The title of the Tamil Epic 'Cilappatikaram'
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text at:
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According to V R Ramachandra
Dikshitar, the title Cilappatikāram – also spelled Silappadikaram –
is a combination of two words, "silambu" (anklet) and
"adikaram" (the story about). It therefore connotes a "story
that centers around an anklet".
The story of the
epic Silappadikaaram indeed grows from the anklet of Kannaki.The anklet might
symbolize the marital relationship Kannagi had, that of her duty to her husband
(which she incorrectly assumed to be to put up with anything her husband
endeavours upon, even his affair with a concubine) which prevented her from
acting before it was all too late!In Tamil marriage is referred to as
‘kaal-kattu’ (a manacle that binds one’s legs [to his/her duties as a
householder!]). See the connection between an anklet and a marital bind.
The Silappathikaram is
an ancient literary Jain masterpiece. It is to the Tamil culture what the Iliad is
to the Greek culture, states R.
Parthasarathy. 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. 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 pundit 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
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:
·
Puharkkandam based in the Chola capital
of Puhar (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.
·
Maturaikkandam
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.
·
Vanchikkandam 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.
The katais range
between 53 and 272 lines each. In addition to the 25 cantos, the epic has 5
song cycles:
·
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
o Kannaki –
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.[43] 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".
o Kovalan -
husband of Kannaki, son of a wealthy charitable kind 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. 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.
o 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.
o Vasavadaththai
- Madhavi's female friend
o Kosigan
- Madhavi's messenger to Kovalan
o Madalan
- A Brahmin visitor to Madurai from Poomphuhar (Book 2)
o Kavunthi
Adigal - A Jain nun (Book 2)
o Neduncheliyan
- Pandya king (Book 2)
o Kopperundevi
- Pandya Queen (Book 2)
o Indra
– the god who brings Kannaki to heaven (Book 3)
o 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 (Book3)
Book 1
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.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.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.
Book 2
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 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. 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. 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. The violence of the Kannaki fire kills everyone,
except "only Brahmins, good men, cows, truthful women, cripples, old men
and children"
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.
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.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.These references indicate that the Ramayana was
known to the Silappatikaram audience many centuries before the Kamba
Ramayanam of the 12 Century CE.
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. 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. 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. The Tamil tradition and medieval commentators such as
Mayilaintar have included the Silappatikaram as one of
the aimperunkappiyankal, which literally means "five great
kavyas".
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
According to Zvelebil, the Silappadikaram is
the "first literary expression and the first ripe fruit of the Aryan-Dravidian
synthesis in Tamilnadu".[
Among the five epics of the early Tamil
literary canon – Manimegalai, Civaka
Cintamani, Valayapathi, and Kundalakesi – Cilappatikaram (Cilappu + atikaram: Cilappu is
derived from the word “chilampu” meaning “the jeweled anklet” and “atikaram”
means “book”/“chapter”) is the most popular and valued one in Tamil
Nadu . Cilappatikaram was composed by a Jain
monk, Ilango Adigal (“Adigal” is a word denoting respect, usually adorned to
most respected religious leaders and monks) . He is believed to have
written the epic between the first- and third-century A.D. . However,
tracing the period in which the epic was written is controversial. Ilango (the
younger brother) and Senguttuvan (elder brother) were the two sons of the Chera
King Nedunchezhiyan. The introduction to Silappadikaram reports
that a soothsayer came to the court of King Nedunchezhiyan when his two sons
were seated along with the king and declared that Ilango would become the next
king.
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