[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955) › c19.s2.12 # A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s2.12 A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s2.12 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s2.12) In the field of general literature, the three most outstanding works are by Jaina and Buddhist authors. The \*Silappadikāram\* is an unsurpassed gem, though its authorship and date are not free from besetting doubts. The work is in some ways unique in the whole range of Tamil literature, and the vivid portraiture of its scenes and its skilful metrical effects are practically unknown to any other work. Its theme is an old popular saga, the story of a merchant prince, Kōvalan, who neglects his wife Kaṇṇagi and loses his fortune through love of the celebrated hetaera Mādhavi of Puhār. A quarrel between the lovers sends Kōvalan back to his wedded wife, and they both migrate from Puhār to Madura to start a new life with the money to be raised by the sale of Kaṇṇagi's jewels—particularly her precious anklet (\*silambu\*) which gives the name to the poem. As the result of the machinations of the royal goldsmith, Kōvalan is suspected of being the thief who stole the queen's anklet from the palace and is cut down by the king's officers in the streets of Madura. When Kaṇṇagi hears the news, she rushes to the palace with the second anklet as proof of Kōvalan's innocence. The king realizes his injustice and dies of a broken heart. Kaṇṇagi wreaks her vengeance on Madura by consigning the city to flames, and moves into the Chera country where she is received into heaven with her husband. Śenguṭṭuvan enshrines her as the Goddess of Chastity. Despite its supernatural elements, the bulk of the story is a moving human tale powerfully told, its scenes laid in all three kingdoms of the Tamil land. The author is called Iḷango Aḍigaḷ (‘Prince ascetic’) and is reputed to be the brother of the Chera monarch Śenguṭṭuvan; but of such a brother the Sangam poems have no knowledge. The mystery deepens when we learn further that Iḷango was a contemporary of Śāttanār, a grain-merchant of Madura, the author of Maṇimēkalai. This is a Buddhist poem, which tells the life-story, mainly of religious interest, of Maṇimēkalai, the daughter of Mādhavi by Kōvalan. The prologues to the two poems say that each was read out to the author of the other. And there is actually among the Śangam poets a Śittalaic-Cāttanār, who contributes ten poems to four of the eight anthologies, though there is no trace of any leaning to Buddhism on his part. In its present form the Maṇimēkalai contains a long exposition of fallacies in logic which is obviously based on the Nyāyapravēśa of Diṅnāga, a work of the fifth century A.D. And the literary form of the two epics is so different from anything known in the real age of Śangam literature that it would not be wrong to postulate an interval of several centuries between that age and that of the Śilappadikāram and Maṇimēkalai. - [Previous: c19.s2.11.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s2.11.3) - [Next: c19.s2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s2.13) - [Up: c19.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s2) ## Linked texts (3) - [Maṇimēkalai](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.five_great_epics.manimekalai) — Cīttalaic Cāttaṉār, Tamil - [Cilappatikāram](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sangam.five_great_epics.cilappatikaram) — Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ, Tamil - [Nyāyapraveśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.darsana.pramana.nyayapravesa) — Śaṅkarasvāmin, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.sastri-1955.c19.s2.12) · Pramāṇa