The date of burning of Madurai by Kannagi

Silappadhikāram describes certain important historical events that offer a watershed year to demarcate pre-history of Bharat from the Common Era. The text was written by the younger brother of the Chera King Senguttuvan during whose period the events of Silappadhikaram occurred. A crucial information about the Chera king being a contemporary of a Śatakarṇi offers a valuable cross reference to the historicity of the events. The identity of this Śatakarṇi king was elusive to many researchers, but there does exist not one but two evidence-s in Silappadhikaram to zero in on his identity. Added to that is an important Panchanga clue about the day Kannagi burnt Madurai. These two are discussed in this essay to fix the date of Silappadhikaram and the allied issues such as the chronology of Chola kings who had their base at Kanchi!

The Pallava-s wrested Kanchi from the Cholas only after the Silappadhikaram period, reducing the Cholas to feudatories who however managed to rise from the time of Vijayālaya in the 9^th century. The early presence of the Chola-s in Kanchi was studied by me when I ventured to find out the date of Adi Shankara - the much-disputed date with some people positioning his time in the CE – based on the input that he was a contemporary of a Chola King! My quest led me to an unshakable date of Adi Shankara to a time before the Common Era which I will be sharing soon. That quest needed the watershed date of Silappadhikaram to deduce the presence of Cholas in Kanchi by the turn of the CE and before that. Therefore, this essay takes precedence over my essay on Adi Shankara’s date.

The date of the burning of Madurai by Kannagi

As we proceed to deduce the date of Silappadhikaram by checking the Panchanga details at the time of Kannagi burning Madurai, certain issues cropped up. As per Silappadhikaram, Kannagi burnt Madurai in the afternoon / evening (before nightfall) on a Friday when Krittika and Krishna Ashtami were running in the Aadi (Kataka) month. These four features, namely weekday, star, tithi and solar month occur quite often that we need an additional checkpoint to fix the date.

An important checkpoint pertains to Manimekalai who was born to Madhavi, the other woman in the life of Kannagi. Manimekalai must have been quite young when Kannagi burnt Madurai. The sequence of the events shows that soon after Kovalan deserted Madhavi and returned to Kannagi, the couple started their journey to Madhurai (from Pūmpukār) to sell the anklet of Kannagi. After taking morning food, Kovalan went to the city where the cunning goldsmith who already kept the anklet of the queen with himself complained to the king that the missing anklet of the queen was with Kovalan, whom he projected as a thief. At that moment, the king was rushing to meet his queen to pacify her who was angry with her husband for showing special interest in the performance of the dancers in the court.

The king thought that the recovery of her lost anklet would help in pacifying her and therefore ordered his guards to kill the ‘thief’. Thus, the innocent Kovalan was killed in the afternoon of that day. The news of his death reached Kannagi staying in a nearby location. She rushed to the spot where her husband had fallen. His ātman left after seeing her. The shocked Kannagi took her remaining anklet and went straight to the king’s court to seek justice. The king appeared calm as he said that he delivered judgement that was suitable in such circumstances at which Kannagi asked what the beads inside the anklet were. Famous for pearl harvesting, the Pandyan queen had pearls stuffed inside her anklet. Kannagi’s had rubies inside. Kannagi asked the king to get the anklet taken from Kovalan, the so-called thief, and smashed it. The anklet broke and rubies jerked out hitting the king on his face.

The shocked king just fell dead on coming to know about the blunder he had done. His queen also collapsed and died on the spot. Not satisfied with the fate that befell the royal couple, Kannagi was determined that her Pativratātva must be made known to the world. Miffed with extreme anguish and anger, she cut off her breast and hurled it at the palace with a curse that it would burn the city of Madurai.

This happened in the afternoon of the day and before nightfall because the text says that the people of the city affected by the spread of fire could not do the evening worship of the Gods. At that time the Guardian deity of Madurai appeared before her and pacified her. The deity said that the city already had a curse that it would be burnt on a Friday in the month of Aadi when the moon was in Krittika star on a Krishna Ashtami.

ஆடித்திங்கள் பேரிருட் பக்கத்து

அழல் சேர் குட்டத்து அட்டமி ஞான்று

வெள்ளி வாரத்து ஒள்ளெரி யுண்ண

(Si: 23 – lines 133- 135)

The date features the day Madurai was burnt by Kannagi are thus available in Silappadhikaram. How to identify this date?

The combination of that tithi and star on a Friday in the month of Aadi, can occur 4 or 5 times in a century. How to deduce the exact date depends on certain inputs found in Silappadhikaram and its twin epic, Manimekalai.

From Silappadhikaram it is known that the Kannagi episode was conveyed to the Chera Senguttuvan soon after she was seen to have ascended heaven from the hill of ‘Neduveḷ kundram’ (Si: 23- line 190). On hearing about her life, the king decided to go to the Himalayas to procure the stone for making her image. If we get the date of his travel, we can deduce the date of the burning of Madurai closer to that. To arrive at that date, let us proceed to state the events that happened after Kannagi burnt Madurai. Where did she go after that act?

The place where Kannagi attained her exit from the world.

As per the direction of the deity of Madurai that she would join her husband after fourteen days, Kannagi started her journey to the western direction. At first, she went to the Durga temple in Madurai and broke her shell bangles. Then she started walking on the banks of river Vaigai. She crossed uneven terrain on her way and reached ‘Neduveḷ Kundram’. According to Arumpadha Urai-Asiriyar, this was Thiruchengode, a place in Tamilnadu, but the commentator Adiyaarkku Nallar opines that it was Thiruchenkundram, a place in Kerala – which was in the Chera country at that time. Since the identity of this place is debated, let us analyse the verses to find out the location.

The description here talks about

“கடல் வயிறு கிழித்து மலை நெஞ்சு பிளந்தாங்கு

அவுணரைக் கடந்த சுடரிலை நெடுவேல்

நெடுவேள் குன்றம் அடிவைத்தேறிப்

பூத்த வேங்கைப் பொங்கர் கீழோர்”

The description is about the tall deity ‘who tore apart the ocean and broke the mountain to defeat the asuras’. The commentator refers to a similar expression in ‘Aychchiyar Kuravai’ earlier in the text of Ayar women singing in praise of Vishnu churning the ocean using similar words (கடல் வயிறு கலக்கினையே).  

The expression Neduveḷ referring to a tall structure is repeated at other places in Silappadhikaram for Vishnu. The name Nediyon Kundram (நெடியோன் குன்றம்) referring to Vishnu at Tirumala hills (Si: 8- line 1) is almost like Neduveḷ Kundram (நெடுவேள் குன்றம்). After finishing the dance of ‘Aychchiyar Kuravai’ the Ayar woman, Madhari went to the river Vaigai at the feet of ‘Nedumāl’ (நெடுமால்) to take bath (Si: 18- line 4). Here the temple of Kudalazhagar in Madurai is indicated.

The description of Neduveḷ Kundram fits with the temple of Thiruchenkundroor in Chengannur in Kerala. The Sthala Puranam of this temple talks about Vishnu taking the form of Mohini to kill the asura, Padmasura. The verse in Silappadhikaram also talks about the deity who killed asuras. This temple is on the banks of a river called Chittraru which means ‘small river’. The deity is in standing posture in tune with the description of ‘Nedu’ in the name for tall.

This temple is likely to be known as Neduveḷ kundram in olden times. This place mentioned in Silappadhikaram is mistaken for a temple of Muruga because the verse makes a mention of spear, ‘neduvel’ (நெடுவேல்), the weapon associated with Lord Muruga. But the verse can be read as Vishnu destroying the asura with the spear. The need for associating the place with Vishnu arises from other descriptions too which do not match with Thiruchengode in Namakkal district of Tamilnadu but with Chengannur of the Chera country.

Further description of Silappadhikaram says that the region was hilly with many waterfalls– a description that does not suit Thiruchengode. The inhabitants of the hilly region were aghast on seeing a haggard woman without a breast. When they enquired her, she told them about her story in brief and went and sat under a Vengai tree. Vengai is a tree native to the border regions of Kerala and Karnataka. It is not found in Thiruchengode or regions in Tamilnadu. Botanically known as Pterocarpus marsupium, this tree called as Malabar Kino or Indian Kino or Vijayasar or Vengai in Tamil grows in the western ghats. This tree finds mention in two verses of Ainkurunooru (ஐங்குறுநூறு) as a native variety of hilly tracts of western ghats (in Kurinji Nadu – குறிஞ்சி)

Vengai tree

Kannagi waited under this tree till the 15^th day after the death of her husband. On the evening of the 15^th day, an aerial car arrived with her husband and picked her up and vanished. The hill tribes were astonished to watch this and conversed among themselves that she must have been an extraordinary woman -a deity perhaps and called up their clan to perform their traditional dance called ‘Kundra Kuravai’ in praise of her.

This has happened after the 15^th day of Kovalan’s death and on seeing Kannagi vanish in the ethereal car. The tribes bathed in the fresh water of the water falls and started dancing in praise of Muruga, the deity of Kurinji, the hill regions. The arrival of fresh water indicates the onset of monsoon as the month must have been Aavaṇi (Simha māsa). The surrounding hills with waterfalls are not to be found in Thiruchengode of Tamilnadu. This must have been in the western ghats of the Chera land. The most likely place is Chengannur where there is a temple of Thiruchenkundroor with Vishnu in standing posture. This is Thiruchenkundram mentioned by the olden commentator, Adiyaarkku Nallar.

Even as the tribes were celebrating the rare sight by means of Kundra Kuravai, the Chera King, Senguttuvan arrived at that place from his capital city of Vanji for a picnic with his wife. Vanji is today’s Kodungallur. The distance is roughly 130 kilometers between Vanji and Thiruchenkundram.

The king camped on the banks of a river called ‘Per Aāru’ that crossed a huge hill range that resembled the garland on the chest of Nediyon, that is, Vishnu (Si:25 – line 21). ‘Per Aāru’ means Big River. This contrasts with Chittraru (Small River) where the Neduveḷ Kundram is situated. Initially I was tempted to relate the Per Aāru with Periyar, but the location was too far off from Periyar river.

I locate the camp of the King closer to Neduveḷ Kundram because the text says that he was able to hear the Kundra Kuravai performance of the hilly tribes. This information from Silappadhikaram also shows that the arrival of the king to that place was almost two weeks after the death of Kovalan or immediately after the exit of Kannagi from the worldly plane.

On coming to know of the arrival of the king, the hilly tribes visited him with a variety of goods available only in the ghats which included the rare and currently endangered variety of ‘Varaiyādu’ or Varudai (Si: 25- line 51). They thrive only in hilly regions. They were never found in Thiruchengode region – a fact to remember if we assume that Neduveḷ kundram was in Thiruchengode. Today they are found confined to the sanctuary at Munnar in Iravikulam. In those days they must have been freely roaming through the ghat sections. This information also shows that Neduveḷ Kundram was in the western ghats and not in the Tamilnadu region.

Varaiyādu

The tribes narrated to the king the odd event of Kannagi ascending towards the sky in an aerial car. The king was surprised but was briefed by his teacher who accompanied him for the picnic. He was Seeththalai Saatthanar (சீத்தலை சாத்தனார்) who later penned Manimekalai, the follow-up epic of Silappadhikaram. He narrated the life history of Kannagi and how Kannagi avenged the death of her husband Kovalan for the wrong judgement given by the Pandyan King Nedum Chezhiyan.

Overwhelmed by the life history of Kannagi, the Chera King and his queen decided to construct a temple for Kannagi. They thought that it was more appropriate to make the statue of Kannagi from the stone procured from the Himalayas and get it bathed in the river Ganga. The king lost no time in executing his plan. It must be noted that this decision was taken almost immediately after Kannagi left this world. In other words, his Himalayan expedition started soon after the date of the burning of Madurai.

The date of the burning coming immediately prior to the expedition of the Chera king, our next task is to decipher the date of the King’s march to the North. There is no explicit reference to the date, but Silappadhikaram offers a valuable information of an important king who helped Senguttuvan in his expedition to the Himalayas. By knowing his date, we can determine the date of the Chera king’s voyage to the North. That king was a Śatakarṇi, a Sātavāhana king mentioned as Nuttruvar kannar (நூற்றுவர்கன்னர்) in Silappadhikaram. So, our next search is to identify this Śatakarṇi whose full name is not given in Silappadhikaram.

The identity of the Śatakarṇi who helped Senguttuvan.

As soon as he decided to go to the Himalayas, Senguttuvan got a letter signed by the Chola and Pandya kings to make his trip appear as a united Tamil effort. His previous trip to the North was a pilgrimage to the river Ganga in which his mother joined him to take sacred bath in the river. At that time, Senguttuvan was confronted by the kings of that region (mentioned as Arya kings) and had a fight too. He had a grudge against particularly two kings, Kanaka and Vijaya who were the sons of a king by name Balakumara. On coming to know that they teased him, Senguttuvan decided to capture them in this trip and make them carry the stones procured from the Himalayas for making the image of Kannagi.

The king made a public announcement of his proposed expedition to the North which was received by the spies of different countries of the North. On hearing about his plan, the king Śatakarṇi, sent an emissary by name Sanjaya, with numerous gifts and people of sorts to Vanji with a request to stay back as his expedition with a huge army could vitiate the conditions in the North. The Śatakarṇi also conveyed that he would do the needful to get the stone from the Himalayas for the sake of Senguttuvan.

The Chera king was in no mood to budge but gently indicated his desire to avenge the two kings, Kanaka and Vijaya and requested Śatakarṇi to set up a camp for him on the banks of river Ganga. And thus, his journey to the North kicked off in all grandeur.

Senguttuvan was confronted by the Arya kings Kanaka and Vijaya who opposed him with their friends, namely, Utthara, Vichithra, Rudra, Bhairava, Chithra, Simha, Dhanudra and Sweta. The Chera king defeated all of them. He then sent his army chief, Villavan Kodhai to get the stone from the Himalayas. He made Kanaka and Vijaya to carry the stones on their heads.

By then, a Brahmin by name Mādalan, who appeared in the story earlier and met Kovalan and Kannagi on their way to Madurai reached the camp of the Chera king on the banks of Ganga. He narrated the events after the king left Vanji. Thirty-two months (2 years and 8 months) had gone since the king left Vanji. In that period, the brother of the dead king of the Pandya dynasty, namely, Vettri Vel Chezhiyan who was looking after Korkai until then moved to Madurai as the chief king of the Pandya land.

In the Chola country, a king by name Vaḷavan Kiḷḷi, who happened to be the brother-in-law of Senguttuvan was confronted by nine of his cousins. He fought and won them to retain the throne. Hearing these developments, Senguttuvan decided to march back home.

Until now, there is no hint in the text to find out the year – Gregorian or Śaka year – of his visit to the North which would help us to deduce the date of the burning of Madurai. But the clue comes later in the form of praise of Senguttuvan after he consecrated the temple of Kannagi.

It is said twice in the text, ‘Vansol Yavanar Vaḷanaadu Andu’

வன் சொல் யவனர் வளநாடு ஆண்டு

(Si: 28-line 141 and 29-line 25)

This means that the Chera King ruled (won over) the rough tongued Yavana-s!

Throughout the expedition, there is no reference to a fight with the Yavana-s. The focus was on his victory over the Arya kings. The only possible time the Chera army could confront the Yavana-s was in the Himalayan Proper. The Himalayas stretch through a long distance from east to west and the exact place where the Chera army went to procure the stone is not mentioned in the text.

However, we get a clue from the expedition of Pandya-s in an earlier time from the poem of Periyazhwar, who said that the Pandya king engraved his emblem on ‘Paruppadam’ in the Himalayas.

Paruppadam, Kailayam (Kailash), Meru and Mandra are the four peaks of the Himalayas dear to Lord Shiva, says the Tamil text, Tiruvilaiyādal Puranam (v. 216).

Paruppadam, the choice of the Pandyan king could have been the same peak preferred by Karikal Chola who also went to the Himalayan region to engrave his emblem.  Senguttuvan also could have preferred the same peak. Paruppadam sounds like Barbara, a people who lived along with Yavana-s, Pahlava-s, Kāmboja-s, Sindhu-s and others in the southwest part of larger India (Akhand Bharat) as per the version of Brihat Samhita (14-v17 to 21). Valmiki Ramayana (1-54-23) also informs us that Barbara-s and Yavana-s lived together. Their presence near the peak of Amarnath seems to have lent their name to the peak as – Barbara which is Paruppadam in Tamil.

Of all the four peaks mentioned by Tiruvilaiyādal Puranam, Amarnath stands out special for being the place of Uma or Parvati and the union of Uma with Shiva. This location was the first to deglaciate soon after the end of Ice Age 12,000 years ago. Gangotri associated with Ganga, the sister of Uma continued to grow at that time as per Valmiki Ramayana (1-36).  Therefore, this region of the Himalayas was the most revered that the Tamil kings thought it fit to raise their flag on this peak and engrave their emblem on its slopes. King Senguttuvan also must have felt that the stone from this peak was the ideal one to chisel the image of Kannagi. Once consecrated, Kannagi was praised as the daughter of Himavān.

Location of Amarnath

In that visit, Senguttuvan’s army must have run over the Yavana-s, Barbara-s and other Mleccha-s and won them ultimately. Since Śatakarṇi had guided him throughout, there is every likelihood that the Śatakarṇi accompanied the Chera army to Amarnath. He too must have claimed victory over the Yavana-s.

A search for the Śatakarṇi who won the Yavana-s leads us to only one Śatakarṇi, who was Gautami Putra Śatakarṇi. No other Śatakarṇi claimed victory over the Yavana-s.  This victory of Gautami Putra Śatakarṇi is recorded in Nashik inscription by his mother Gautami Balashri.

Nashik inscription

The inscription says that he defeated Śaka-s, Pahlava-s and Yavana-s. All these people, being Mleccha-s, the victory over them meant something. It made Gautami Putra Śatakarṇi the initiator of the new era of Kali Yuga, namely, Śālivāhana Śaka.

The Śaka date started in Senguttuvan’s period.

The Nashik inscription provides an important information that this king (Gautami Putra Śatakarṇi) devised Time and place for the pursuit of three goals, perhaps referring to Dharma, Artha and Kāma. Written specifically as “suvibhatativaga desa kālasa”, this seems to indicate the initiation of Śālivāhana Śaka. By having defeated the Śaka-s, this Śatakarṇi became eligible to start the third Śaka of Kali Yuga. These Śaka- eras were prophesied right at the beginning of Kali Yuga when the sages devised Time in 3101 BCE. In their foresight, they named every new Śaka (means branch) and the date when each Śaka will be initiated. The marker for each Śaka comes from a victory over the Śaka-s who were Mleccha-s. (By defeating Mleccha-s who were known by the name Śaka-s, a new Śaka which means a sub-part of Kali Yuga was started).

Though Senguttuvan was part of the military expedition against the Yavana-s, the credit has gone to Gautami Putra. This may be because, Senguttuvan sent only his army headed by Villavan Kodhai to pick out a suitable stone whereas the Śatakarṇi could have headed the expedition to Paruppadam and played a major role in the fight against Yavana-s and others.

From the description of Silappadhikaram, it appears that Senguttuvan stayed back in the camp on the banks of Ganga. Perhaps his advanced age at that time caused him not to climb the peak. He ruled for more than 50 years as per the version of Mādalan (Si: 28-line 130). Considering his age, he had not gone to the Himalaya peak but the credit for getting the stone and defeating the Yavana-s came to him – he being the King.

As a result of his victory over Mleccha-s, Gautami Putra Śatakarṇi got entitled to the name as Śaka- karta and started a new sub-era of Kali Yuga called Śālivāhana Śaka. Śālivāhana was not his name but the name already given by the sages at the beginning of kali Yuga. The names of future Śaka-s such as Vijayābhinanda, Nagarjuna, Bali etc, already given by them, it is futile to search for a king by name Śālivāhana. The winner of Śaka-s automatically becomes the new Śaka-karta and takes over the titular name given by the sages of yore.

On the eastern walls of the veranda of Cave 3 where the inscription on devising Time and the victory over the Śaka-s are found, there is another inscription dictated by Gautami Putra Śatakarṇi from his military camp at the battlefield soon after winning the Śaka king ‘Usabadata’ (Rishabhadatta), the son-in-law of Nahapāna, transferring the villages previously under the control of the Western Kṣatrapa-s to the ascetics.

The deed declares that it was issued on the 18^th year of the rule of the king, on the 1^st day of the second fortnight of the rainy season. In Caitra, the next year, this king must have got established as the Śakakāraka. This was at the expiry of 3179 Kali year, corresponding to 78 CE. Starting from this Śaka, many Karaṇa texts were written to prepare the tables for Pancānga-s for usage in religious, cultural, civil, and administrative works.

This year, 78 CE, marking the beginning of the current Śaka also indicates the probable date of Senguttuvan’s northern trip. He must have started from Vanji two years before that because two years and eight months were over after he procured the stone and was resting on the banks of Ganga.

So, our search for Kannagi’s date of burning Madurai starts before 76 CE.

The probable dates of burning Madurai.

I checked right from the beginning of the century (1 CE) till 76 CE for the combination of Adi month, Krishna Ashtami, Krittika star, Friday afternoon. I checked both with Surya Siddhanta ayanamsa and Drik ayanamsa. Surya Siddhanta Ayanamsa looked more agreeable because it was only in 499 CE, the tropical zero degree of Aries coincided with Sidereal zero-degree Aries. So close to that mid-point, the 1^st century must have been Surya Siddhanta ayanamsa compliant.

The following are the dates I could get for the date combinations for 4 p.m. (Madurai was burnt in the afternoon)

1.     July 5^th, CE 5 (SS ayanamsa)

2.     July 16^th, CE 32 (Drik ayanamsa) – In SS, the Sun has shifted to the next month.

3.     July 13^th, CE 46 (Drik ayanamsa) – In SS, the tithi changed to Krishna Navami

4.     July 14^th, CE 73 (SS ayanamsa)

5.     July 10^th, CE 76 (SS ayanamsa)

Of all these, CE 76 is closer to CE 78, the Śālivāhana Śaka that started with the defeat of the Yavana-s. The planetary combination also shows a dreadful event on that evening. The horoscopy chart is produced.

For the lagna at 4 p.m., the 8^th house is maligned by the conjunction of two fiery planets, namely, Mars and Sun within 1 degree. They both happen to occupy the Mrityu Bhaga which gives deadly results. Saturn, a maraka, is retrograde and is moving towards Mrityu Bhaga besides getting locked in a mutual aspect with Sun and Mars, its worst enemies. Jupiter, the Dharmadhikari is also retrograde in Mrityu Bhaga and in the 8^th from the Sun, the signifactor for King. The affliction to Sun indicates the bad time for the king. The Moon, signifying people, is in Marana avasta and is in Kemadruma yoga suffering from downfall. There are null bindus in the 8th house in Moon’s ashtaka varga. In the Martian Ashtaka varga there are no bindus in the 4^th house that signifies home or country. Null bindus indicate affliction to the significances of those houses, namely life and people of the country.

This kind of deadly combination does not exist for any other dates given above. Moreover, Senguttuvan having started his military expedition soon after Kannagi’s death following the burning of Madurai, CE 76 is the most probable date of burning Madurai.

Manimekalai must have been born just around that time and was a baby when Kannagi left. As per Manimekalai, she had gone to the temple of Kannagi built by Senguttuvan in Vanji as a young girl. If we take CE 73, the planetary combinations are not that deadly to cause a havoc to the king and the people and by fire. So, CE 76 was the year of the burning of Madurai.

It was year Dhaata, Aadi month, Krishna Ashtami, Krittika and Friday.

CE 76 is the cut-off date in so many ways. The last flood that changed the boundary of Pūmpukār occurred after that date, as per Manimekalai. The Tamil lands changed after that with Buddhism taking root. The new Era of Śālivāhana was ushered in which was followed in the Tamil lands. Kanchi, which was mostly Advaitic due to the influence of Adi Shankara, started embracing Buddhism.

Expanding these versions, let me start from what Māsātthuvān, the father of slain Kovalan told Manimekalai. He was staying in Vanji when Manimekalai, the daughter born to Kovalan from Madhavi visited Vanji. He narrated the old story of an ancestor of Kovalan born nine generations before Kovalan, who constructed a Chaitya for Buddha on a hilltop in Vanji. It was established at a time when the then Chera King had a low and was advised by the Buddhist sages who returned from Lanka after going around a hill called “Samanoḷi” (சமனொளி) where a Buddhist shrine is located. This was originally the abode of Lanka of Ravana, which had gone to the hands of the Buddhists for long such that its original history is never uttered, though a Buddhist text does refer to it as Ravana’s abode. I will be divulging more about it in my upcoming article in Tamil in Geethacharyan magazine and in my upcoming book on Date of Ramayana.

He also talked about a curse on Pūmpukār of a flood. Expecting the flood to destroy Pūmpukār anytime, he shifted to Vanji. This flood did take place, but researchers are not sure about the exact date of the flood. From the utterance of Māsātthuvān, it is deduced that it occurred sometime after 78 CE or in other words, in the latter part of the 1^st century CE.

When the young Manimekalai visited Kanchi, it was reeling under drought and famine. The ruling king of Kanchi was a Chola king by name, Iḷam Kiḷḷi (இளம் கிள்ளி) who agreed to abide by the advice of Manimekalai to set up a Buddha Vihara in a waterhole made long ago on the advice of a Buddhist. It was uncared for until then but the king on the advice of Manimekalai agreed to renew it, hoping to wipe out famine. Kanchi, the land of Advaita until then under the influence of Adi Shankara who spent his last days there was gradually lost out to Buddhism by the later part of the first century CE.

In the next article we will continue to see the Chola dominance until then in Kanchi with Karikal Chola playing a major part in reclaiming Kanchi from Trilochana (Pratapa Rudra in Kalingatthu Bharani) – the king he humiliated for refusing to join his phenomenal work of building a dam across Kaviri river.

 Post Script

Kannagi in Kodungallur

There are several temples dedicated to Kannagi in Kerala, but the temple of Bhagavati in Kodungallur deserves analysis because the original temple of Kannagi was consecrated in Kodungallur (Vanji) only. 

Today that temple houses an Ugra form of Bhagavati, a manifestation of Kali with a legend that she destroyed Daruka, the asura. As per Silappadhikaram, the king Senguttuvan in consultation with experts in temple architecture and Sthapati-s decided the form of Kannagi and built a magnificent temple with all the Dik-phala-s. There is no word on what form was given to her, but she was glorified as Parvati, the daughter of Himavān. So, there is every likelihood of her having the form of Kali with a fierce and angry look.

Kodungallur Bhagavati - Kannagi

There are many folk songs in Kerala partially or completely depicting the story of Kannagi. They are all in oral form and not known to have a written form. Generationally devotees have been singing them.

Most important are Kannagi Thottam, Manimanka Thottam which describe Kannagi’s story. Manimanka refers to Kannagi which sounds like Mangala Madanthai (மங்கல மடந்தை) described for her in Silappadhikaram.

Nallamma Thottam, Mudippurai Thottam or Mudippurai Paattu also describe Kannagi’s story. The Thottam Paattu is also known as Bhadrakali Paattu which refers to Kannagi legend and is influenced by the Kali cult.

In Kali Paattu, the destruction is by fire with a reference to Kannagi of destroying Madurai. In North Kerala, Kali is the theme of the songs but in South Kerala Kannagi dominates the narrative.

In Kodungallur, the Bharani Paattu is most famous and celebrated from the Bharani of Kumbha month to the Bharani of Meena month. Bharani Paattu focuses on Kannagi though it ends up in praise of Kali.

This is almost same as how Silappadhikaram describes the last two chapters after the consecration was done. Kannagi who suffered a lot as a mortal is praised with godly qualities of vanquishing enemies.

The choice of Bharani and the specific month of Kumbha and Meena also could be the date of consecration. She burnt Madurai in Krittika star. Bharani, coming before that star saw Kannagi full of hopes of happy days ahead. But Krittika changed her life. Perhaps to tap her happy mood for the benefit of mankind Bharani festival was conducted. And it also turned out to be the time of Kavu Theendal when oracles are heard. Silappadhikaram says that frequent oracles were heard after Kannagi was consecrated. 

It is also possible to assume that the consecration as done on a Bharani day in Kumbha month. The text says that the celebration went on for some time. Perhaps it went on till the next Bharani which is being followed till date.  

In Tamil speaking lands Kannagi worship perhaps evolved into worship of Amman. There are countless Amman temples where annual festival is done in Aadi (Kataka) - the month she burnt Madurai. The burning was done on the last Friday of that month. Perhaps this was reminiscented by the Fire- walk ceremony which is conducted on the last Friday of Adi in most Amman temples. 

Fire-walking was done in Sangam Age too as is known from the name of a Sangam poet, 'Theemidhi Naganar' - Naganar who did fire-walking. But it was made a regular procedure in Amman temples post Kannagi period. Kannagi continues to remain powerful both in the imagination of Tamils and also in temple culture. 

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