Silappathikarm: Three Themes Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

"To the erring King Virtue is Yemah"

Pandian King laid his life in honour
Following his error of judgment.
Covalan was killed wrongly for the theft
Of an anklet missing from his consort.

"The chaste woman shall be hailed by the learned."

Kannaki proved the King wrong in killing
Her husband and set ablaze Madurai,
The capital with the power acquired
By her chastity, modesty and virtue.

Fate of
one's past shall hit one by pursuit."

The King laid his life; her queen followed suit.
Covalan was murderd; Madhavi was estranged.
Kannaki was widowed; Madurai was destroyed.
Other than the fate of the past, no cause;

(Yemah is the Death God in the Hindu mythology. Madhavi was Covalan's lover. Silappathikaram is a Tamil classic 1000 year old.)
23.11.2014