Spgm 108 - Sandra On Silappadigaram Part Iii Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

Kannagi leaves the ruined city by the western gate. On Neduvel Hill she sits down under a Vengai tree and cries for her husband. It is the fourteenth day after his death. The poet speaks of her in these elegiac verses:

"In praise of her lover she prayed.
Lords of the Heaven also praised
On her fresh flowers they showered,
This way Kannagi was honored.

Up the sky, a heavenly chariot took her
When Kovalan also joined her
"Kannagi" stayed in the mind of those
Who were to their husbands too close. (209) .

Moreover, what was the fate of the beautiful dancing girl, Madhavi, of whom Kovalan said,

"Her enchanting appearance,
Her shining moonlike face
Besides her dazzling necklace,
They all blinded my eyes." (81) ?

The poet tells us that when Madhavi heard of the death of Kovalan and his old parent, she rejected the world never to dance again.

R. Rajaram expresses the moral of the story of the killer anklet, which was the root cause of the loss of so many lives, in words of priceless eastern wisdom:

"One can't avoid birth,
Or after birth, the death,
So, search for the truth
While staying on this earth."

"Lead a life of austerity,
In this world of prosperity,
Try to attain a state of eternity
This is my advice to posterity." (292,293) .

Does this tragedy have any basis in reality? The answer is lost in the mists of history and legend. But the poet tells us that there are several temples in South India dedicated to the worship of Kannagi, that woman turned goddess who became, in the minds of many, an incarnation of the chaste woman.


Sandra Fowler,
23-06-2006