Cilappatikaram – the Tale of an Anklet – Concluding Part

Many scholars have declined to accord Cilappatikaram the status of an epic for a number of reasons. According to some, it was not the story of royals and gods and nor did it culminate in to a war of ‘epic’ proportions, like all the well-known epics of both India and others. However, what one cannot overlook is the enormity of the epic and the depiction of the Tamil culture in the poetic verse form. While it has all the elements of an epic, the comparisons with Ramayan and Mahabharat have left the epic in the backyard of literature; even so that many a Tamilian is unaware of this masterpiece of Tamil literature.

Many have questioned Kannagi’s cursing the city of Madurai even when the King and the Queen had died due to the misjudgement. When Kovalan and Kannagi enter the city, they were supported by the locals and even helped by a few. To mete out such fury to the locals, who were not at fault is seen as a chink in the characterisation of Kannagi.

Another very modern criticism was that when Kannagi was left by her husband for a dancing girl, where was the need for her to take him back, when all he had come back was due to a misunderstanding with Matavi? He had come back only because he felt cheated by Matavi and not because of realisation that he was wrong. Modern day feminists feel that eulogising such ‘sacrificing’ aspects of women’s characterisation, is erroneous for the self-respect of any woman. This only leads to greater promiscuity by men as they know that their wives were always there when needed, and end up having the best of both the worlds!

Besides the critics of literature having their say, modern day politics too has had its share of controversy. The statue of Kannagi was first installed by the Annadurai DMK government way back in 1968, as the pride of Tamil Nadu. According to a politician, Kannagi’s statue was “a symbol of the two principal roots of Tamil culture, aram (righteousness) and veeram (valour)”. In 2002, after a truck rammed into the pedestal of the statue, the statue was shifted from its place and taken to a museum, as it was supposed to be obstructing the traffic. People saw in it a conspiracy, as it was rumoured that the then Govt had got it removed as astrologers had warned the AIADMK chief Ms. Jayalalitha that the presence of the statue would bring her bad-luck.

This led to an agitation and the statue was later installed at the Marina beach by the DMK Govt, where it still stands.

Finally, to conclude, in all the analysis and criticism, one thing should not go unnoticed, especially at this stage of our political situation. The King of Pandiyan should be an example of what every leader or ruler should be. The king gave up his life, nothing less, for a mistake that he made. How I wish we had at least a few of such leaders in the current state of our national politics!

With this, I conclude the series on the Cilappatikaram.

Cilappatikaram – the Tale of an Anklet – Part 3

In the previous articles we read about the famous Tamil epic Cilappatikaram. This time we will discuss a few important pointers to the epic –

Amongst all the well known epics of the world, this is probably the only one which has a female as the central character. While the focus is on the chastity and the fidelity of Kannagi, there is no denying that she is the hero of the epic. Her character is above suspicion and her chastity had the power to invoke the gods, who had no choice but to attend to her (this is similar to the character of Nalayani http://utkarshspeak.blogspot.in/2014/02/why-did-draupadi-have-to-suffer.html ). Kannagi in Tamil means ‘virgin’, this gives rise to the comparison of Kannagi with the Panch-kanyas of the two epics, Ramayan and Mahabharat. Her heroism shows up when she doesn’t take her husband’s death as her destiny and simply end her life. She rushes to the court, gets her husband’s name absolved of the allegation, and punishes both the king and the city which had harmed her husband and her marital life. Unfortunately in present times, she is remembered more for her chastity than her courage to question the Kings judgement and even punishing him and his kingdom for the same.

At a time when Sanskrit dramas were eulogising the Kings and the Gods, this Tamil literature had the courage to eulogise an ordinary mortal and show the royalty, guilty of injustice. It sure needed courage to write an epic where one was questioning the sense of justice of the King. Even if we accept that the epic was based on an already known folktale, the author did not take liberty to change this aspect, as we have seen such changes take place in numerous instances in other versions of the established epics.

Many scholars have marvelled at the fact that the author, Ilango Adigal, though a Jain monk, has written in details of worldly life with a flair which is both surprising and unbelievable. Scenes of love, pangs of separation and the life of royalty rubs shoulders in details with the lives of common folks and the lives of Jain monks and nuns. Matavi’s dancing skills along with the music of the times too are mentioned with the details befitting that of a connoisseur. This remarkable feat though has been questioned by some skeptics, but at the end of it all, there is enough evidence to the fact that the epic was indeed written by Adigal. Also, Adigal does not use the epic to propagate Jainism (though he has a Jain nun as an important character); he has taken into consideration the basic Tamil life and the religious status of the people of the time, which was primarily Brahminism with some spread of both Buddhism and Jainism.

There is no pretense whatsoever to the objective of the epic. Adigal lays down the objectives at the very beginning of the epic in no uncertain terms, which were –

1. Not even the King will be spared if he makes an error of judgement
2. A woman with high moral standards will not only be respected, but even worshiped.
3. No matter how virtuous a life one leads, one can’t avoid the fruits of one’s past deeds

The above is a message for both the royalty and the common man. While the women were eulogised for their fidelity, the men are asked to lead a moral life. In one scene, Kavunti, a Jain nun turns two people into jackals when they teased Kannagi. According to Kavunti, disrespect towards anybody, more so women, was not a trivial thing.

Another interesting aspect is the characterisation of Matavi, the proverbial ‘other woman’. While Matavi was a dancing girl, whose life revolved around music, dance and riches, she is treated with a lot of respect. Her knowledge of music and dance is exemplary. She gives birth to the daughter of Kovalan, a sign of her love for Kovalan. She even pleads for his return, when Kovalan leaves her for good. In the entire epic, nowhere has Matavi been blamed for breaking the relationship of the happy couple, even Kovalan blames destiny for the break-up and not Matavi. Even the parents of Kovalan blame their son, but not Matavi. Later, Matavi is seen becoming a Buddhist nun, as a sign of atoning for her act. It called for a lot of maturity by the author to create such a character, and needless to say, for the audience to even accept such a character.

However, such a masterpiece is not devoid of criticism by the modern scholars. Cilappatikaram has its share of brickbats too.

Next we will read the criticism that this masterpiece of an epic has faced over times. Keep reading.....

Cilappatikaram – the Tale of an Anklet - Part 1

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 5^th-6^th 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. 

 

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.   

 

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....