Kannagi, a mythological 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.

A statue of Kannagi in Chennai. Photo downloaded from The Hindu through google search

History

Kannagi and Kovalan lived happily, in the city of Kaveripoompattinam, until Madhavi crossed their lives. Kovalan got entangled in love with Madhavi and started to live with her. Having lost all his wealth over the dancer, Kovalan realised his mistake, and returned back to Kannagi. Later, they decided to migrate to Madurai in search of greener pastures. The city of Madurai was ruled by the Pandya king Neduncheziyan. Upon arrival to Madurai, Kannagi gave one of her anklets to Kovalan to sell it for money.

Kovalan, while on his way to sell the anklet, was held by the king's guards for the alleged theft of queen's anklet. It was the court goldsmith who robbed the anklets. Unaware of this, the king ordered to behead Kovalan for the theft and eventually Kovalan was killed. To prove her husband's innocence, Kannagi came to the king's court, broke open her other anklet and showed that it had stones different than those of the queen's anklets. Irked by the false trial, Kannagi cursed that the entire city be destroyed. 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 literalized by a great tamil poet Illango Adigal . A fascinating, but ironical, fact about this epic is that it portrays Madhavi, Kovalan's amorous lover, as an equally chaste woman. Manimekalai , another epic, is written on praise of her. The city of Kaveripoompattinam has been re-christened as Poompohar .

Goddess of Chastity

Kannagi is eulogized as the epitome of chastity and is still being worshipped as its goddess. She is praised for her extreme devotion to her husband, in spite of his infidel behaviour. However, a section of modern women do not approve her submissive attitude towards her husband's amorous activity and brand her has a symbol of female oppression. In fact, the chief minister of Tamilnadu, J Jayalalithaa, removed the statue of Kannagi, an important landmark in Chennai, from its place - the exact reason is still not known.

External link

• Digital Madurai Website