Silappatikaram

Cilappatikāram (Tamil: ல ப கார , IPA: ʧiləppət ̪ikɑːrəm, Topics in Tamil literature

lit. "the Tale of an Anklet"),[1] also referred to as Sangam Literature
Silappathikaram[2] or Silappatikaram,[3] is the earliest Tamil Five Great Epics
epic.[4] It is a poem of 5,730 lines in almost entirely akaval Silappatikaram Manimekalai
(aciriyam) meter.[5] The epic is a tragic love story of an ordinary Cīvaka
couple, Kannaki and her husband Kovalan.[6][7] The Valayapathi
Cintāmaṇi
Silappathikaram has more ancient roots in the Tamil bardic Kundalakesi
tradition, as Kannaki and other characters of the story are mentioned Bhakthi Literature
or alluded to in the Sangam literature such as in the Naṟṟiṇai and Divya
later texts such as the Kovalam Katai.[8][9][10] It is attributed to a Tevaram
Prabandha
prince-turned-monk Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ, and was probably composed Tirumuṟai
about 5th- or 6th-century CE.[2][5] Tamil people
Sangam
The Cilappatikaram is set in a flourishing seaport city of the early Sangam
landscape
Chola kingdom. Kannaki and Kovalan are a newly married couple,
Tamil history
in love, and living in bliss.[11] Over time, Kovalan meets Matavi from Sangam
Ancient
(Madhavi) – a courtesan. He falls for her, leaves Kannaki and moves Tamil music
literature
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.[11] 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.[11]

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.
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.[11] 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.[11][12] 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. 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.[11][12] In the third section of
the epic, gods and goddesses meet Kannaki and she goes to heaven with god 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.[11]

The Silappathikaram is an ancient literary masterpiece. It is to the Tamil culture what the Iliad is to the
Greek culture, states R. Parthasarathy. [11] 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.[13] 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 Hindu monasteries in
the second half of the 19th-century by UV Swaminatha Aiyar – a Shaiva 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.[14][15][16]

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
Notes
References
Sources
Further reading
External links

Nomenclature
According to V R Ramachandra Dikshitar, the title Cilappatikāram – also spelled Silappadikaram[17] – is
a combination of two words, "silambu" (anklet) and "adikaram" (the story about). It therefore connotes a
"story that centers around an anklet".[18] 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 pseudonym
Iḷaṅkõ Aṭikaḷ ("the venerable ascetic prince"), also spelled Ilango
Adigal.[20] He is reputed to be the brother of Chera king
Cenkuttuvan, 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.[21][20] 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.[20]
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.[22]

The mythical third section about gods meeting Kannaki after Statues and reliefs of Ilango
Kovalan's death, in the last Canto, mentions a legend about a prince Adigal are found in India and Sri
turned into a monk. This has been conflated as the story of the Lanka. He is believed to be the
attributed author as a witness. However, little factual details about author of Silappatikaram.[19]
the real author(s) or evidence exist.[20] 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.[20] 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.[20] 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.[23][24][25]
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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[26]

Ilango Adigal has been suggested to be a contemporary of Sattanar, the author of Manimekalai. However,
evidence for such suggestions has been lacking.[28]

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.[29][23] 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.[30][31] According to
Dhandayudham, the epic should be dated to between 3rd- and 5th-century.[32] 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".[33]

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.[34] 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.[34] 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".[34]

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.[34]

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.[34] 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.[34][31] 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.[35] 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.[36]

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:[37]

Puharkkandam (Tamil: கா கா ட ), 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
The epic is based in the ancient kingdoms book is largely akam (erotic love) genre.[37]
of Chola (Book 1), Pandya (Book 2) and Maturaikkandam (Tamil: ம ைர கா ட ), based in
Chera (Book 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.[37]
Vanchikkandam (Tamil: வ கா ட ), 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.[37]
The katais range between 53 and 272 lines each. In addition to the 25 cantos, the epic has 5 song
cycles:[37]

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
 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.[38]
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".[39]
Statue of Kannagi at Chennai
Kovalan - husband of Kannaki, son of a wealthy charitable Marina Beach.
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.[40] 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.[41]
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.[41]
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 (Book3)

Story
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.[11] Over time,
Kovalan meets Matavi (Madhavi) – a courtesan. He falls for
Canto V of Silappadikaram
The entire Canto V is devoted to the festival
of Indra, which takes place in the ancient
city of Puhar. The festivities begin at the
temple of the white elephant [Airavata, the
mount of Indra] and they continue in the
temples of Unborn Shiva, of Murugan
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.[11] 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.[11]
Book 2
[beauteous god of Youth], of nacre white
Valliyon [Balarama] brother of Krishna, of
dark Vishnu called Nediyon, and of Indra
himself with his string of pearls and his
victorious parasol. Vedic rituals are
performed and stories from the Puranas are
told, while temples of the Jains and their
charitable institutions can be seen about the
city.
—Elizabeth Rosen, Review of Alain
Daniélou's translation of
Silappatikaram[42]

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.[11]
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.[11][12] 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.[11][12] The violence of the Kannaki fire kills everyone, except "only Brahmins, good men, cows,
truthful women, cripples, old men and children", states Zvelebil.[43]

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.[11]

Literary value and significance

The manuscripts of the epic include a prologue called patikam. This is likely a later addition to the older
epic.[44] 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.[45] ”
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.[46] The 30 cantos were recites as monologues.[47]

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.[48] 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.[48] These references indicate that the Ramayana was
known to the Silappatikaram audience many centuries before the Kamba Ramayanam of the 12 Century
CE.[48]

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.[49] 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.[49] The Tamil tradition and medieval commentators such as Mayilaintar
have included the Silappatikaram as one of the aimperunkappiyankal, which literally means "five great
kavyas".[50]

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.[51] 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.[51]
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.[51] 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.[51][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.[53]

According to Zvelebil, the Silappadikaram is the "first literary expression and the first ripe fruit of the
Aryan-Dravidian synthesis in Tamilnadu".[54]

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",[55] or the first expression of a sense of Tamil cultural integrity and Tamil dominance.[56]
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.[56] 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.[57]

The Tamil nationalistic inspiration derived from the Silappadikaram is a selective reading and
appropriation of the great epic, according to Cutler.[58] It cherrypicks and brackets some rhetorical and
ideological elements from the epic, but ignores the rest that make the epic into a complete
masterpiece.[57][58] 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.[58] 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.[59] 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.[58][59]

According to V R Ramachandra Dikshitar, the epic provides no evidence of sectarian conflict between
the Indian religious traditions.[59] 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.[59] 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.[59]

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 Kumbhakonam. 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.[14][15][16]
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.[60] 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.[61] According to a Calcutta review, the three epic works on a whole have no plot
and no characterization to qualify for an epic genre.[62]

A review by George L. Hart, a professor of Tamil language at the University of California, Berkeley, "the
Cilappatikaram is to Tamil what the Iliad and Odyssey are to Greek — its importance would be difficult
to overstate."[63]

Translations
The first translation of Silappadikaram in 1939 by V R Ramachandra Dikshitar (Oxford University
Press).[17] In 1965, another translation of the epic was published by Alain Danielou.[64] 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.[65]

The Parthasarathy translation won the 1996 A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation.[66]

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.[67]

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.[68] 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)

Notes
1. Similarly, other cantos describe stories of Durga and Shiva found in the Puranas of the
Shaivism tradition.[52]

References
1. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, p. title, 1-3.
2. Amy Tikkanen (2006). Silappathikaram (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Silappathikaram).
Encylopaedia 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%2F0
25764301102700101).
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 Cilappatik ram 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%2
Fhiu027).
8. Norman Cutler 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://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=VRMVAAAAIAAJ). Brill Academic. pp. 56–57. ISBN 90-04-
04926-6.
11. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 2–5.
12. E.T. Jacob-Pandian (1977). K Ishwaran (ed.). Contributions to Asian Studies: 1977 (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=VRMVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA56). Brill Academic. pp. 56–59.
ISBN 90-04-04926-6.
13. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 1–7.
14. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 1–7, 347–351.
15. Norman Cutler 2003, pp. 297–301.
16. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 7–8 with footnotes.
17. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939.
18. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, p. 1.
19. 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 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3250226). JSTOR 3250226 (https://www.j
stor.org/stable/3250226).
20. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 6–7.
21. K. A. Nilakanta Sastry, A history of South India, pp 397
22. Gananath Obeyesekere (1970). "Gajabahu and the Gajabahu Synchronism" (https://books.
google.com/books?id=GV3abjkKdB4C). The Ceylon Journal of the Humanities. University
of Sri Lanka. 1: 44.
23. Norman Cutler 2003, pp. 296–298.
24. 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 90-04-19380-4., 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"
25. Friedhelm Hardy (2001). Viraha-bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India
(https://books.google.com/books?id=spZdOwAACAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 606–
628. ISBN 978-0-19-564916-1.
26. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, pp. 67–69.
27. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, p. 69.
28. K. Nilakanta Sastry, A history of South India, pp 398
29. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 174–175.
30. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, pp. 11–18.
31. Alain Danielou 1965, p. ix.
32. R. Dhandayudham (1975). "Silappathikaram: the Epic". Indian Literature. 18 (2): 24–28.
JSTOR 23329770 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23329770).
33. Alain Danielou 1965, p. viii.
34. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 174–176.
35. Friedhelm Hardy (2001). Viraha-bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India
(https://books.google.com/books?id=spZdOwAACAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 634–
638. ISBN 978-0-19-564916-1.
36. Alain Danielou 1965, pp. viii-ix.
37. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 6-8.
38. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 172–175.
39. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 25-26.
40. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 25-27.
41. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, pp. 32-33.
42. Rosen, Elizabeth (1975). "REVIEW: Prince ILango Adigal, Shilappadikaram (The anklet
Bracelet), translated by Alain Damelou". Artibus Asiae. 37 (1/2): 149. JSTOR 3250226 (http
s://www.jstor.org/stable/3250226).
43. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, p. 178.
44. R Parthasarathy (Translator) 2004, p. 7.
45. Parthasarathy, translated, and with an introduction and postscript by R. (1992). The
Cilappatikāram of Iḷaṅko Aṭikaḷ : an epic of South India. New York: Columbia University
Press. p. 21. ISBN 023107848X.
46. Pollock 2003, pp. 297–298
47. Zvelebil 1974, p. 131
48. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, pp. 193, 237
49. Kamil Zvelebil 1974, pp. 130-132.
50. Norman Cutler (2003). Sheldon Pollock and Arvind Raghunathan (ed.). Literary Cultures in
History: Reconstructions from South Asia (https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2W
oC). University of California Press. pp. 297, 309–310 with footnotes. ISBN 978-0-520-
22821-4.
51. 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=j3R1z0sE
340C&pg=PA238). Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 238–242. ISBN 978-0-89581-102-8.
52. Elaine Craddock (2010). Siva's Demon Devotee: Karaikkal Ammaiyar (https://books.google.
com/books?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.
53. Friedhelm Hardy (1983). Viraha-Bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India
(https://books.google.com/books?id=vWfXAAAAMAAJ). Oxford University Press. pp. 118–
120. ISBN 978-0-19-561251-6.
54. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 172–174.
55. Kamil Zvelebil 1973, pp. 176–178.
56. Norman Cutler (2003). Sheldon Pollock and Arvind Raghunathan (ed.). Literary Cultures in
History: Reconstructions from South Asia (https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2W
oC). University of California Press. pp. 297, 309–310 with footnotes. ISBN 978-0-520-
22821-4.
57. Prabha Rani; Vaidyanathan Shivkumar (2011). "An Epic as a Socio-Political Pamphlet".
Portes. 5 (9): 79–99.
58. Norman Cutler (2003). Sheldon Pollock and Arvind Raghunathan (ed.). Literary Cultures in
History: Reconstructions from South Asia (https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2W
oC). University of California Press. pp. 298–301 with footnotes. ISBN 978-0-520-22821-4.
59. V R Ramachandra Dikshitar 1939, pp. 47–53.
60. Zvelebil 1974, p. 141
61. Panicker 2003, p. 7
62. University of Calcutta 1906, pp. 426-427
63. "The Tale of an Anklet: An Epic of South India" (https://web.archive.org/web/201404140053
56/http://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.
64. Alain Danielou 1965.
65. Saffire, Paula (Butler University) (1995). "Review of Parasarathy's translation of the
Cilappatikaram of Ilanko Atikal" (https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?articl
e=1088&context=facsch_papers). Asian Thought and Society. p. 4/4.
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Further reading
Silapadatikaram in Hindi PDF on Internet archive (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.201
5.359824)
 Part One of Silappathikaram in pdf form (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm0
046.pdf)
Part Two of Silappathikaram in pdf form (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm01
11_01.pdf)
Part Three of Silappathikaram in pdf form (http://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/pdf/pm
0111_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.201
5.359824)
A summary of the story with illustrations (https://web.archive.org/web/20161012155601/htt
p://www.nagapattinam.tn.nic.in/thestory.html)
Silappathikara Vizha-Ma.Po.Si 20th Memorial (http://www.dailythanthi.com/Memorial%20-ce
remony)

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