Cilappatikaram

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Silappatikaram Manimekalai
Civaka Cintamani Valayapathi
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:
 Naga Kumara Udayana

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:
 Cilappatikāram (Malayalam:
ചിലpതികാരം, Tamil:
!"#$%&'(),IPA:
ʧilǝppǝt̪ ikɑːrǝm, lit. "the Tale of an
Anklet"), [1] also referred to as
Silappathikaram[2] or
Silappatikaram,[3] is the earliest
Tamil epic.[4] It is a poem of 5,730
lines in almost entirely akaval
(aciriyam) meter.[5] The epic is a
tragic love story of an ordinary
couple, Kannaki and her husband
Kovalan.[6][7] The Cilappatikaram
has more ancient roots in the Tamil
:
 bardic tradition, as Kannaki and
other characters of the story are
mentioned or alluded to in the
Sangam literature such as in the
Naṟṟiṇai and later texts such as the
Kovalam Katai.[8][9][10] It is
attributed to a prince-turned-monk
Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ, and was probably
composed in the 5th or 6th century
CE.[2][5][11]

The Cilappatikaram is set in a

flourishing seaport city of the early
Chola kingdom. Kannaki and
:
 Kovalan are a newly married
couple, in love, and living in bliss.[12]
Over time, Kovalan meets Matavi
(Madhavi) – a courtesan. He falls
for her, leaves Kannaki and moves
in with Matavi. He spends lavishly
on her. Kannaki is heartbroken, 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
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][13] 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.[12][13] 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 Cilappatikaram 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
Cilappatikaram is an epic about an
ordinary couple caught up with
universal questions and internal,
emotional war.[14] The
Cilappatikaram 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.[15][16][17][18]

Nomenclature
According to V R Ramachandra
Dikshitar, the title Silappatikāram –
also spelled Silappadikaram[19] – is
a combination of two words,
"silambu" (anklet) and "adikaram"
(the story about). It therefore
connotes a "story that centers
around an anklet".[20] 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

Statues and reliefs of Ilango

Adigal are found in India
and Sri Lanka. He is
believed to be the author of
Cilappatikaram.[21]

The Tamil tradition attributes

Cilappatikaram to the Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ
:
 ("the venerable ascetic prince"),
also spelled Ilango Adigal.[22] 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.[23][22] 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.[22] According to
Gananath Obeyesekere, the story
of the purported Cilappadikaram
author Ilango Adigal as the brother
of a famous Chera king "must be
later interpolations", something that
was a characteristic feature of early
literature.[24]

The mythical third section about

:
 gods meeting Kannaki after
Kovalan's death, in the last Canto,
mentions a legend about a prince
turned into a monk. This has been
conflated as the story of the
attributed author as a witness.
However, little factual details about
the real author(s) or evidence
exist.[22] Given the fact that older
Tamil texts mention and 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.[22] 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.[22] 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.[25][26][27]
:
 According to Ramachandra
Dikshitar, the ascetic-prince legend
about Ilango Adigal as included in
the last canto of Cilappadikaram 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.[28] 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.[29] 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.[28]

Ilango Adigal has been suggested

to be a contemporary of Sattanar,
the author of Manimekalai.
However, evidence for such
suggestions has been lacking.[30]
:
 Date
In the modern era, some Tamil
scholars have linked the Ilango
Adigal legend about he is 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.[31][25] 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.[32][33] According to
Dhandayudham, the epic should be
dated to between the 3rd and 5th
century.[34] 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 Cilappadikaram cannot be far
from the real date of composition,
states Alain Daniélou – a French
Indologist who translated the
Cilappadikaram 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".[35]

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.[36] 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 Cilappathikram,
which makes the early dating
implausible.[36] 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
Cilappathikram that has survived
into the modern era "cannot have
been composed before the 5th- to
6th-century".[36]
:
 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.[36]

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.[36] 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.[36][33] 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.[37] 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.[38]

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.[39]

Contents
:
 The epic is based in the ancient
kingdoms of Chola (Book 1),
Pandya (Book 2) and Chera (Book
3).

Structure of Cilappatikaram

The Cilappatikaram 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:[40]

Puharkkandam (Tamil: *&'+,

&'-.)), 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 wife for
the courtesan Madhavi. This
contains 9 cantos or divisions.
The first book is largely akam
(erotic love) genre.[40]
:
 Maturaikkandam (Tamil: /01(,
&'-.)), based in 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.[40]
Vanchikkandam (Tamil: 23!,
&'-.)), 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.[40]

The katais range between 53 and

272 lines each. In addition to the 25
cantos, the epic has 5 song
cycles:[40]

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
:
 Statue of Kannagi at
Chennai Marina Beach.

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.[41]
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".[42]
:
 Kovalan - husband of Kannaki,
son of a wealthy charitable kind
merchant in the seaport capital
city of early Chola kingdom at
Poompuhar; 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.[43] 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.[44]
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.[44]
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
The Silappadikar
Cilappatikaram is am
The entire
set in a flourishing
Canto V is
seaport city of the
devoted to
early Chola
the festival of
kingdom. Kannaki Indra, which
and Kovalan are a takes place in
:
 newly married the ancient

couple, in love, city of Puhar.

The festivities
and living in
begin at the
bliss.[12] Over
temple of the
time, Kovalan
white
meets Matavi elephant
(Madhavi) – a [Airavata, the
courtesan. He falls mount of
for her, leaves Indra] and
they continue
Kannaki and
in the temples
moves in with
of Unborn
Matavi. He
Shiva, of
spends lavishly on Murugan
her. Kannaki is [beauteous
:
 heartbroken, but god of Youth],

as the chaste of nacre white

Valliyon
woman, she waits
[Balarama]
despite her
brother of
husband's
Krishna, of
unfaithfulness. dark Vishnu
During the festival called
for Indra, the rain Nediyon, and
god, there is a of Indra
himself with
singing
his string of
competition.[12]
pearls and his
Kovalan sings a
victorious
poem about a parasol. Vedic
woman who hurt rituals are
:
 her lover. Matavi performed

then sings a song and stories

from the
about a man who
Puranas are
betrayed his lover.
told, while
Each interprets
temples of
the song as a the Jains and
message to the their
other. Kovalan charitable
feels Matavi is institutions
can be seen
unfaithful to him
about the city.
and leaves her.
Kannaki is still —Elizabeth
Rosen,
waiting for him.
Review of
She takes him
:
 back.[12] Alain
Daniélou's
Book 2 translation of
Silappatikara
Kannaki and
m[45]
Kovalan leave the
city and travel to
Madurai of the Pandya kingdom.
Kovalan is penniless and destitute.
He confesses his mistakes to
Kannaki. She forgives him and tells
him the pain his unfaithfulness
gave her. Then she encourages her
husband to rebuild their life
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][13] 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][13] The
violence of the Kannaki fire kills
everyone, except "only Brahmins,
good men, cows, truthful women,
cripples, old men and children",
:
 states Zvelebil.[46]

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.[47] 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.[48]

Twenty-five cantos of the

Cilappatikaram 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.[49] The 30 cantos were
reciting as monologues.[50]

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.[51]
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.[51]
These references indicate that the
Ramayana was known to the
Cilappatikaram audience many
centuries before the Kamba
Ramayanam of the 12 Century
CE.[51]
:
 According to Zvelebil, the
Cilappatikaram 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 Cilappatikaram was
composed were intimately aware of
the Sanskrit epics, the literary
:
 structure and significance of
Mahakavyas genre.[52] 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
Cilappatikaram is a Tamil epic that
belongs to the pan-India kavya epic
tradition.[52] The Tamil tradition and
:
 medieval commentators such as
Mayilaintar have included the
Cilappatikaram as one of the
aimperunkappiyankal, which
literally means "five great
kavyas".[53]

According to D. Dennis Hudson – a

World Religions and Tamil literature
scholar, the Cilappatikaram 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.[54] 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.[54] 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 Cilappatikaram.[54] 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.[54][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.[56]

According to Zvelebil, the

Cilappadikaram is the "first literary
expression and the first ripe fruit of
:
 the Aryan-Dravidian synthesis in
Tamilnadu".[57]

Tamil nationalism

In early 20th-century, the

Cilappadikaram 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",[58] or the first
expression of a sense of Tamil
cultural integrity and Tamil
dominance.[53] 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 Cilappadikaram
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.[53] These versions,
some by avowed atheists, have
retold the Cilappadikaram 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.[59]
:
 The Tamil nationalistic inspiration
derived from the Cilappadikaram is
a selective reading and
appropriation of the great epic,
according to Cutler.[60] It
cherrypicks and brackets some
rhetorical and ideological elements
from the epic but ignores the rest
that make the epic into a complete
masterpiece.[59][60] 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.[60]
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
Cilappadikaram pray in Hindu
temples dedicated to Shiva,
Murugan, Vishnu, Krishna,
:
 Balarama, Indra, Korravai (Parvati),
Saraswati, Lakshmi, and others.[61]
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.[60][61]

According to V R Ramachandra
Dikshitar, the epic provides no
evidence of sectarian conflict
between the Indian religious
traditions.[61] In Cilappadikaram,
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.[61] There are Buddhist
references too in the
Cilappadikaram 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.[61]

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.[15][16][17]
:
 S Ramanathan (1917-1988 CE)
has published articles on the
musical aspects of the
Silappadikaram.

Reception
To some critics, Manimekalai is
more interesting than
Cilappadikaram, but in terms of
literary evaluation, it seems
inferior.[62] According to Panicker,
there are effusions in
Cilappadikaram 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.[63] According
to a Calcutta review, the three-epic
works on a whole have no plot and
no characterization to qualify for an
epic genre.[64]

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."[65]

Translations
The first translation of
Cilappadikaram was published in
1939 by V R Ramachandra
Dikshitar (Oxford University
Press).[19] In 1965, another
translation of the epic was
published by Alain Danielou.[66] 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.[67]

The Parthasarathy translation won

the 1996 A.K. Ramanujan Book
:
 Prize for Translation.[68]

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.[69]

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
Cilappathikaram 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
Cilappathikaram and was a hit
when it was released. The movie
:
 Poompuhar, penned by M.
Karunanidhi is also based on
Cilapathikaram.[70] There are
multiple dance dramas as well by
some of the great exponents of
Bharatanatyam in Tamil as most of
the verses of Cilappathikaram can
be set to music.

Cilappatikaram 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)
:
 In memory of this great epic poem,
Indian Railways Launched a New
Train service in the name of
Silambu Express Between Chennai
and Manamadurai way back in
2013.

See also
Five Great Epics

Notes
1. Similarly, other cantos describe
stories of Durga and Shiva found
in the Puranas of the Shaivism
:
 tradition.[55]

References
1. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
2004, p. title, 1-3.
2. Amy Tikkanen (2006).
Silappathikaram (https://www.brit
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) . Encyclopædia Britannica.
3. Rani, Prabha (2011). "When
Kannaki Was Given a Voice".
Studies in History. SAGE
Publications. 27 (1): 1–20.
doi:10.1177/0257643011027001
01 (https://doi.org/10.1177%2F02
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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
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Hindu Studies. Oxford University
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 doi:10.1093/jhs/hiu027 (https://d
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9. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 51–52.
10. E.T. Jacob-Pandian (1977). K
Ishwaran (ed.). Contributions to
Asian Studies: 1977 (https://book
s.google.com/books?id=VRMVAA
AAIAAJ) . 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.
12. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
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13. E.T. Jacob-Pandian (1977). K
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16. Pollock 2003, pp. 297–301.
17. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 7–8 with
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18. Rajarajan 2016, p. .
19. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939.
20. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939,
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21. Rosen, Elizabeth S. (1975).
"Prince ILango Adigal,
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23. Nilakanta Sastri 2002, p. 397.
24. Gananath Obeyesekere (1970).
"Gajabahu and the Gajabahu
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25. Pollock 2003, pp. 296–298.
26. Alf Hiltebeitel (2011). Vishnwa
Adluri; Joydeep Bagchee (eds.).
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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"
27. Friedhelm Hardy (2001). Viraha-
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28. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939,
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29. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939,
p. 69.
30. Nilakanta Sastri 2002, p. 398.
31. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 174–175.
32. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939,
pp. 11–18.
33. Alain Danielou 1965, p. ix.
34. R. Dhandayudham (1975).
"Silappathikaram: the Epic".
Indian Literature. 18 (2): 24–28.
JSTOR 23329770 (https://www.j
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 JSTOR 23329770 (https://www.j
stor.org/stable/23329770) .
35. Alain Danielou 1965, p. viii.
36. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 174–176.
37. Friedhelm Hardy (2001). Viraha-
bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa
Devotion in South India (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=spZd
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0-19-564916-1.
38. Alain Danielou 1965, pp. viii–ix.
39. Mahadevan, I. (2014). Early Tamil
Epigraphy - From the Earliest
Times to the Sixth century C.E.,
2nd Edition. pp. 191–193.
:
 2nd Edition. pp. 191–193.
40. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
2004, pp. 6–8.
41. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 172–175.
42. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
2004, pp. 25–26.
43. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
2004, pp. 25–27.
44. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
2004, pp. 32–33.
45. Rosen, Elizabeth (1975).
"REVIEW: Prince ILango Adigal,
Shilappadikaram (The anklet
Bracelet), translated by Alain
Damelou". Artibus Asiae. 37 (1/2):
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 149. JSTOR 3250226 (https://w
ww.jstor.org/stable/3250226) .
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47. R Parthasarathy (Translator)
2004, p. 7.
48. ILango Adigal (1992). The
Cilappatikāram of Iḷaṅko Aṭikaḷ: an
epic of South India. New York:
Columbia University Press. p. 21.
ISBN 023107848X.
49. Pollock 2003, pp. 297–298.
50. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, p. 131.
51. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939,
pp. 193, 237
52. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 130–132.
53. Pollock 2003, pp. 297, 309–310
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 53. Pollock 2003, pp. 297, 309–310
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54. Dennis Hudson (1982). John
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Rādhā and the Goddesses of
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58. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 176–178.
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63. Panicker 2003, p. 7.
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Further reading
Silapadatikaram in Hindi PDF on
Internet archive (https://archive.o
rg/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3598
24)
Part One of Silappathikaram in
pdf form (http://www.projectmad
:
 urai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0046.
pdf)
Part Two of Silappathikaram in
pdf form (http://www.projectmad
urai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0111_
01.pdf)
Part Three of Silappathikaram in
pdf form (http://www.projectmad
urai.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

Wikimedia Commons has media

related to Silappatikaram.
GRETIL etext (http://www.sub.uni
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 -goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/
gretil.htm#Tamil)
silapadatikaram in Hindi PDF on
Internet archive (https://archive.o
rg/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3598
24)
A summary of the story with
illustrations (https://web.archive.
org/web/20161012155601/http:/
/www.nagapattinam.tn.nic.in/the
story.html)
Silappathikara Vizha-Ma.Po.Si
20th Memorial (http://www.dailyt
:
 hanthi.com/Memorial%20-cere
mony)

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