where sage Narada plays music.
Such scenes where cowgirls imitate Krishna's life story are also found in Sanskrit poems of
Harivamsa and Vishnu Purana, both generally dated to be older than Silappatikaram.[55] The Tamil
epic calls portions of it as vāla caritai nāṭaṅkaḷ, which mirrors the phrase balacarita nataka –
dramas about the story of the child [Krishna]" – in the more ancient Sanskrit kavyas.[55][note 1]
According to the Indologist Friedhelm Hardy, this canto and others in the Tamil epic reflect a culture
where "Dravidian, Tamil, Sanskrit, Brahmin, Buddhist, Jain and many other influences" had already
fused into a composite whole in the South Indian social consciousness.[57]
According to Zvelebil, the Silappadikaram is the "first literary expression and the first ripe fruit of the
Aryan-Dravidian synthesis in Tamilnadu".[58]
Tamil nationalism
In early 20th-century, the Silappadikaram became a rallying basis for some Tamil nationalists based
in Sri Lanka and colonial-era Madras Presidency. The epic is considered as the "first consciously
national work" and evidence of the fact that the "Tamils had by that time [mid 1st-millennium CE]
attained nationhood",[59] or the first expression of a sense of Tamil cultural integrity and Tamil
dominance.[54] This view is shared by some modernist Tamil playwrights, movie makers, and
politicians. According to Norman Cutler, this theme runs in recent works such as the 1962 re-
rendering of the Silappadikaram into Kannakip Puratcikkappiyam by Paratitacan, and the 1967 play
Cilappatikaram: Natakak Kappiyam by M. Karunanidhi – an influential politician and a former
Chief Minister behind the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravidian movement.[54] These versions,
some by avowed atheists, have retold the Silappadikaram epic "to propagate their ideas of [Tamil]
cultural identity", along with a hostility to "the North, the racially different Aryans, the Brahmins",
and the so-called "alien culture", according to Prabha Rani and Vaidyanathan Shivkumar.[60]
The Tamil nationalistic inspiration derived from the Silappadikaram is a selective reading and
appropriation of the great epic, according to Cutler.[61] It cherrypicks and brackets some rhetorical
and ideological elements from the epic, but ignores the rest that make the epic into a complete
masterpiece.[60][61] In the third book of the epic, the Tamil king Cenkuttuvan defeats his fellow Tamil
kings and then invades and conquers the Deccan and the north Indian kingdoms. Yet, states Cutler,
the same book places an "undeniable prestige" for a "rock from the Himalayas", the "river Ganges"
and other symbols from the north to honor Kannaki.[61] Similarly, the Pandyan and the Chera king in
various katais, as well as the three key characters of the epic (Kannaki, Kovalan and Madhavi) in
other katais of the Silappadikaram pray in Hindu temples dedicated to Shiva, Murugan, Vishnu,
Krishna, Balarama, Indra, Korravai (Parvati), Saraswati, Lakshmi, and others.[62] The Tamil kings are
described in the epic as performing Vedic sacrifices and rituals, where Agni and Varuna are invoked
and the Vedas are chanted. These and numerous other details in the epic were neither of Dravidian
roots nor icons, rather they reflect an acceptance of and reverence for certain shared pan-Indian
cultural rituals, symbols and values, what Himalayas and Ganges signify to the Indic culture. The epic
rhetorically does present a vision of a Tamil imperium, yet it also "emphatically is not exclusively
Tamil", states Cutler.[61][62]
According to V R Ramachandra Dikshitar, the epic provides no evidence of sectarian conflict between
the Indian religious traditions.[62] In Silappadikaram, the key characters pray and participate in both
Shaiva and Vaishnava rituals, temples and festivals. In addition, they give help and get help from the
Jains and the Ajivikas.[62] There are Buddhist references too in the Silappadikaram such as about
Mahabodhi, but these are very few – unlike the other Tamil epic Manimekalai. Yet, all these
references are embedded in a cordial community, where all share the same ideas and belief in karma
and related premises. The major festivals described in the epic are pan-Indian and these festivals are
also found in ancient Sanskrit literature.[62]
Preservation
U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855-1942 CE), a Shaiva Hindu and Tamil scholar, rediscovered the palm-leaf
manuscripts of the original epic poem, along with those of the Sangam literature, in Hindu
monasteries near Kumbakonam. These manuscripts were preserved and copied in temples and
monasteries over the centuries, as palm-leaf manuscripts degrade in the tropical climate. This
rediscovery in the second half of the 19th-century and the consequent publication brought
Cilappatikaram to readers and scholars outside the temples. This helped trigger an interest in ancient
Tamil literature. Aiyar published its first partial edition in 1872, the full edition in 1892. Since then
the epic poem has been translated into many languages.[16][17][18]
S Ramanathan (1917-1988 CE) has published articles on the musical aspects of the Silappadikaram.
Reception
To some critics, Manimekalai is more interesting than Silappadikaram, but in terms of literary
evaluation, it seems inferior.[63] According to Panicker, there are effusions in Silappadikaram in the
form of a song or a dance, which does not go well with western audience as they are assessed to be
inspired on the spur of the moment.[64] According to a Calcutta review, the three epic works on a
whole have no plot and no characterization to qualify for an epic genre.[65]
A review by George L. Hart, a professor of Tamil language at the University of California, Berkeley,
"the Silappatikaram is to Tamil what the Iliad and Odyssey are to Greek — its importance would be
difficult to overstate."[66]
Translations
The first translation of Silappadikaram was published in 1939 by V R Ramachandra Dikshitar
(Oxford University Press).[20] In 1965, another translation of the epic was published by Alain
Danielou.[67] R. Parthasarathy's English translation was published in 1993 by Columbia University
Press, and reprinted in 2004 by Penguin Books. Paula Saffire of Butler University state that
Parthasarathy's translation is "indispensable" and more suited for scholarly studies due to its
accuracy, while Danielou's translation was more suited to those seeking the epic's spirit and an easier
to enjoy poem.[68]
The Parthasarathy translation won the 1996 A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation.[69]
The epic has been translated into French by Alain Daniélou and RN Desikan in 1961, into Czech by
Kamil Zvelebil in 1965, and into Russian by JJ Glazov in 1966.[70]
Rewritings
Veteran Tamil writer Jeyamohan rewrote the whole epic into a novel as Kotravai in 2005. The novel
having adapted the original plot and characters, it revolves around the ancient South Indian
traditions, also trying to fill the gaps in the history using multiple narratives. H. S. Shivaprakash a
leading poet and playwright in Kannada has also re-narrated a part from the epic namely
Madurekanda. It has also been re-narrated in Hindi by famous Hindi writer Amritlal Nagar in his
novel Suhag Ke Nupur which was published in 1960. He had also written a 1.25 hour radio-play on the
story which was broadcast on Aakashvani in 1952.
In popular culture
There have been multiple movies based on the story of Silappathikaram and the most famous is the
portrayal of Kannagi by actress Kannamba in the 1942 movie Kannagi. P. U. Chinnappa played the
lead as Kovalan. The movie faithfully follows the story of Silappathikaram and was a hit when it was
released. The movie Poompuhar, penned by M. Karunanidhi is also based on Silapathikaram.[71]

There are multiple dance dramas as well by some of the great exponents of Bharatanatyam in Tamil as
most of the verses of Silappathikaram can be set to music.
Silappatikaram also occupies much of the screen time in the 15th and 16th episodes of the television
series Bharat Ek Khoj. Pallavi Joshi played the role of Kannagi and Rakesh Dhar played that of
Kovalan.
Poompuhar (film)
Paththini (2016 film) in Sinhala - Sri Lanka
Kodungallooramma film in Malayalam (1968)
Upasana - Television Series in Hindi (1996) (doordarshan)
Aalayam - Television Series in Tamil (1996) (dubbed version of Upasana)
See also
Five Great Epics
Notes
1. Similarly, other cantos describe stories of Durga and Shiva found in the Puranas of the Shaivism
tradition.[56]
References
1. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, p. title, 1-3.
2. Amy Tikkanen (2006). Silappathikaram (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Silappathikaram).
Encyclopædia Britannica.
3. Rani, Prabha (2011). "When Kannaki Was Given a Voice". Studies in History. SAGE Publications.
27 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1177/025764301102700101 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F02576430110270010
1). S2CID 163374098 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:163374098).
4. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, p. 130.
5. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 5–6.
6. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 1–6, backpage.
7. Ate, L. (2014). "O ra pakuti--a 'Single Part' of the Tamil Epic Cilappatikaram and its significance to
the study of South Indian Vaisnavism". The Journal of Hindu Studies. Oxford University Press. 7
(3): 325–340. doi:10.1093/jhs/hiu027 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjhs%2Fhiu027).
8. Pollock 2003, pp. 296–297.
9. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 51–52.
10. E.T. Jacob-Pandian (1977). K Ishwaran (ed.). Contributions to Asian Studies: 1977 (https://books.
google.com/books?id=VRMVAAAAIAAJ). Brill Academic. pp. 56–57. ISBN 90-04-04926-6.
11. Mahadevan, I. (2014). Early Tamil Epigraphy - From the Earliest Times to the Sixth century C.E.,
2nd Edition. pp. 191–193.
13. Indira Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 2–5.
14. E.T. Jacob-Pandian (1977). K Ishwaran (ed.). Contributions to Asian Studies: 1977 (https://books.
google.com/books?id=VRMVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA56). Brill Academic. pp. 56–59. ISBN 90-04-
04926-6.
16. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 1–7, 347–351.
17. Pollock 2003, pp. 297–301.
18. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 7–8 with footnotes.
19. Rajarajan 2016, p. .
20. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939.
21. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, p. 1.
22. Rosen, Elizabeth S. (1975). "Prince ILango Adigal, Shilappadikaram (The anklet Bracelet),
translated by Alain Damelou. Review". Artibus Asiae. 37 (1/2): 148–150. doi:10.2307/3250226 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.2307%2F3250226). JSTOR 3250226 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3250226).
24. Nilakanta Sastri 2002, p. 397.
25. Gananath Obeyesekere (1970). "Gajabahu and the Gajabahu Synchronism" (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=GV3abjkKdB4C). The Ceylon Journal of the Humanities. University of Sri Lanka.
1: 44.
26. Pollock 2003, pp. 296–298.
27. Alf Hiltebeitel (2011). Vishnwa Adluri; Joydeep Bagchee (eds.). When the Goddess was a Woman
(https://books.google.com/books?id=ZupXwid01CoC). BRILL Academic. pp. 139–141. ISBN 978-
90-04-19380-2., Quote: "Nor am I convinced that Pattini, even in Cilappatikaram, can be claimed
as originally Jain-Buddhist but not Hindu. Indeed the Cilappatikaram itself is also about the
Pandyan king of Madurai and especially the Cera king of Vanci who seem to be described in ways
that are more Hindu than Jain or Buddhist"
28. Friedhelm Hardy (2001). Viraha-bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=spZdOwAACAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 606–628.
ISBN 978-0-19-564916-1.
29. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, pp. 67–69.
30. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, p. 69.
31. Nilakanta Sastri 2002, p. 398.
34. Alain Danielou 1965, p. ix.
35. R. Dhandayudham (1975). "Silappathikaram: the Epic". Indian Literature. 18 (2): 24–28.
JSTOR 23329770 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23329770).
36. Alain Danielou 1965, p. viii.
38. Friedhelm Hardy (2001). Viraha-bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=spZdOwAACAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 634–638.
ISBN 978-0-19-564916-1.
39. Alain Danielou 1965, pp. viii–ix.
40. Mahadevan, I. (2014). Early Tamil Epigraphy - From the Earliest Times to the Sixth century C.E.,
2nd Edition. pp. 191–193.

46. Rosen, Elizabeth (1975). "REVIEW: Prince ILango Adigal, Shilappadikaram (The anklet Bracelet),
translated by Alain Damelou". Artibus Asiae. 37 (1/2): 149. JSTOR 3250226 (https://www.jstor.org/
stable/3250226).
48. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, p. 7.
49. ILango Adigal (1992). The Cilappatikāram of Iḷaṅko Aṭikaḷ: an epic of South India. New York:
Columbia University Press. p. 21. ISBN 023107848X.
50. Pollock 2003, pp. 297–298.
52. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, pp. 193, 237
54. Pollock 2003, pp. 297, 309–310 with footnotes.
55. Dennis Hudson (1982). John Stratton Hawley and Donna Marie Wulff (ed.). The Divine Consort:
Rādhā and the Goddesses of India (https://books.google.com/books?id=j3R1z0sE340C&pg=PA2
38). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 238–242. ISBN 978-0-89581-102-8.
56. Elaine Craddock (2010). Siva's Demon Devotee: Karaikkal Ammaiyar (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=03w_cvnVRe0C). State University of New York Press. pp. 15–18, 48–57, 78–79, 150
note 25, 155 note 40. ISBN 978-1-4384-3089-8.
57. Friedhelm Hardy (1983). Viraha-Bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=vWfXAAAAMAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 118–120.
ISBN 978-0-19-561251-6.
60. Prabha Rani; Vaidyanathan Shivkumar (2011). "An Epic as a Socio-Political Pamphlet". Portes. 5
(9): 79–99.
61. Pollock 2003, pp. 298–301 with footnotes.
64. Panicker 2003, p. 7.
65. University of Calcutta 1906, pp. 426-427.
66. "The Tale of an Anklet: An Epic of South India" (https://web.archive.org/web/20140414005356/htt
p://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-07849-8/the-tale-of-an-anklet/reviews). Columbia University
Press. Archived from the original (http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-07849-8/the-tale-of-an-
anklet/reviews) on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
67. Alain Danielou 1965.
68. Saffire, Paula (Butler University) (1995). "Review of Parasarathy's translation of the
Cilappatikaram of Ilanko Atikal" (https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=108
8&context=facsch_papers). Asian Thought and Society. p. 4/4.
69. "AAS SAC A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation" (https://web.archive.org/web/2002062510
4035/http://www.aasianst.org/book-prizes-ramanujan.htm). Association of Asian Studies. 25 June
2002. Archived from the original on 25 June 2002. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
70. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 172 with footnotes 3–5.
71. "Showtimes, reviews, trailers, news and more - MSN Movies" (https://www.msn.com/en-us/movie
s). www.msn.com.
Sources
Alain Danielou (1965). Shilappadikaram (The Ankle Bracelet) by Iḷaṅkōvaṭikaḷ (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=Uu3QelRpmsgC). New Directions Publishing, New York. ISBN 978-0-8112-0001-
1.
V R Ramachandra Dikshitar (1939), The Silappadikaram (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.20
15.201802/page/n5), Oxford University Press
The Cilappatikāram: The Tale of an Anklet (Iḷaṅkōvaṭikaḷ) (https://books.google.com/books?id=HW
Pg7EvPirgC). Translated by R Parthasarathy. Penguin Books. 2004. ISBN 978-0-14-303196-3.
Lal, Mohan; Sāhitya Akādemī (2001). The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature (Volume Five)
(Sasay To Zorgot), Volume 5 (https://books.google.com/books?id=KnPoYxrRfc0C&q=five+epics+
of+tamil+literature&pg=PA42566). New Delhi: Sāhitya Akādemī. ISBN 81-260-1221-8.
Minatchisuntharan, T. P. History of Tamil Literature. Annamalai University Publications in
linguistics, 3. Annamalai University, 1965
Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. (2002) [1955]. A History of South India (Reprinted ed.). New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
Panicker, K. Ayyappa (2003). A Primer of Tamil Literature (https://books.google.com/books?id=pS
LoIsW0FF0C&pg=PA7). New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. ISBN 81-207-
2502-6.
Pillai, M. S. Purnalingam (1904). A Primer of Tamil Literature (https://books.google.com/books?id=
JwkrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA66). Madras: Ananda Press.
Pollock, Sheldon I. (2003). Literary cultures in history: reconstructions from South Asia (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC). University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22821-9.
R., Parthasarathy (1993). The Cilappatikaram of Ilanko Atikal: An Epic of South India (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=WzEwFjKKFfIC&pg=PA279). Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-
07849-8.
Rajarajan, R. K. K. (2016). Masterpieces of Indian Literature and Art - Tears of Kaṇṇaki: Annals
and Iconology of the 'Cilappatikāram' (https://www.academia.edu/30222114). New Delhi: Sharada
Publishing House. ISBN 978-93-83221-14-1.
Ray, Himanshu Prabha (2003). The archaeology of seafaring in ancient South Asia (https://books.
google.com/books?id=iHHzP4uVpn4C). Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of
Cambridge. ISBN 9780521011099.
Selby, Martha Ann (2011) Tamil Love Poetry: The Five Hundred Short Poems of the Aiṅkuṟunūṟu,
an Early Third-Century Anthology. Columbia University Press, ISBN 9780231150651
Takanobu Takahashi (1995). Tamil Love Poetry and Poetics (https://books.google.com/books?id=
wgCHuVGyZoEC). BRILL Academic. ISBN 90-04-10042-3.
Eva Maria Wilden (2014). Manuscript, Print and Memory: Relics of the Cankam in Tamilnadu (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=KuPmBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA75). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-
035276-4.
Kamil Zvelebil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India (https://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=degUAAAAIAAJ). BRILL. ISBN 90-04-03591-5.
Kamil Zvelebil (1974). Tamil Literature (https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC). Otto
Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-01582-0.
Kamil Zvelebil (1975). A History of Indian literature Vol.10 (Tamil Literature) (https://books.google.
com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC). Otto Harrasowitz. ISBN 3-447-01582-9.
Kamil Zvelebil (1992). Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC&pg=PA73). BRILL. p. 73. ISBN 90-04-09365-6.
Further reading
Silapadatikaram in Hindi PDF on Internet archive (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3598
24)
Part One of Silappathikaram in pdf form (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0046.pd
f)
Part Two of Silappathikaram in pdf form (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0111_0
1.pdf)
Part Three of Silappathikaram in pdf form (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0111_
02.pdf)
The Silappatikaram of Ilanko Atikal: An Epic of South India (Translations from the Asian Classics)
by R. Parthasarathy (1992) and R.K.K. Rajarajan (2016) Masterpieces of Indian Literature and Art
- Tears of Kaṇṇaki: Annals and Iconology of the ‘Cilappatikāram’ (Roman Transcriptions). Sharada
Publishing House, New Delhi.
External links
GRETIL etext (http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil.htm#Tamil)
silapadatikaram in Hindi PDF on Internet archive (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3598
24)
A summary of the story with illustrations (https://web.archive.org/web/20161012155601/http://ww
w.nagapattinam.tn.nic.in/thestory.html)
Silappathikara Vizha-Ma.Po.Si 20th Memorial (http://www.dailythanthi.com/Memorial%20-ceremo
ny)
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9/20/22, 1:24 AM Cilappatikaram - Wikipedia

The Silappatikaram is divided into three kantams (book, Skt:

Puharkkandam (Tamil: புகார்க் காண் டம் ), based in the

The love songs of the seaside grove

The entire Canto V is devoted to the

Literary value and significance

We shall compose a poem, with songs,

The law, have their necks wrung by dharma;

Great men everywhere commend

wife of renowned fame; and karma ever

Manifests itself, and is fulfilled. We shall call the poem

The Cilappatikāram, the epic of the anklet,

Since the anklet brings these truths to light.[49]

released. The movie Poompuhar, penned by M. Karunanidhi is also based on Silapathikaram.[71]

43. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 25–26.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cilappatikaram&oldid=1110070070"

This page was last edited on 13 September 2022, at 11:50 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

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