When it comes to
Indian epics, we seldom go beyond Ramayan and Mahabharat. I am not sure if this
has to do with the general appeal or the domination of Sanskrit epics over
regional ones, but another epic that has gone relatively unnoticed beyond its
place of origin is the Tamil epic Cilappatikaram, or ‘the Tale of an Anklet’.
The epic was
written around the 5th-6th century AD by Ilango Adigal,
or the ‘Prince Ascetic’. It is said that an oracle had predicted that he would
be a better king as against his elder brother. To prove the prophesy wrong, he
embraced monk-hood and allowed his elder brother to ascend the throne. The epic
encompasses three well known regimes of the South, the Cholas, Pandiyas, and
the Chera kingdoms. The other significant aspect of this epic (and also the
major differentiator from the other epics) is that the epic deals with ordinary
mortals and their lives.
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| Tamil Region AD 900 |
This is not only
an extremely interesting epic, but is also different from all the epics known,
be it the well-known Ramayan and Mahabharat or the Greek Iliad and the Odyssey.
First, it was written by a Jain monk, Ilango Adigal, who heard the story from a
source (in all probability a well-known folktale) before writing an epic on it.
While Ilango was a Jain, he focused on the local times and ensured that all
the focus was on prevalent religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. Though he was
a monk, every aspect of life with all its flavours, be they marital life, arts
and music or the sensual facets of life, he covered them all with rich details.
A rarity for a monk, to describe them with such awareness and perfection.
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| Ilango Adigal |
But before we
get into analysis, let me tell you briefly the story of ‘Cilappatikaram’, which
is loosely based on the excellent translation by R. Parthasarathy in his book “The
Cilappatikaram – The Tale of the Anklet, by Ilango Adigal”. Needless to add,
that a lot of details have been edited for the sake of this article, but the
original, which is in three parts, is worth reading for those interested in
epics with a difference!
Part 1 - In the
city of Puhar, of Chola kingdom, there lived a merchant and his family. The son
of the merchant, Kovalan, gets married to a beautiful girl by the name of Kannagi
and they lived happily. Kovalan, soon comes across a dancer, Matavi (or
Madhavi) and falls in love with her. The two started spending a lot of time
together in music and dance and soon they even had a daughter. During all this
time, Kannagi took good care of her aged in-laws, who in turn had started
despising their son. Kannagi however never complained, even though she knew
that Kovalan was wasting away the family fortune on Matavi.
Once during the
famous festival of Indra, when Matavi was performing, Kovalan got suspicious
about Matavi. He thought that Matavi was having an affair with someone else and
the song professing her love, was directed at that person and not him. Kovalan
was hurt and realised his mistake and went back home to his wife. While Kannagi
was happy at her husband’s return, they soon realise that they had no wealth on
them and there was a need to start life afresh. When Matavi realised, that
Kovalan had left her, she sent a message to Kovalan pleading him to return, but
Kovalan was not willing to heed to her pleas and concluded that he had nothing
to do with her as he had seen through her deception.
Kannagi had a
pair of anklets given to her by her mother on her wedding, and they decided to
sell it and start a new life in the city of Madurai, under the reign of the Pandian
King. Kovalan and Kannagi travel to Madurai and on the way, they receive help
and encouragement from many locals and Jain nuns. When they reach the outskirts
of Madurai, Kovalan leaves his wife under the care of some locals and goes to
the city with one of Kannagi’s anklets to sell. Kovalan was impressed with the
tall buildings and the affluence of the city and thought that they would be
able to rebuild their life once again.
Tomorrow, we will go thru the remaining parts of the
epic. Keep reading....
Can u give a detailed summary about the book of vanci.like i m trying to go through it and its just going over my head .
ReplyDeleteI have written a book which is going to be published in a month or so, which is an easy prose of the entire epic. The Book of Vanci does not have to do much with Kannaki, except for how the King Cenkuttuvan, moved by the story of Kannaki goes on to establish a temple for her and is also how he establishes a cult worship of Kannaki.
ReplyDeleteThe book will be published soon.