S is for the Silappadikaram (Women's Epics A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

Silappadikaram
Tamil

Cilappatikaram (also spelled Silappadikaram) is the earliest and one of the most famous Tamil epics, consisting of almost 6,000 lines. It is part of the Tamil Sangam literature tradition, and it has been living in the oral tradition for centuries, incorporating historical, religious and cultural elements as well as folksongs. 

Tradition holds that it was composed by a monk named Ilanko Atikal sometime in the 2nd century CE. This monk has his own story: he was a prince foretold to become king, but he rejected the throne in favor of his beloved older brother. The brothers agreed to write an epic each - Ilanko wrote the Cilappatikaram, and Sattanar wrote its sequel, the Manimekalai (see earlier this month). The first full written edition, based on palm-leaf manuscripts, was published in the late 19th century.

The epic consists of three books, symbolizing the three Tamil kingdoms where the plot takes place - the Chola Kingdom (where the main couple is born and married), the Pandya Kingdom (where their tragedy unfolds), and the Chera Kingdom (where Kannaki becomes a goddess).

I read this one in a Hungarian translation, which was based on this book. This is a prose rendering of the story, rather than a full verse translation. For a fuller English version, read this book.

What is it about?

TL;DR: Kannaki is a faithful woman whose husband cheats on her but later repents. They go on a journey together, the husband is innocently killed for theft, and Kannaki takes revenge for his death before she turns into a goddess.

Kannaki and Kovalan are both children of merchants, and their fathers decide to marry them. They are quite happy with the arrengement, since they grew up as friends, and they get married when Kovalan is sixteen and Kannahi is twelve. Kannahi receives a pair of gorgeous gold and ruby anklets from her mother as wedding gifts. (These anklets are what the epic is named after.)

Three years later the young couple moves into their own home and Kannaki becomes mistress of her own household. However, Kovalan falls in love with a dancer girl named Madhavi. He abandons his shared home with Kannaki and spends all his time with his lover; eventually they have a daughter, Manimekalai (the protagonist of the other epic I'll talk about later!). However, Kovalan is slowly consumed by guilt as he spends all his fortune on his new family and on whims, until he is selling Kannaki's dowry too. Eventually he falls out of love with Madhavi, and after they have a - very poetic - fight, he returns home to his wife.

Meanwhile, Kannaki faithfully waits for her husband with her own life on hold. She is comforted by her in-laws and her best friend Devandi. Suddenly, Kovalan returns home and repents. He wants to start fresh, and suggests they should leave town and go to the rich city of Madurai in the neighboring kingdom. Husband and wife leave immediately, traveling on foot.

On their journey they meet a Jain nun, Kavunthi. She feels empathy towards the young couple, especially the wife, and agrees to accompany them on their journey, sort-of adopting them as her children. They have various adventures along the way, until they finally make it to Madurai. There, the nun arranges for a cowherd woman (Madari) and her daughter (Aiyai) to take in Kannaki, while her husband looks for a new job and a fresh start.

However, things take a dark turn. Kovalan takes one of Kannaki's precious anklets (the only possessions they have left) to sell it and get some money to start their new life. He doesn't realize that the goldsmith he offers the anklet to is secretly a thief. He had stolen the queen's identical anklets, and now he takes the chance to blame Kovalan for the theft. The king oders Kovalan to be arrested - and in the process of the arrest, one of the guards kills him.

When Kannaki finds out her husband has been killed for theft, she falls into grief and righteous anger. She sets out to the king's court to demand justice. Holding her other anklet above her head as proof, she walks to the palace (only stopping to cry over her husband's body). She accuses the king of injustice, the gravest of any sin for a ruler. She reveals the truth and breaks her anklet to show the unique rubies inside, proving it is not the queen's.

Then, she walks around the city three times, tears off one of her breasts, throws it over the walls, and curses Madurai to be consumed by fire.

Since Kannaki is right in her anger, and the Sun God likes her, her curse comes true, and Madurai is destroyed in a blaze. (However, she makes sure all innocents are unharmed). After, there is nothing left but Kannaki walking amongst the ashes. There she meets the goddess of the city, the only one still present. The goddess reveals Kovalan's story from his previous life: he had born false witness in trial, and had an innocent man executed; Kannaki herself was that man's wife in her previous life. Therefore their tragedy crossed lives and came to a fated conclusion.

Kannaki leaves the ashes of Madurai, and two weeks later she ascends into the heavens, becoming a goddess of chastity.

The third part of the epic deals with the Chera king Senguttuvan, who decides to build a temple to Kannaki and create a statue from a sacred rock from the Himalayas. He goes on a war campaign to fulfil his plan. We also find out the fates of all the other characters (most of whom either died or became monks).

The highlights

Honestly, Madhavi was a fascinating character for me. The story describes her childhood and education by her mother, a master dancer herself who trained her own daughter to be the best. (As they were descended from the heavenly dancer Urvashi). After her premiere performance, it is Madhavi herself who sends out her servant saying "whoever pays a thousand gold for this wreath can have me." She is, apparently, a talented singer and poet, and intelligent conversationalist and - later - a considerate mother.

Another character I grew to love was the nun Kavunthi. She was devout and ascetic, but at the same time she couldn't keep herself from caring for the young couple, and helping them in many ways. There is a scene where a bunch of young people stop and make fun of the travelers - Kavunthi turns them into jackals with one angry word. (Kovalan manages to convince her to mitigate the curse to one year, and not make them suffer forever for a youthful mistake.) When they cross dense forests full of terrifying animals, Kavunthi even walks beside the couple (instead of in front, as custom), distracting and entertaining them with stories from her life. When they reach Madurai, she convinces the community of Jain ascetics there to give shelter to the couple on their first night (again, breaking custom). When she finds out about the couple's tragic fate, she decides to die by starvation, not being able to accept that she failed to protect them.

I also loved the minor characters who helped along the way: Kannaki's best friend Devandi, the cowherd woman Madari and her daughter Aiyai. Madari is an amazing host to Kannaki: she is not only universally friendly and loved by her community, but she also runs into the burning city later to save the young woman (and perishes herself). Devandi and Aiyai meet by accident and become friends; united by their grief and their love for Kannaki they build a temple to her.

The process of Kovalan slowly falling out of love with Madhavi was very psychologically rich. It involved him spending all his fortune on whims of helping people who had made mistakes and tried to atone for them. He even adopted an old woman as his second mother after her son was executed for bearing false witness (a sin he himself had committed in his previous life). Even along the journey to Madurai he is torn by guilt; a forest nymph at one point tempts him to go back by taking on the shape of Madhavi's servant. Later on, he receives an actual letter from his lover; she asks him to forgive her. At this point, Kovalan again refuses to return to her, but admits to himself that his fate is his own fault, and not hers.

The scene of Kannaki demanding justice, the narrative high point of the story, is amazing. The moment she breaks the bracelet and the rubies cascade out of it, hitting the king's face like blood, is literally epic. There is also a scene where the four gods of Madurai gather to see the city burn - and, realizing Kannaki's anger was justified, they walk out of the city.

THIS EPIC, TWO MILLENNIA OLD, IS STILL VERY RELATABLE IN MANY WAYS.

What speaks more to you in the story? Mistakes and forgiveness? Anger and grief? Friendship and community?