Kannagi or (Kaṇṇaki) (Tamil: கண்ணகி), a legendary Tamil woman, is the central character of the South Indian epic Silapathikaram. Legend has it that Kannagi took revenge on the king of Madurai, for a mistaken death penalty imposed on her husband Kovalan, by cursing the city with disaster. Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are a multi-ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... South India is a geographic and linguistic-cultural region of India. ... The epic is a broadly defined genre of narrative poetry, characterized by great length, multiple settings, large numbers of characters, or long span of time involved. ... Cilappatikaram (The Ankle Bracelet - initial c pronounced like the first syllable of chat) also spelled as Cilappadhikaram or Silappadhigaram, is one of the five great epics of ancient Tamil Literature. ... For other uses, see Monarch (disambiguation). ... {{Infobox Indian Jurisdiction | native_name = Madurai | type = city | latd = 9. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ...

The Story

Kovalan, the son of a wealthy merchant in Kaveri-p-poom-pattinam, married Kannagi, a young woman of legendary beauty. They lived together happily in the city of Kaveripattinam, until Kovalan met the dancer Madhavi and fell in love with her. In his infatuation he forgot Kannagi and gradually spent all his wealth on the dancer. At last, penniless, Kovalan realised his mistake, and returned back to Kannagi. Their only asset was a precious pair of anklets (cilambu--- hence the name of the epic), filled with gems, which she gave to him willingly. With these as their capital they went to the great city of Madurai, where Kovalan hoped to recoup his fortunes by trade. Poompuhar is a town in the southern part of India in the state of Tamil Nadu. ... Madhavi is a girl. ...

The city of Madurai was ruled by the Pandya king Neduncheziyan. Kovalan's objective was to sell the anklets in this kingdom so that he and his wife would be able to start their lives over. Unfortunately, around the time he set out to sell the anklets, one anklet (out of a pair) was stolen from the queen, by a greedy court member. This anklet looked very similar to Kannagi's. The only difference was that Kannagi's were filled with rubies and the queen's very filled with pearls, but this was not a visible fact. When Kovalan went to the market, he was accused of having stolen the anklet. He was immediately beheaded by the king's guards, without trial. When Kannagi was informed of this, she became furious, and set out to prove her husband's innocence to the king. The Pandyan kingdom was an ancient state at the tip of South India, founded around the 6th century BCE. It was part of the Dravidian cultural area, which also comprised other kingdoms such as that of the Pallava, the Chera, the Chola, the Chalukya and the Vijayanagara. ...

Kannagi came to the king's court, broke open the anklet seized from Kovalan and showed that it contained rubies, as opposed to the queen's anklets which contained pearls. Realizing their fault, the King and the Queen died of shame. Unsatisfied, Kannagi tore out a breast and flung it on the city, uttering a curse that the entire city be burnt. Due to her utmost chastity, her curse became a reality.

The city was set ablaze resulting in huge human and economic losses. However, after the request from the goddess of the city, she withdrew her curse and later, attained salvation. This mythological story was composed by the poet Ilango Adigal. A fascinating, but ironic, fact about this epic is that it portrays Madhavi, Kovalan's amorous lover, as an equally chaste woman. Manimekalai, another ancient Tamil epic, is written in praise of her. Statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture For the 1934 film, see, see The Goddess (1934 film). ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Ilango adigal is a great tamil poet, who was instrumental in the creation of silappathikaram, on of the five great epics. ... Manimekalai, written by Seethalai Saathanar, is one of the masterpieces of Tamil literature and belongs to The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature. ...

Perceptions of Kannagi

Kannagi or Kannaki Amman is eulogized as the epitome of chastity and is still worshipped as its goddess. She is praised for her extreme devotion to her husband in spite of his adulterous behaviour. For other meanings, see Amman (disambiguation) and Ammann. ...

She is worshiped as goddess Pathini in Sri Lanka by the Sinhalese Buddhists as well as, as Kannaki Amman by the Sri lanka Tamils Hindus. (See Hinduism in Sri Lanka.).Also as Attukal Bhagavathy in South Indian state Kerala. Kannagi (Tamil: ), a legendary Tamil woman, is the central character of the South Indian epic Silapathikaram. ... Languages Sinhala Religions Theravada Buddhism, Christianity, small groups of atheists, agnostics, Muslims, others Related ethnic groups Indo-Aryans, Dravidians, Veddahs, Bengalis The Sinhalese are the main ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ... Statues of Buddha such as this, the Tian Tan Buddha statue in Hong Kong, remind followers to practice right living. ... Sri Lanka Tamils could mean Sri Lanka Tamils who are considered to be native Sri Lanka Tamils who are of Indian origin This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Hindu temple, Colombo Hindus currently make up approximately 15% of the Sri Lankan population, and are almost all exclusively Tamil-speaking apart from immigrants from North India and Pakistan such as the Sindhis. ...

It must be noted that Kannagi is also viewed as a brave woman who could demand justice directly from the king and even dared to call him "unenlightened king" (Silapathikaram: Vazhakkurai Kathai). The point here is that while she was behaving in a non-interfering manner with her domestic problems, she was no meek woman that would brook injustice in the rule of the law. Silapathikaram is one of the five great epics written in Tamil language. ...

Kannagi in Politics

A statue of Kannagi in anger holding her anklet in one hand obviously depicting her in the scene from Silapathikaram where she demands justice from the Pandiyan king on the death of her husband Kovalan at the hands of the king's policemen is an important landmark in Chennai since about 1968. It was removed during the regime of the ex-chief minister of Tamil Nadu, O. Paneerselvam in December 2001 during the night ordered by ex-chief minister J.Jayalalitha ^{[citation needed]}. The official reasons reported were that it was to be removed for facilitating traffic. But the media was rife with reports of a mystic counsel to Jayalalitha advising her that as long as the statue of Kannaki in the posture of demanding justice stood there she would have difficulty maintaining her office through the elected term. Silapathikaram is one of the five great epics written in Tamil language. ... , “Madras” redirects here. ...

The statue was reinstalled by M. Karunanidhi on 03-06-2006. M. Karunanidhi (Tamil: ) or Karunanidhi Muthuvel generally referred to as M.K (Tamil: )and Dr. Kalaingar (கலைஞர்), is the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. ...

External links

• Digital Madurai Website
• Eric Miller on Kannagi's story being an inspiration to fight injustice
• Kannagi - Cilapathikaram

Poompuhar is a town in Thanjavur district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ... {{Infobox Indian Jurisdiction | native_name = Madurai | type = city | latd = 9. ... Vanchi was the ancient capital of the Chera kingdom. ...

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