Tamilnadu-Caste issues

Caste assertion, clashes in Tamil Nadu forcing Dravidian parties to recalibrate their politics

In the background of growing caste related violence in Tamil Nadu, FirstPost travels to the southernmost part of the country to find out how caste dictates life and how the rationalist Dravidian movement has morphed to tackle a resurgent caste identity in the state. This is the first part of the Caste Chronicles series.

M Subbaiah wears a forlorn look on his face. All of 36 years of age, married and with a child, he is now a farmer, despite having a Diploma in Engineering. The problem, says Subbaiah, has nothing to do with his credentials or skills. The problem is that he hails from a village called Gopalasamudram, about 25 kilometres from the bustling Tirunelveli town in southern Tamil Nadu.

“I was working as a tower supervisor in a telecom company earning Rs 25,000 a month,” explained Subbaiah. “In 2013, after the incident, my manager called me and asked casually where I was from. I told him my home was in Gopalasamudram. He then told me the company was laying off people and sacked me. I found out later that I was the only one that got sacked. It is all due to the bad name our village has now got,” he rued.

Since 2013, Gopalasamudram has seen bloodshed – an eye for an eye, one murder to avenge another. This has pitted the formidable Backward Class caste, the Thevars, against the Scheduled Caste Pallars in this village of 15,000.

Image courtesy: Sandhya Ravishankar and Devang Dave/ Firstpost

In 2013, a row began over celebrations of Thevar Jayanthi (a festival marking the birthday of Muthuramalinga Thevar, an eminent leader belonging to the Thevar caste) in a private school where children of both castes studied. 

The headmistress of the Pannai Venkatarama Iyer High School (PVI School) in Gopalasamudram organised Thevar Jayanthi celebrations in the school and handed a chocolate and a new pencil to all students. Dalit students took affront and refused to take these gifts. They were beaten and bruised for their stand. Anger over caste snowballed over the next few months, culminating in the murder of 21-year-old Dharmaraj on the banks of the Tamirabharani river that flows quietly behind the village. One year later, the Dalits struck back, hacking 21-year-old Karthi to death in the marketplace in 2014. Tensions are barely under the surface now but neither side feels like the victor.

“There are so many young boys of marriageable age in Gopalasamudram,” said Subbaiah, a member of the Thevar caste. “Now no one wants to give brides in marriage to our boys. They tell us openly that we are trouble makers and murderers. It is shameful,” he added.

Tucked away in a corner of the village is the area where the Scheduled Caste population has resided for decades. These people, numerically equal to the “upper caste” Thevars, belong to the Pallar sub-section of Dalits and are known as Devendrakula Vellalars.

In this area, 14-year-old Muthu Palpandi, silent and with big solemn eyes, follows his mother to the fields. Muthu has not been to school in a year. This too is a fallout of the caste related violence in the village.

“We want to give our children good education so that they at least don’t end up like us,” said a plaintive Velankanni Palpandi, Muthu’s mother. “Please help us reopen the school. We don’t want our children to suffer a fate like ours,” said the 36-year-old agricultural landless labourer as she headed out to the paddy fields.

The mood in Gopalasamudram is grim. Since the incident in 2013, all 130 Pallar students dropped out of the PVI School. With the help of NGOs and with their own contributions, the Pallars of Gopalasamudram managed to raise Rs 8 lakhs to build a school within their own area. Teachers were brought in and these 130 students managed to continue their education for a year. Funds dried up subsequently and the district administration refused permission to allow the school to run. One whole academic year has now gone by with these Pallar children running amok with little to do but play.

“We want a school now, we are desperate,” said S Jayakumar, a 47-year-old resident of the Pallar part of Gopalasamudram. “As a result of this clash, everyone here has understood the importance of education. The only way to get rid of this scourge of caste is to educate everyone. That awareness has come to our people,” he said.



In the photo: Velankanni Palpandi (in orange saree) with other women in the Dalit area of Gopalasamudram say their kids have missed out on one academic year. Check out other photos of the series here.

While the Pallars have lost out on education, the Thevars have lost jobs and prospective brides for their young men. Other castes in the village include Chettiars, Brahmins, Nadars, Pillais and Konars (Yadavs). Many of these residents, although not directly involved in the clash, have suffered due to it. 

A number of long time residents have moved out of the village fearing a reprisal of 2013. Many others have sent their children to boarding schools far from home so that their studies may not be interrupted. Most villagers agree that the caste related violence has destroyed much more than peace in Gopalasamudram.

While the two murders were of residents of Gopalasamudram itself, the violence had a cascading effect on villages surrounding Gopalasamudram. In 2014, another Pallar man was hacked to death while traveling by bus in the neighbouring Kothankulam village. A spate of almost copycat murders followed, at least six such killings according to Dalit activists, as caste became a talking point once again. Rifts deepened along caste lines in neighbouring villages, say activists in the area.

“In Suthamani village, about a kilometer from here, 20 Thevar boys moved out of the government school so that they did not have to study with Pallar boys,” said Rajavel Paramasivan, a social activist in Gopalasamudram. “They moved to a private school just because of this issue in our village,” he said.

Tamil Nadu stands second in the country currently in terms of caste clashes, pipped only by Maharashtra, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau. 211 caste related riots have taken place in the state in 2014. The southern districts of the state record more violence and caste related murders and honour killings than the other regions of the state. Dalit experts say that this is likely due to the fact that the Pallars who abound in the southern districts are largely a land-owning community and therefore more aware and willing to fight for their rights.

John Pandian, leader of Dalit political party Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK or Tamil People’s Progressive Party) says that despite caste related murders and riots reducing in numbers in Tirunelveli district in the past 10 years, the reasons behind such murders are much more mundane.

“Feelings of caste have increased across the state,” said Pandian. “The problem is that there are not enough industries here. There is no way for all castes to work together. If they all work together in the same factory, there will be no issues. Our youth are unemployed in the villages,” he said.

Subbaiah and Jayakumar of Gopalasamudram, on either side of the caste divide, agree. “Our youth have nothing to do, they are educated but unemployed,” said Subbaiah, of the Thevar caste. “They go around in groups, get drunk and then pick fights. Even a small remark or a glance can turn into an issue and ends in murder,” he said.

Pallar resident Jayakumar says that unemployed Pallar youth too consume liquor and speak of caste amongst themselves as an identity and therefore situations get out of hand. “There is no proper education for our boys, no access to higher studies for any of the youngsters here, be it Thevar or Pallar,” he said. “Without education and jobs, they sit under trees and discuss small issues and blow them out of proportion. Only education can resolve this caste issue,” he said.

A ray of hope though finds its way in the maturity of some decisions taken by middle aged members of both castes in Gopalasamudram. A peace committee comprising all castes in the village, formed in the aftermath of the two murders, came up with some positive resolutions. One resolution was to push for a government school in the village where all students would study together. The second was that no caste-affiliated political parties would be allowed to come in and campaign in the village. The third was that no flags would be raised anywhere in the village which symbolised a caste. The flagpoles of Gopalasamudram until today stand bereft of yellow, red or green, an indication of the sanity that its people are trying desperately to keep.



In the next edition of Tamil Nadu's Caste Chronicles:

Firstpost finds out how caste is taking on a newer, more aggressive form in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, as a resurgent Dalit takes on the aggressive Thevar, the all powerful Nadar and the other so-called higher castes. We also delve into how caste identity has become crucial for Tamilians down south.


Pride and Prejudice: Resurgent caste identities breed clashes, polarisation amongst youth of Tamil Nadu

The Muthalamman temple stands grand and tall in the main square of Uthapuram village, around 55 kilometres from Madurai in southern Tamil Nadu. The deity’s gates have been shut for the past two weeks and a posse of police personnel guards the ornate wooden doors. A recurring battle for equal rights between the Scheduled Caste Pallars, known as Devendrakula Vellalars, and the Backward Class Pillais, called Vellalars, in Uthapuram since the late 1980s continues to be fought in Goddess Muthalamman’s name.

Tensions began in 1987, when Scheduled Caste Pallars began to demand equal rights to worship in the temple, which was until then closed to them. In 1989, riots broke out with the ‘upper caste’ Pillais turning on the Dalits. 40 villages surrounding Uthapuram joined hands and approved the construction of a wall cutting off entry to the Pillai side of Uthapuram from Devendra Nagar, the Pallar part of the village. “The trigger was eve-teasing of our Pillai girls,” said SP Murugesan, a chartered accountant in Uthapuram belonging to the Pillai community. “There were terrible clashes and many of our homes got looted too. That is why we decided to construct the wall. It is on patta land. Don’t I have the right to build a wall on my own land and protect my home from unwelcome visitors? Is this not allowed in a democracy?” he asked.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court turned battleground in the early 2000s, as political parties jumped headlong into the issue of the ‘Untouchability Wall’ in Uthapuram. Protests by Left parties forced Pillais to bring a portion of the wall down in 2008. By 2010, a peace agreement was negotiated between the Pallars and Pillais, which was endorsed by the court. 

The ownership, administration and maintenance of the Muthalamman would be by the Pillais, as it has traditionally been. Pillais agreed that they would not refuse any Pallar from worshipping in the temple. Peace reined briefly. Until the third week of October this year when the temple became a talking point once again, ahead of the Muthalamman festival. Negotiations and a court case later, the festival took place in the midst of inordinately heavy police protection.


This second part of the Caste Chronicles series focusses on southern Tamil Nadu. Sandhya Ravishankar/Firstpost

“Our main demand has always been that we be allowed to worship the Arasa maram (Peepul tree) which is inside the temple compound,” said K Ponnaiah, a resident of the Dalit colony of Devendra Nagar in Uthapuram. “When we went to the tree and began to pray, Pillais came up and started abusing us using our caste names. We retaliated and told them that we will not allow the ‘saami’ (deity) to be taken out as per the ritual. This led to anger again,” he said.

Police arrested 35 people under the Protection of Civil Rights Act for degrading the Dalit community. The Pillais say these were all false, foisted cases.

Caste affiliated tensions spread to neighbouring Elumalai, a few kilometers from Uthapuram. Another Muthalamman temple here was the battleground for clashes between Scheduled Caste Pallars and the Thevars, a Backward Class. Dalits from another neighbouring village, Athankaraipatti joined in the melee. Vehicles were burnt by both castes and stones were pelted. ‘Upper caste’ Naickers and Chettiars too joined hands with the Thevars against the Dalits, pitting both sides equally in terms of numbers in this village of 30,000 residents.

“Some Thevars and Pillais in the village created this issue for their own interests,” said Muthaiah Karuppaiah Thevar, better known as ‘Onriya’ Muthaiah, a local functionary of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and a former Panchayat Union president of Elumalai. “They got the SCs drunk and instigated them to cause trouble. We have never stopped SCs from worshipping in the temple,” he said.

The Pallars of Elumalai though say that they are insulted and abused often by the ‘upper castes’. Pallars here are not allowed to pay their share towards the maintenance of the Muthalamman temple, a prerogative of the ‘upper castes’. A common cremation ground has become solely for the ‘upper castes’ – Pallars have no place to cremate their dead and they say they use a vacant plot of land for this. “During Kamaraj’s (former Chief Minister) time we stopped tying our towels around our waists in from of the ‘upper castes’,” said Gurusamy Perumal, a resident of the Pallar area of Elumalai. “Now it looks like we will have to go back to that or worse. When we demand rights to the Goddess, these people ask us – what God does a Pallar have?” he fumed.

An uneasy calm prevails now over these villages, as police vans stand guard against further clashes.

The resurgent Dalit

Dalits of the southern districts of Tamil Nadu – Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul and Kanyakumari – are predominantly of the Pallar sub-caste. Many of the Pallars own small plots of land and subsist on agriculture.

“The Pallars will hit back at discrimination against them,” said A Kathir, Executive Director of Evidence, a Madurai-based NGO working for Dalit rights. “They have a strong economic base since they own land and they have political power in the area,” he said. Other Dalit sub-castes like the Paraiyars of the northern districts and the Arundhatiyars of the western belt are not as vocal as the Pallars, perhaps due to the complex matrix of socio-economics, say experts. These two communities are dependent on the ‘upper castes’ in their areas as they work in their fields as agricultural labourers, reducing chances of opposition against discrimination.

The Pallars of the south are in a much better position now than they were 15 years ago, say Dalit experts. “Today Dalits are able to compete in government tenders and able to run successful businesses,” said M Bharathan, Director of Human Rights Council, an NGO that works with Dalits in Tirunelveli. “They are still unable to open restaurants or tea stalls since people stop frequenting those when they find out the caste of the owner, but discrimination is much less now and what there is, is subtle,” he said.

Bharathan says that education and awareness has helped the Pallar community stand up and win battles against discrimination. “Now Pallars are saying we don’t want free goats,” he continued. “They say if you help us study, we will be able to buy a hundred goats. We don’t want a single room house from the government. They say help us study, we will build bungalows on our own,” he explained.

Dalit political leaders agree that education has played a key role in strengthening the Pallar community. “SCs began talking back around 15 years ago,” said John Pandian, leader of Dalit political party Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK or Tamil People’s Progressive Party). Pandian himself hails from a Pallar family that owned over 25 acres of land in the 1960s. “If anyone indulges in caste slurs, Pallars now ask them how they dare do so. This is all due to education,” he said.

This resurgent caste identity of not just the Pallars, but also ‘upper castes’ like Thevars, Nadars and Naickers, resonate in the use of symbolic motifs. Pride in caste identity can be seen from a young age. Pallar parents tie green and red threads around the wrists of their children before sending them off to school. Thevar parents prefer yellow and red. The wealthy business community of Nadars, which rules over the printing, fireworks, seafood and beach sand mining industries of the south, wear baniyans and lockets with pictures of former Chief Minister Kamaraj, who too was a Nadar. Different coloured ‘pottu’ – the designs of vermilion, sandalwood or holy ash on the forehead are prominent displays of pride in caste identity.

“People of the same caste wear threads to show a sense of unity,” explained Bharathan of Human Rights Council. “It is a show of identity and pride in being a member of that particular caste,” he said.

Politics over caste

As Tamil Nadu heads into state elections in 2016, severe polarisation is evident on the basis of caste. Parties for Thevars, for Nadars and for Dalits are vying with each other to find issues to publicise. ‘Gouravam’ or honour, is the key word amongst all of these players. “How can a Thevar bear it if someone working in his house wants to marry his daughter?” asked 32-year-old Bhavani Velmurugan, founder of a small Thevar outfit called the Akila India Mukkalathor Marumalarchi Kazhagam (All India Mukkalathor Revival Party) in Tirunelveli. “It is a question of Gouravam. If a Thevar man cannot protect his women, what kind of a man is he?” he said. 

Velmurugan laughingly admits the volatile nature of the natives of the southern districts. “Most fights begin with a mere glance or a single utterance. It quickly degenerates into a caste clash or murder. It is in our blood, what can we say? For the ‘upper castes’ “maanam” (honour) is more important than anything else,” he said.

Gouravam is a running concept amongst the Pallar community as well. “We are fighting for the dignity and honour of the Dalits of Tamil Nadu,” said John Pandian of the TMMK. Rousing cries of ‘veeram’ (bravery) and ‘maanam’ (honour) are heard from Dalit parties across the state.

Dravidian parties in the state have traditionally had candidates from the dominant caste in the region as important party functionaries or candidates. The AIADMK is often referred to as a Thevar party due to a large number of leaders of that caste. In the south, most leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are either Nadars or Thevars.

As political voices ring more stridently in the run up to elections 2016, polarisation of people on the basis of caste has hit strident levels. The youth, especially, appear to be lured to the deep rooted biases against caste in villages of the south. “They (Pallars) started it and we simply hit back,” shrugs 28-year-old Deepan Chakravarthy, an autorickshaw driver in tense Elumalai. His friend, 18-year-old Raja Deepan, a daily wage labourer who dropped out of school a few years ago, agrees. “They (Pallars) should stay in their area. What are they doing coming to our part of the village?” he asked aggressively as he whiled away time near the Muthuramalinga Thevar statue at the centre of Elumalai.


Being Dravidian: 'The institutionalisation of caste in Tamil Nadu politics was solely due to DMK chief Karunanidhi'

Tho Paramasivan, better known as Tho Pa, smiles his withering smile despite the niggling pain of an amputated foot. The 65-year-old writer, retired Professor of Tamil at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, researcher of temples for three decades and a staunch Periyarist, is affable and concise. Conversational chitchat, like his home in Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli, is sparse. His only God, he says, are the writings and teachings of the founder of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, Periyar EV Ramasamy Naicker, whose picture is hung up on the wall.

“Karunanidhi (chief of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or DMK) is wholly responsible for caste issues in this state,” begins Tho Pa, mincing no words. “Periyar was against caste. The Dravidian movement was against caste. Anna(former Chief Minister Annadurai) compromised the Dravidian movement when he said – “ondrey kulam, oruvaney devan” (One humanity, one God). Karunanidhi diluted it further and turned it entirely into votebank politics,” he said.

Paramasivan refers to events that took place in the 1990s to prove his point. Renaming of districts in the state were on in full swing during the DMK regime with Karunanidhi as Chief Minister. Names for districts were those of prominent leaders belonging to different castes. Madurai, for instance, was named Pasumpon Thevar Thirumaganar district (referring to a prominent leader Muthuramalinga Thevar belonging to the Thevar caste belonging to the Backward Classes).

Villupuram district was called Villupuram Ramasamy Padayachiyar district, after another powerful leader of the Vanniyar (Most Backward Caste) caste. Many other districts had similar nomenclature. In 1997, caste riots broke out in southern Tamil Nadu when the State Transport Corporation in Virudhunagar was renamed as Veeran Sundaralingam Transport Corporation after a prominent Dalit leader. Thevars, an ‘upper caste’ refused to get into these buses named after a ‘lower caste’ leader. The state government led by Chief Minister Karunanidhi went into a huddle and hastily decided that names of caste leaders would not adorn districts or transport corporations.


Tho Paramasivan. Firstpost/Sandhya Ravishankar

“Periyar is still relevant,” explained Paramasivan. “The Dravidian parties have diluted the movement. Absolute power corrupts absolutely – that is the Dravidian movement. It is a sad history. But no movement can die. It will change its form, new parties will come. It will morph and stay relevant to the times,” he said.

Paramasivan scoffs at Karunanidhi’s son and DMK heir apparent MK Stalin visiting the Thirukoshtiyur Ramanujar temple last month and at Karunanidhi himself penning the script for a biopic on the Hindu saint which is being aired on the DMK mouthpiece Kalaignar TV. “In the 1950s, (Tamil film actor) Sivaji Ganesan joined the DMK,” reminisced Paramasivan. “He went to the Tirupati Balaji temple before the release of some film of his. DMK men stuck posters all over the state calling him ‘Tirupati Ganesha’, mocking him. Karunanidhi and Stalin have forgotten all of that. All of this scriptwriting and visiting temples is only for votebank politics,” he said.

Paramasivan says that caste is here to say, considering how deeply institutionalised it has become in mainstream state politics. “Destroying caste is not an easy thing,” he argued. “Caste is as real as it is cruel. We can only dilute it. That is why Periyar believed in inter-caste marriages,” he said.

Periyar and the Dravidian movement have come under severe criticism from Dalit thinkers for being a movement that uprooted the Brahmin and installed the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in its place, leaving the Dalits still outside of the system. Paramasivan, the Periyarist, defends his ideology. “The OBC took maximum advantage of Periyar’s Dravidian movement,” he argued. “It is an objective ideology and it was used more by the intermediary castes. This is unavoidable in such caste hierarchy,” he said.

Paramasivan also feels that there is a vacuum in political leadership for the Dalits in Tamil Nadu. “There is no good leadership for Dalits,” he said. “Dalit writers are sowing the seeds of hatred amongst people. Hatred is more powerful, it catches fire instantly. When hatred is sown, there is a sense of revenge amongst the community. Dalits are opposing non-Dalits, many times, for no reason,” he added.

“There will be lots of violence,” said Paramasivan on the issue of whether caste would be history in a few generations. “There will be at least another 50 years of bloodshed before caste dissolves. Caste will go only after unprecedented bloodshed, which we are yet to witness. It will come,” he warned.

The morphing of the Dravidian movement and caste intolerance in Tamil Nadu are interlinked, according to Paramasivan. He believes though that the movement itself will spread to other parts of the country, in a time of great intolerance. “In India, nationality has become a big thing now,” he explained. “India is a prison of suppressed nationalities. Tamil Nadu was the forerunner at one point. This crisis of nationality will come again. The BJP will ensure that this nationality question will remain alive. The Dravidian ideology will fight this and it will need to change to fight it. I see other states picking the anti-Hindi and anti-Hindu propaganda soon. Rationalism will spread to other states,” he said.

Parts one and two of the Tamil Nadu Caste Chronicles series are available here.

The author tweets @sandhyaravishan

http://www.firstpost.com/tag/castechronicles

Gangaikondacholapuram

Gangaikondacholapuram: City of the Chola who conquered the Ganga

Because of its delicate appearance and gentle curve, this temple is often called the feminine version of the one in Thanjavur.
Madhumita Gopalan| Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - 18:02




Just a couple of years after Rajaraja I built the Brihadeeshwara Temple in Thanjavur, his son Rajendra I became the Chola ruler. 

Rajendra ruled jointly alongside his father, until the latter’s death in 1016 AD. Having served as a general under his father, Rajendra was an accomplished warrior who led many successful military expeditions. 

He had his army march northwards, all the way to the Ganga, to bring home pots of holy water from the river. Defeating enemy armies along the way, his men returned victorious, earning Rajendra the title ‘Gangaikondachola’, meaning ‘the Chola who conquered the Ganges’.

He established a new capital city called Gangaikondacholapuram (also called Gangaikondacholishwaram) about 70 km from Thanjavur, and had a royal temple by the same name built in it. The temple is commonly called the Brihadeeshwara Temple now. 

Rajendra also built a lake in the town called Cholagangam to mark his victorious expedition. It was fed by the Cauvery river, and some water from the Ganga was poured into it as well. Today, people call it the Ponneri Lake.



The Brihadeeshwara Temple of Gangaikondacholapuram is built along very similar lines as the one in Thanjavur. The entrance to the complex is through a gateway on the east, whose gopura has long since collapsed. 

Inside, just like Thanjavur, a spectacular vimana rises into the sky, visible for miles around the town. The most striking difference between the vimanas of Gangaikondacholapuram and Thanjavur is that this one has a concave slope. 

It is also about 9 meters shorter. Because of its delicate appearance and gentle curve, it is often called the feminine version of the one in Thanjavur.



The vimana sits above the garbhagriha or inner sanctum, which is accessed through a beautiful pillared mandapa or hall. It is rather plain on the outside since it has been rebuilt after the original wall was ruined. 

However, the stretch closest to the vimana reveals that it was originally two-storeyed and quite ornate. There are three entrances to this mandapa - one in front, and two on either side, and they are all guarded by pairs of enormous dwarapalas or guardian deities. The walls flanking the side entrances are decorated with elaborate carvings depicting episodes from Shaivite mythology. 

Especially stunning is the sequence of panels telling the story of the saint Chandikeshwara, who is worshipped along with Lord Shiva in the region. For a long time, it wasn’t uncommon for transactions in temples to be carried out in Chandikeshwara’s name! A separate shrine dedicated to him stands right next to the vimana.

The main deity in the garbhagriha is a 13 feet tall Shivalinga. Two walls run around the deity just like in Thanjavur, but there are no sculptures or paintings to be found here.



Originally, a two-storeyed hall ran all along the perimeter. None of it remains now, except for a bit that has survived on the northern edge of the complex. Stone from this hall and the entrance gopura was used in building the Lower Anaicut dam nearby. The raised platform that the hall stood on has now been used to display idols from the ruined parts of the temple, that have withstood the ravages of time.



There are many smaller shrines in addition to the main one, dedicated to attendant deities like Brihadeeshwara’s consort Goddess Brihannayaki, Lord Ganesha, Chandikeshwara and others. A circular well guarded by a lion stands to the northeast of the vimana. It is called Simhakeni. The lion is believed to have been added in the 19th century, but the well has been around from Rajendra’s time. Apparently, he even had some water from the Ganga poured into it. A huge stucco nandi or bull faces the main shrine.





Gangaikondacholapuram served as the Chola capital for about 250 years, until the decline of the Cholas and the rise of the Pandyas. Today, the temple features on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites, and is one of the three Great Living Chola Temples. 

The Brihadeeshwara temple of Gangaikondacholapuram is undoubtedly as worthy a successor to the Brihadeeshwara temple of Thanjavur, as Rajendra Chola was to Rajaraja Chola.
- See more at: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/gangaikondacholapuram-city-chola-who-conquered-ganga-35114#sthash.p5YrjMhK.dpuf

The other side of E V Ramasamy Naickar

TAMIL NATION LIBRARY: POLITICS
E V Ramasamy Naickarin Marupakkam
(The other side of E V Ramasamy Naickar)
M Venkatesan, 2004
Available at: 3, V R Pillai Theru, Hanumanthapuram,
Thiruvallikkeni, Chennai – 600 005.

[see also Periyar - One Hundred Tamils of 20th & 21st Century]

Reviewed by: Viswamitra, 31 March 2005

Last week, I had an opportunity to read the book titled, ‘The other side of E V Ramasamy Naicker’, published recently. This book has been published by ‘All India Forward Bloc’. The author M Venkatesan belongs to Madurai.


"When you see the title, you will get a feeling that, this must have been written by a Brahmin. That is wrong. I belong to a backward community’ is the opening line. In this book, there are many rare details.

The author lists the reasons for writing this book as:

“First, I was thinking about EV Ramasamy Naicker as:
1. EVR strived for the Tamil language
2. He served the downtrodden
3. He voiced for women’s liberation
4. He never lied; always consistent

With these impressions, I read many books about him. I read all the books of ‘Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Publications’.

In addition, I also read the exposure of EV Ramasamy Naicker, by his contemporaries, M P Sivagnanam, P Jivanandam, T.P Minakshi Sundaram, U Muthuramalingam Thevar, K.A.P Viswanatham, Kamarajar, Pavanar, etc.

As a result, I realized that EVR behaved in a manner that is exactly opposite to what the people of Tamil Nadu believe today.

The followers of EVR have shown only one side of him and they have hidden the other side. As a true son of India, I consider it my duty to bring to light what they hid.

After reading this book, even if one blind follower of ‘Dravida Kazagam’ accepts that I have written the truth, to come out of the illusion, I would have succeeded in my efforts.”

The above is the introduction for this book.


EV Ramasamy Naicker’s hatred to Tamil language,
Lies in Islam on castes,
EVR’s bogus anti-God policy,
‘Telling’ and ‘Doing’ were always at the opposite,
Twisted history,
Did EVR strive for the downtrodden?
Vaikom agitation – EVR’s lies and Gandhi’s role,
EVR’s ‘Superior male’ mentality,
EVR without patriotism,
Masiammai’s lies and superstitions in later days,
Follower Veeramani’s contradictions and superstitions.

are many captions the author Venkatesan uses to prove his points.

In Appendix, there are additions in the title, ‘These about EVR’, with views expressed on public meetings by Muthuramalingathevar, Linguist TP Minakshisundaram, Kamarajar and Jivanandam,

Let us see some interesting parts from the first chapter titled, ‘EV Ramasamy Naicker’s hatred to Tamil language’.

“EVR lived and behaved like a Tamilian, but his mother tongue was ‘Kannadam’. Yes, the language in his house was only Kannadam. He was very proud to advertise in his speeches and writings that he was a Kannadian – (Dr MP Sivagnanam’s book – Other language people in Tamil Nadu). With this piece of information, the first chapter starts.

WAS EVR A TAMILIAN?

“EV Ramasamy Naicker was a Tamilian. He struggled for the Tamil language’ is a ‘false image’ his bootlickers were creating. They are doing it even today. But, do you know how the the so-called ‘Tamil Leader’, introduced himself?
‘Kannappar is a Telungar. I am a Kannadian. Annadurai is a Tamilian’ (Periyar EVR thoughts – first part) and ‘I belong to the Karnatak Balijawar caste’ (Kudiyarasu 22/8/1926) are the ways in which he introduces himself.”

The man who proudly proclaimed as ‘I am a Kannadian’ is continuously referred to as ‘Tamilian’ and ‘Tamil leader’. He not only said, ‘I am a Kannadian’, but also criticized the ‘Tamil language’ and ‘Tamil poets’ a lot.

This is what EVR says in the book, ‘Tamil language and Tamil people’:


“In today’s Tamil world, some Tamil poets names keep appearing frequently. They are: 1.Tholkappiyan, 2.Thiruvalluvan, 3.Kamban. Of these,

1. Tholkappiyan was an Aryan servant. The traitor gave as grammar all of ‘Arya Dharma’.
2. Thiruvalluvan, without bothering about ‘paguththarivu’, dominated by his own religious feelings supporting ‘Aryan thoughts’ offered something as ‘scriptures’.
3. Kamban, like today’s politicians and patriots, used his Tamil knowledge in favor of anti-Tamil pappans, so proved himself as a money minded Tamil traitor. He is a total liar. Total fraud. He imagined himself to be a ‘pappan’, and offered thoughts even a pappan would hesitate to offer. Thus, this traitor pushed the Tamils down permanently.

All these three supported ‘castes’ and ‘caste based jobs’.

In Kudiyarasu dated 20/1/1929, he wrote further about Thiruvalluvar as:
“We can see many things supporting Gods like Indran, Bramma and Vishnu and Arya religious practices and superstitions such as Reincarnation, Heaven, Hell, Upper world, Souls, Devas, etc.”

These are his views about the great Tamil poets. Were Tholkaapiyar, Kambar and Valluvar traitors? Good description! If, as creators of ‘Tamil grammar’ and ‘Tamil Literature’, they earn the name ‘traitors’, as the one who insulted the language, is EVR not a traitor?

There are many such points with ‘publication support’. The Appendix carrying the speeches of many patriots is a ‘gold-mine’ of rare information. In this, the speech by Pasumpon Muthuramalingathevar, delivered in a public meeting on 1957 Feb 21 at Kancheepuram is something special. Venkatesan has repeated the great speech by Pon Muthuramalingathevar, for whom bhakthi to ‘God’ and ‘Motherland’ were two eyes.

Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar’s speech:


“There is a group contesting the elections with the call, ‘Tamil love is important; Tamil Nadu must live’. It is essential to have love for Tamil. But, see how these fellows display their love? In their meetings, they keep telling, ‘North Indians, South Indians; North land, South land” and attempt to divide us. They say, the next meeting is at ‘Jinnah Park’. The one after that is at ‘Robinson Park’. They have no problem using these names.

At the same time, if it is going to be in ‘Tilak Ghat’, they get angry to use his name. They say, ‘North Indian ---- Father ground’.

(Sarcastically, Thevar, switches to English):

In what way Jinnah is not a North Indian? How is the names Jinnah and Robinson so sweet to you Sir? How is the name of poor Tilak so bitter to you Sir? I am not able to understand.

This exposes that you came from ‘Justice Party’ whose primary job was bootlicking the Whites. Further, these fellows say that, ‘North Indian, swindles Dravidian land. North Indian name must not be here. If present, we will agitate to change it’. Very happy.

You agitated to change the name ‘Dalmiapuram’. But, you did nothing to change ‘Harvypatti’. Why not? White’s name can be there. That will make you happy. But, you will want the name ‘Dalmiapuram’ to go. Will any fellow with sense agree?

In Harvey mill, Soundara Pandiyan’s family has stocks. He is a founding father of DMK. So, your party won’t get money, if you ask for the name to be changed. So, it will be pointless to hide the truth from the Tamils, by harping about the language. Understand this. This is the secret.

In addition, they keep shouting ‘Dravida nadu’. How dare you ask for this? If you had fought for freedom from the British, by fighting along with the people when the Britishers were keeping us as slaves, we may say, you qualify to ask for this.

How can you demand ‘Dravida nadu’ today when we were fighting for independence, you took money from the British and conducted ‘war propaganda’ in their favor? Like the ‘secret agreement’ that resulted in the formation of Pakistan, you may also be the ‘fifth columnist’ for the Whites. We are not mad to be cheated like that.

‘We want Tamil. No to Hindi’, is what they say. In the 1937 anti-Hindi agitation, I told Rajagopalachariyar’s ministry, not to impose Hindi. This is history. 

‘If our party comes to power, we will have the name ‘Tamil State’. We are not against removing the name ‘Residuary Madras State’. 

But, by misusing the Tamil language name and posing as preserver of Tamil people’s rights, if you are going to bring in ‘agitation to spoil Tamil Culture’ and ‘atheism in the name of creating a rift between, Brahmins and non-Brahmins’, we won’t allow.

How do you protect non-Brahmins, by writing stories like ‘Romapuri Rani’? By writing such stories, how
many school boys have you spoiled? In addition to ‘Romapuri Rani’, you have also written ‘Thangaiyin Kadhal’, 

in which you have written that, ‘a brother falls in love with his sister’. Next, why can’t the son marry the mother? What else? Is this, Tamil culture?

My request to all of you is not to support these parties which will ruin the lives of school going children thereby take our country in the path of destruction.


This book is a nice documentation of many such frauds perpetrated by the Dravidian parties. All those who rush to learn about the other side of Tamil Nadu politicians, must necessarily read ‘The other side of EVR’.

MGR only made me as Chief Minister: Karunanidhi

After Anna's Demise MGR only made me as Chief Minister: Karunanidhi

Fri, 2010-05-14 03:07 — editor
Sathyalaya Ramakrishnan reporting from Chennai
Chennai, 14 May, (Asiantribune.com):

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has recalled his olden days and said that his 40 years good old friend and AIADMK founder MGR only made him as Chief Minister after DMK founder Anna's demise in 1969, even his (Karunanidhi) family members objected it.

The Chief Minister aired these thoughts on Thursday in the State Assembly while expressing his gratitude to MLAs who congratulated him for completing four years in office during this tenure and stepping into the 19th year as Chief Minister with time to time gap.

Karunanidhi further said, he had many differences with MGR. But when the question of appointing a successor came after Anna died, it was MGR who led the campaign to make him Anna's successor. Mr Karunanidhi also recalled that he wanted to make Mr Nedunchezhiyan as Chief Minister. "Even my family members including Murasoli Maran asked me to not to accept the Chief Ministers post but my friend MGR compelled me to accept it", Karunanidhi said.

The Chief Minister said they both (MGR and himself) attacked each other in debates.

But he could never forget his 40-year-long friendship with MGR. When he came to know about MGR's death, he rushed back from the railway station to pay his last respects.

Rationalist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy had serious differences with Rajaji, but when the latter passed away, Periyar cried inconsolably, Mr Karunanidhi recalled. ''These great leaders had set examples of the great political culture in the state.

''Now, we have the responsibility of preserving it'', he added.

Praising Sonia and Advani

Mr Karunanidhi further said, he was jealous of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP leader L K Advani sharing the same platform, even though they cross swords politically.

He was yearning for such a situation in Tamil Nadu, he said, reiterating his wish that political leaders should stand together and work for welfare of the people.

Mr Karunanidhi said he always wished for a situation where leaders, cutting across party lines, meet each other and exchange pleasantries, in the state.

When he visited Delhi, he saw Ms Gandhi and Mr Advani sharing a very good rapport.

''They talk to each other without any bitterness whenever they meet at public functions. This culture should prevail in Tamil Nadu too,'' he said.

''I am jealous of this. Not because Ms Gandhi talks freely to Mr Advani. But such a situation appears to be impossible in the state'', he regretted.

Recalling that such 'political dignity' prevailed in the state till AIADMK founder and late Chief Minister MGR was at the helm, Mr Karunanidhi said but this was not the case now. ''This should change. Let us stand united and work together for the benefit of the public'', he said.

Turning nostalgic, Mr Karunanidhi said the Congress and the DMK were more like foes those days. Yet, their leaders maintained political dignity and never failed to respect each other. He said he used to hit out at former Chief Minister Kamaraj in his column every day. ''But the late leader was at my residence even before me when my mother died'', he recalled.

''Let us create an amicable situation and put an end to political animosity by paving way for dignity, discipline and decency, he exhorted as the members listened to him in rapt attention.

Lemuria and Kumari Kandam

Lemuria and Kumari Kandam

Published: June 23, 2010 10:20 IST | Updated: June 23, 2010 10:20 IST June 23, 2010


Dr. N. Mahalingam

The Hindu Dr. N. Mahalingam


We are all aware that the origin of the Tamil people and their culture is shrouded in deep mystery. Though there are many traditions narrated in early literature, “Kumari Kandam”, the land that lay to the south of India and, which later submerged in the Indian Ocean, has been a matter of conjecture for a study by scholars.

Two American eminent geologists McKenzie and Sclater have clearly explained that Africa and South America were locked together as part of the primitive continent until about 200 million years ago.

The present formations of India, Arabia, Africa, Antarctica, South America and Australia started breaking up due to natural upheavals and moving to different parts of the earth at the rate of 15,000 years per mile on an average and found their places in the Asian Continent. The movement of the earth mass, called Navalam Theevu in Tamil, caused the formation of the present continent of India.

There was a general belief that both Lemuria and Kumari Kandam were one and the same. However, it has been established by Frank Joseph, Secretary for Ancient American Association, in his book “The Lost Civilization of Lemuria”, the existence of a land called Lemuria, one of the world's oldest civilizations, about 2.5 lakh years ago, in Indonesia. Hence, Lemuria and Kumari Kandam, which existed in southern part of India, are different lands.

Mr. Joseph has also established that the Mohenjodaro letters of Eastern Islands are nearly 1,00,000 years old. He has critically examined the views of various scholars and established the source of Mohenjodaro letters as well as the ancient civilization of Moo and has written that due to natural calamities, the island of Moo was destroyed about 2.5 lakh years ago.

Eastern Island, 1,000 miles near Japan, has a script called Rongo Rongo and it is identical with Mohenjodaro letters. This has been fixed as 1,00,000 years old.

From the Island of Moo called Lemuria, which was located near Indonesia about 2.5 lakhs years ago, people regularly moved out to Atlantis in Mexican Sea and Kumari Kandam in South Tamil Nadu, about 1,00,000 years ago due to tsunami. These letters are the script of Moo civilization, which was well developed.

From Atlantis, due to tsunami, the Moo people moved to South America and became Aztecs and Incas. Those who moved to North America became Mexicans and Red Indians.

From Kumari Kandam, South of Tamil Nadu, about 15,000 years ago people moved to Africa and became Sumerians and those who moved from Africa to Arabia later became Jews.

From Kumari Kandam, South of Tamil Nadu due to tsunami, people moved to Bengal and became Cholas and those who moved to Sind and Punjab became Cheras.

In Sillapathikaram, it was mentioned that one “Ezhuthanga Nadu” (7x7 =49 countries) existed. So, Southern Tamil Nadu and Kumari Kandam are different regions. Those who have moved to Southern Tamil Nadu were called Pandiyas and they spread over Ceylon and Tirunelvelli.

Tamil literatures say that during the Kurukshethra war, Chera Kings had given food to both the armies. From all these we come to a conclusion that the Ancient South India would have been with tall cliffs, dense forests with high fertility.

Because of a calamity, which took place in 9,000 BC, a terrific destruction occurred and destroyed Chera, Chola and Pandiya Kingdoms and they all then came and settled in South India. The great scholar Sri Avvai Duraisamy Pillai has established that the “Pancha Dravidam” is the region consisting Gujarath, Maharashtra, Andhra, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

This is the time to write the correct history of Tamil Nadu. In “Irayanar Agapporul” (Nakkeerar Urai) it is mentioned that 72 Pandiya Kings had ruled Tamil Nadu (which was inclusive of the destroyed Kumari Kandam) from 30,000 B.C. to 16,000 B.C. (i.e. for 14,000 years).

Our universities have to undertake the responsibility to arrive at the correct history of Tamil Nadu.

Research has not been done so far to assess correctly the shape and appearance of Tamil letters. Today in Tamil, three ‘La', two ‘Ra' and three ‘Na' exist. These exist in ‘Grantha' also. But in ‘Naagari', which got birth in 500 A.C., there are only one ‘La', one ‘Ra', and two ‘Na'.

M. Sundarraj, retired Financial Controller of Integral Coach Factory, who did extensive research on Rig Vedas, has written a book titled “Rig Vedic Studies”. He has explained that our Rig Vedic Mythology is the ancient one in the world. The Rig Vedic Myths are symbolic expressions of astronomical phenomena, both of lunar asterisms and solar movements.

The Rig Veda calendar was essentially a luni-solar one, the lunar aspects being considered as important for holy purposes, but the solar movements which determined the seasons, were also of importance to Rig Vedic people.

The Rig Veda has already adopted a system of grouping together the stars in the lunar zodiac in the pictorial form, such as that of a bull, scorpion, eagle etc.

The origin of the concept of constellational groupings in pictorial forms can be traced in Rig Veda.

According to N.P.Ramadurai, an astronomy researcher, the cycle of time referring to 24,320 human years is mentioned in the Rig Veda at about 50 places. But to read Rig Veda, ‘Grantha' is essential.

Also to read and grasp clearly our ‘Sangam literature' ‘Grantha' knowledge is necessary. If we thoughtfully and magnanimously accept that our old Tamil letters are ‘Grantha' letters, it will pave the way to realise our ancient civilization.

Also, to read philosophy, art, sculpture, medicine etc., ‘Grantha' will be useful. It is necessary at this stage to do intensive research on the Mohenjodaro letters and our ancient languages, Sanskrit and Tamil, and, other Indian languages, to ascertain as to how the script changed over a time and new languages evolved.

In India, Tamil and Sankrit are the oldest languages and both are origin of other languages. This fact is proved by Vedas and our Tamil Sangam Literature. Great Saint Arunagiri Nadhar says in his Thirupugazh that Tamil has 51 ‘Atcharams'. Similarly, the total number of ‘Grantha' letters is 51.

To get back the history of more than three lakh years in the past, Saptharishi calendar only will be able to provide proper and genuine assistance.

We have been able to fix the dates of history from 25th Chathur Yuga to 28th Chathur Yuga. Saptharishi Mandala has played an important role in almost all the ancient civilization of the world. It is the pivotal point of all astronomical calculations and observations.

N.P.Ramadurai, with my assistance, has found and established that the Saptha Rishi Mandala takes only 2,187 years to make one complete circle through all the 27 asterisms.

He was able to establish that Chathur Yuga comprises only 12,160 years.

I conclude with a request to all the great Tamil scholars, eminent astronomers and mathematical experts to join together in this noble research to establish the glory of Tamil language and Tamil race to the whole world.

Kumari Kandam- The Lost Continent(குமரிக்கண்டம்)

“Lemuria” in Tamil nationalist mysticist literature, connecting Madagascar, South India and Australia (covering most of the Indian Ocean). Mount Meru stretches southwards from Sri Lanka. The distance from Madagascar to Australia is about 4,200 miles

Kumari Kandam or Lemuria (Tamil:குமரிக்கண்டம்) is the name of a supposed sunken landmass referred to in existing ancient Tamil literature. It is said to have been located in the Indian Ocean, to the south of present-day Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of India.


References in Tamil literature

There are scattered references in Sangam literature, such as Kalittokai 104, to how the sea took the land of the Pandiyan kings, upon which they conquered new lands to replace those they had lost. There are also references to the rivers Pahruli and Kumari, that are said to have flowed in a now-submerged land. 

The Silappadhikaram, a 5th century epic, states that the “cruel sea” took the Pandiyan land that lay between the rivers Pahruli and the mountainous banks of the Kumari, to replace which the Pandiyan king conquered lands belonging to the Chola and Chera kings (Maturaikkandam, verses 17-22). 

Adiyarkkunallar, a 12th century commentator on the epic, explains this reference by saying that there was once a land to the south of the present-day Kanyakumari, which stretched for 700 kavatam from the Pahruli river in the north to the Kumari river in the south. As the modern equivalent of a kavatam is unknown, estimates of the size of the lost land vary from 1,400 miles (2,300 km) to 7,000 miles (11,000 km) in length, to others suggesting a total area of 6-7,000 square miles, or smaller still an area of just a few villages.

This land was divided into 49 nadu, or territories, which he names as seven coconut territories (elutenga natu), seven Madurai territories (elumaturai natu), seven old sandy territories (elumunpalai natu), seven new sandy territories (elupinpalai natu), seven mountain territories (elukunra natu), seven eastern coastal territories (elukunakarai natu) and seven dwarf-palm territories (elukurumpanai natu). All these lands, he says, together with the many-mountained land that began with KumariKollam, with forests and habitations, were submerged by the sea.Two of these Nadus or territories were supposedly parts of present-day Kollam and Kanyakumari districts.

None of these texts name the land “Kumari Kandam” or “Kumarinadu”, as is common today. The only similar pre-modern reference is to a “Kumari Kandam” (written குமரிகண்டம், rather than குமரிக்கண்டம் as the land is called in modern Tamil), which is named in the medieval Tamil text Kantapuranam either as being one of the nine continents, or one of the nine divisions of India and the only region not to be inhabited by barbarians. 19th and 20th Tamil revivalist movements, however, came to apply the name to the territories described in Adiyarkkunallar’s commentary to the Silappadhikaram. They also associated this territory with the references in the Tamil Sangams, and said that the fabled cities of southern Madurai and Kapatapuram where the first two Sangams were said to be held were located on Kumari Kandam.
In Tamil national mysticism

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tamil nationalists came to identify Kumari Kandam with Lemuria, a hypothetical “lost continent” posited in the 19th century to account for discontinuities in biogeography. In these accounts, Kumari Kandam became the “cradle of civilization”, the origin of human languages in general and the Tamil language in particular. These ideas gained notability in Tamil academic literature over the first decades of the 20th century, and were popularized by the Tanittamil Iyakkam, notably by self-taught DravidologistDevaneya Pavanar, who held that all languages on earth were merely corrupted Tamil dialects.

R. Mathivanan, then Chief Editor of the Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project of the Government of Tamil Nadu, in 1991 claimed to have deciphered the still undeciphered Indus script as Tamil, following the methodology recommended by his teacher Devaneya Pavanar, presenting the following timeline (cited after Mahadevan 2002):

ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of “the Tamilian or Homo Dravida“,

ca. 200,000 to 100,000 BC: beginnings of the Tamil language

50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation

20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture of the Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation

16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged

6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king

3031 BC: A Chera prince in his wanderings in the Solomon Island saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Kumari Kandam.

1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king

7th century BC: Tolkappiyam (the earliest known extant Tamil grammar)

Mathivanan uses “Aryan Invasion” rhetoric to account for the fall of this civilization:“After imbibing the mania of the Aryan culture of destroying the enemy and their habitats, the Dravidians developed a new avenging and destructive war approach. This induced them to ruin the forts and cities of their own brethren out of enmity”.

Mathivanan claims his interpretation of history is validated by the discovery of the “Jaffna seal”, a seal bearing a Tamil-Brahmi inscription assigned by its excavators to the 3rd century BC (but claimed by Mathivanan to date to 1600 BC).

Mathivanan’s theories are not considered mainstream by the contemporary university academy internationally.
Popular culture
Kumari Kandam appeared in the The Secret Saturdays episodes “The King of Kumari Kandam” and “The Atlas Pin.” This version is a city on the back of a giant sea serpent with its inhabitants all fish people.
Loss and imagination

Sumathi Ramaswamy’s book, The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories (2004) is a theoretically sophisticated[citation needed] study of the Lemuria legends that widens the discussion beyond previous treatments[citation needed], looking at Lemuria narratives from nineteenth-century Victorian-era science to Euro-American occultism, colonial, and post colonial India. Ramaswamy discusses particularly how cultures process the experience of loss.

Professor Karsten M. Storetvedt, the chair in geomagnetism at the University of Bergen, Norway, and an author of the Global Wrench Theory (GWT), says that the equator regions have always been most prone to natural catastrophes like earthquakes and volcano eruptions. 

A part of explanation is that planet rotation and especially the difference in rotation speed between poles and equator force earth mantel to strain and to break more easily where the strain is strongest, that is at the equator regions. 

These tectonic processes played important role in the disappearance of the ancient continent known as Lemuria to western scholars. 

Sri Lanka together with India, Indonesia and Malaysia were a part of this continent. Many islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans are remnants of this continent that in ancient time covered the whole area of today’s ocean. 

Storetvedt, who seems to reject the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics, says that descriptions of cataclysms in early literature when land suddenly went underwater are logical. 

But they should be proven to be scientific facts. This can be done with the help of sea-floor analysis that is possible to carry out. Modern theories find supportive evidences both in ancient literature and language history.
For More Information,
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari_Kandam
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article482101.ece
http://lemuria-kumarinadu.blogspot.com/

The marine archeological findings at Poompugar(Tamil Nadu) by marine archeological research conducted by the National Institute of Marine Archeology(Goa) reveals that much of the town of Poompugar(Tamil Nadu) was washed away by progressive erosion and a Tsunami around 300 BC.

Ancient Pottery dating back to the 4th century BC have been discovered off shore by marine archeologists east of this town. The timeline of this Tsunami also coincides with the timeline(after the period of Megasthenes visit to India) of the submergence of landmass which was claimed to be existed between Indian Peninsula and Sri Lanka according to Megasthenes accounts.

The geological survey reveals that most of the places in the land under the sea, where Kumari Kandam is claimed to be existed, has the maximum depth of the sea of 200 meters. In some of the places, the maximum depth of the sea is 2000 meters. Since, these areas has low sea depth, there are more possibilities to exists a now-submerged land in which people lived.

Languages spoken by Australian tribes, African tribes, Andaman and Nicobar tribes and Lakshadweep tribes are identical to Tamil language. So, there are high possibilities that there might be a connecting land which exists in between India, Australia and Madagascar

Types of plants, trees and animals present in Africa and Madagascar are identical with that of in India. So, there might be a connecting land which exists in between India and Madagascar.

If Lemuria or Kumari Kandam existed thousands of years back and if Sri Lanka was not an island but just seperated from India by a small river, then where was Raavan’s Lanka in Ramayana and who build Ram Sethu between Dhanushkodi and Sri Lanka ?

The Lost Continent of Kumari Kandam

Most people are familiar with the story of Atlantis, the legendary sunken city as described by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Till this day, opinion is still divided as to whether this story should be understood literally or taken merely as a morality tale. Further east in the subcontinent of India is a similar tale, though it probably is less well known compared to that of Atlantis. This is the ‘lost continent’ of Lemuria, frequently connected to the legend of Kumari Kandam by speakers of the Tamil language.

The term Lemuria has its origins in the latter part of the 19th century. The English geologist Philip Sclater was puzzled by the presence of lemur fossils in Madagascar and India but not in mainland Africa and the Middle East. Thus, in his 1864 article entitled ‘The Mammals of Madagascar’, Sclater proposed that Madagascar and India were once part of a larger continent, and named this missing landmass ‘Lemuria’. 

Sclater’s theory was accepted by the scientific community of that period as the explanation of the way lemurs could have migrated from Madagascar to India or vice versa in ancient times. With the emergence of the modern concepts of continental drift and plate tectonics, however, Sclater’s proposition of a submerged continent was no longer tenable. Yet, the idea of a lost continent refused to die, and some still believe that Lemuria was an actual continent that existed in the past.

One such group is the Tamil nationalists. The term Kumari Kandam first appeared in the 15th century Kanda Puranam, the Tamil version of the Skanda Puranam. Yet, stories about an ancient land submerged by the Indian Ocean have been recorded in many earlier Tamil literary works. 

According to the stories, there was a portion of land that was once ruled by the Pandiyan kings and was swallowed by the sea. When narratives about Lemuria arrived in colonial India, the country was going through a period when folklore was beginning to permeate historic knowledge as facts. As a result, Lemuria was quickly equated with Kumari Kandam.



Bhagavata-Purana, 10th Skanda. Image source.

The story of Kumari Kandam is not regarded as just a story, but seems to be laden with nationalistic sentiments. It has been claimed that the Pandiyan kings of Kumari Kandam were the rulers of the whole Indian continent, and that Tamil civilisation is the oldest civilisation in the world. 

When Kumari Kandam was submerged, its people spread across the world and founded various civilisations, hence the claim that the lost continent was also the cradle of human civilisation.



An artist’s depiction of Kumari Kandam. Image source.

So, how much truth is there in the story of Kumari Kandam? 

According to researchers at India’s National Institute of Oceanography, the sea level was lower by 100 m about 14,500 years ago and by 60 m about 10,000 years ago. 

Hence, it is entirely possible that there was once a land bridge connecting the island of Sri Lanka to mainland India. 

As the rate of global warming increased between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, the rising sea levels resulted in periodic flooding. This would have submerged prehistoric settlements that were located around the low-lying coastal areas of India and Sri Lanka. 

Stories of these catastrophic events may have been transmitted orally from one generation to another and finally written down as the story of Kumari Kandam.

One piece of evidence used to support the existence of Kumari Kandam is Adam’s Bridge (also called Rama’s Bridge), a chain of limestone shoals made up of sand, silt and small pebbles located in the Palk Strait extending 18 miles from mainland India to Sri Lanka. 

This strip of land was once believed to be a natural formation, however, others argue that images taken by a NASA satellite depict this land formation to be a long broken bridge under the ocean's surface.



The location of Adam's Bridge between India and Sri Lanka

The existence of a bridge in this location is also supported by another ancient legend. The Ramayana tells the tale of Sita, Rama’s wife, being held captive on the island of Lanka. Rama commissions a massive building project to construct a bridge to transport his army of Vanara (ape men) across the ocean to Lanka.

As with most so-called myths, it seems likely that there is at least some truth to the ancient Tamil legends of Kumari Kandam, but just how much, is yet to be determined.

Read more: http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/lost-continent-kumari-kandam-001941#ixzz3jqDuEDiB
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Lost land of Tamils

The narratives about Lemuria found their way into colonial India about the time when folklore began to permeate historic knowledge as though they were fact. The writings of Wishar Cerve and the maps of Scott Elliot were brought into Tamil writings by K. Appadurai, in his book Kumari Kandam Allathu Kadal Konda Thennadu (Kumari Continent or the Submerged Southern Land, 1941). The term Lemuria found its way into certain Tamil textbooks and was given the Tamil name Kumari kandam, or continent of Kumari. Names from Tamil classics were given to the mountain ranges, rivers, places and areas. For example, the puranic geography of an axial mountain called Meru as the centre of Jambudvipa (Sanskrit) or Navalan Theevu (Tamil) was accepted, and, later on, these names were attributed to certain parts of Lemuria, giving it acceptability among Tamil readers. In the 1920s, with Tamil revivalism and the efforts to counter the “Aryan” and associated Sanskrit dominance, the concept of Lemuria was wedded to the notion of the lost land referred to in Tamil literature.

There are a few references in Tamil Sangam classics to a landmass that was swallowed up by the sea. Historians consider the first three centuries A.D. as the Sangam period. The reference to the tradition about three Tamil Sangams (assemblies or academies) is noted in Iraiyanar Kalviyalurai, attributed to Nakeerar. According to this commentary, the Pandya kings patronised Tamil poets in their capital, where the Sangam was located. According to tradition, the Mudal Sangam (first assembly), was located in Thenmadurai. When the sea swallowed Thenmadurai, the capital was shifted to Kapatapuram and the second or Idai Sangam was established. The Idai Sangam functioned until a deluge destroyed Kapatapuram. After the deluge, the Pandyas shifted their capital to the present-day Madurai where the last or Kadai Sangam was established.

Some of the important references from Tamil Sangam classics are as follows: 1) in Purananuru 9, verses 10-11 are interpreted as a reference to a Pandya king who ruled a part of the lost land where the river Pahruli flowed. 2) in Silapathigaram (Kadu Kaan Kaathai) (11:17-22) is a reference to a Pandya king who won over kingdoms in Imayam (the Himalayas) and Gangai (the Ganga) to compensate for his land lost to the deluge. Tamil scholars such as Devaneya Paavaanar consider the deluge under reference to be the one that destroyed Thenmadurai. 3) According to Adiyarku Nallar, poem 104:1-4 from Mullai Kalithogai indicates that the Pandya king resettled the survivors of the deluge in certain Chera and Chola territories. It is portrayed by certain Tamil writers that the series of deluges destroyed the Tamil civilisation and the survivors spread out and civilised other parts of the world.

The Tamil tradition about a lost land was committed to writing after the 10th century by commentators like Nakeerar in his commentary on Iraiyanar Akapporulurai. Nachinarkiniyar and Adiyarku Nallar followed him. Those who wrote the commentaries exaggerated the extent of land that was submerged by the deluges referred to in Silapathigaram and Kalithogai. According to the commentators, there were 49 countries ( nadu) in the lost land of Kumari and the distance between the river Kumari and the river Pahruli that flowed in the lost land was 700 katham, which according to one calculation is about 770 km.

The crucial question is whether the land referred to as Kumari was as large as a continent? The advocates of Kumari kandam interpreted the term nadu to mean country. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala many small towns and villages have in their names the term nadu, which basically referred to a settlement, as opposed to kadu, or forest. In the above Tamil references there is no mention of the term kandam, referring to land the size of a continent.

According to Pingala Nikandu, a lexicon of ancient words, k andam means country. In the words of the historian N. Subrahmanian (1996), “It is possible that a small area of land (to the extent of a present-day district) was lost by sea erosion and Pahruli and Kumari were parts of that territory and that the king shifted this capital to some other place. But in all probability that event occurred only in the 5th or 4th century B.C. Such erosions on a limited scale were not unknown to the southern and eastern seaboards of Tamil Nadu. If the fiction is removed from the fact, the entire romantic superstructure called the theory of the Kumari kandam will stand exposed, as non-history” ( The Tamils - Their History, Culture and Civilisation; pages 26, 27).

If the oral traditions and the subsequent writings exaggerated the size of the submerged land called Kumari, what was the background to the lost land referred to in Sangam literature?

Sea-level changes

Geology emerged as a scientific discipline in the late 19th century when both scientific and popular imagination was dominated by Biblical accounts of creation and deluges. Dramatic geological events were attributed to catastrophes like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Eventually, the understanding of phenomena such as plate tectonics, continental drift and sea floor spreading dismissed the catastrophe theories. The speculation about land bridges and lost continents faded into obscurity elsewhere in the world but not quite so in Tamil Nadu.

Since the early part of the last century major strides have been made in the geological and geophysical understanding of the earth. For instance, in 1912 Alfred Wegener, a German meteorologist, explained the concept of continental drift; in 1924, the British geologist Arthur Holmes explained that the convection current in the mantle could cause continents to drift; in 1962, the American Geologist Harry Hess pointed out that continental drift could be explained by sea-floor spreading; in 1966, the concept of sea-floor spreading was established by independent oceanographic data involving microfossils, sediments of the sea floor, measure of heat flow from the earth's interior and palaeo-magnetic and seismic studies.

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

THE LOST LAND of Lemuria. This representation is from the book 'Lemuria: the Lost Continent of the Pacific' by Wishar S. Cerve, which was the pseudonym of Harvey Spencer Lewis, the founder of the mystical society called the Rosicrucians.

Since the first oceanic sounding in 1840, the study of oceans, including their chemistry, biology, geology and physics, has advanced in the last century. Improved coring devices have enlarged our knowledge of the oceans, and deep ocean floors have been mapped by echo-soundings and ultra-sonic signals. In the 1940s, seismic methods were also used to study the ocean floor.

Evidence of former glaciations on a wide scale became overwhelmingly conclusive in the last century. During the past two million years, there have been five major glacial advances and five glacial retreats as the globe began to warm. The last of such periods is the present period known as Holocene. The last Ice Age caused the fragmented distribution of Homo sapiens, and the enormous environmental changes that took place with global warming had a profound influence on the prehistory of humankind.

Extensive studies were done to understand global warming during the interglacial periods; sediments were subjected to meticulous analyses to establish the age and palaeo-geographical conditions in many parts of the world.

For instance, about 18,000 years ago, during the time of the last Ice Age, ice sheets in the poles spread much wider and the sea level was more than 100 metres lower than it is today, exposing a large area of land along the continental shelf. Then Siberia was connected to Alaska and along this land bridge, the peopling of the Americas and migration of animals happened over a long period. At this time, the landmass of present-day Papua New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania were joined together as were the British Isles with Europe. After the last Ice Age the level of the Indian Ocean, like the rest of the oceans, fell. Sri Lanka was connected to the Indian peninsula by a landmass, which now lies under the Gulf of Mannar. In the following 8,000 years, global warming continued and large masses of ice and glaciers melted, raising sea levels in stages and inundating low-lying lands. The portion of the continental shelf of the south Indian peninsula and the land that connected it to Sri Lanka also went under water as the sea level rose.

Records of sea-level fluctuations and related climatic changes are preserved in the layered sediments of the seabed. These can be studied through data such as faunal contents and nature of sediments. Rajiv Nigam and N.H. Hashimi of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, have done extensive work on sea-level rise by analysing sediments for microfossils such as pollen and foraminifera to determine palaeo-climate and by dating corals from the continental shelf in the west coast of peninsular India. The team studied marine sediments to generate proxy climate records through which changes in palaeo sea levels could be deciphered.

Nigam and P.J. Henriques, also of the NIO, have developed a regional model for palaeo depth determination on the basis of percentage of foraminifera in surface sediments of the Arabian Sea. The significant results of the study on palaeo sea levels are that the sea level was lower by 100 m about 14,500 years ago and by 60 m about 10,000 years ago and that during the last 10,000 years there had been three major episodes of sea-level fluctuation. These sea-level changes had affected human settlements and peopling of the coastal areas and had left their signatures on archaeological events.

Once the status of the periodic sea-level rise was established, it was easy to decipher the configuration of the coastline, giving allowance wherever applicable to tectonic activities and deposition of silt at the confluence of rivers. The Naval Hydrographic Office, Dehra Dun, has produced hydrographic charts (INT 717071-1986 to the scale 1:10,000,000 and INT 7007706-1973 of scale 1:3,500,000) pertaining to Cape Comorin-Gulf of Mannar, where it surveyed the depth of the sea floor with echo-sounders, which measure the sea floor contours with great accuracy.

Changes in southern India

It is possible to demarcate the land lost to the sea in the south of India from postglacial inundation maps that indicate the significant changes in the coastline.

The author has prepared inundation maps on the basis of bathymetric contours and the sea-level curve for the central west coast to work out the configuration of the coastline south of India since the last Ice Age. This study shows that about 14,500 years ago the sea level was lower by approximately 100 m than the present sea level. The land between the present coast and the bathymetric contour of 100 m roughly was the land that was exposed during that time.

In other words, hypothetically, if a 100 m column of sea water were to be removed, the land that went under water would be exposed. At that time the present Gulf of Mannar was a landmass of 36,000 sq. km connecting Sri Lanka with peninsular India and the coast was wider by about 80 km to the east, south and west of present-day Cape Comorin exposing a triangular mass of 6,500 sq. km adjoining the Cape. The coastline was 25-35 km wider than the present near Cuddalore and about 25 km wider near Colombo.

Global warming

The increased rate of global warming between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago saw the sea level rise almost 50 m, inundating low-lying lands and covering a major part of the exposed continental shelf. About 10,000 years ago, the sea level was about 50 m lower than the present sea level. At that time, the land extended about 25 km south of the Cape and the coast was about 40 km broader than the present coastline along the east and the west, which exposed about 1,000 sq km of land near Cape Comorin. Rameswaram and Mannar were joined by land and the land that extended in the present-day Gulf of Mannar was a 2,500-sq km stretch marked by sedimentary formations and coral reefs.

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

AN INUNDATION MAP by S.C. Jayakaran. He prepared the map on the basis of bathymetric contours and the sea-level curve for the central west coast to work out the configuration of the coastline south of India since the last Ice Age. It shows that about 14,500 years ago the sea level was lower by about 100 m than the present. The land between the coast now and the bathymetric contour of 100 m was the land that was exposed then.

As the research of Rajiv Nigam indicated, sea levels continued to rise and reached the present level around 6,000 years ago. This is about the time Sri Lanka evolved as an island. Between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago, heavy rains, in addition to melting of snow, also contributed to the sea level rise. It rose by a couple of metres and fell to the present level about 2,000 years ago.

It is scientifically uncontested that the earliest Homo sapiens developed in Africa 100,000 to 200,000 years ago and migrated to Europe and Asia. Genetic evidence and fossil records of early human beings indicate that they came out of Africa as early as 100,000 to 60,000 years ago. Their descendants migrated to the Far East, probably along the coastal areas adjacent to the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal around the Indian peninsula, Sri Lanka and then north into China and south into Sumatra.

As the sea levels rose, resulting in periodic flooding and deluges, prehistoric settlements that were located in the low-lying coastal lands and the exposed continental shelf were inundated. The people who lived in the coastal area of the Indian peninsula and Sri Lanka and who escaped the deluges perpetuated the oral tradition of a lost land. It is my considered opinion that it is this development that gave rise to the legend of Kumari kandam.

References

1. Barnett T.P.; ‘The estimation of global sea level change: A problem of uniquness'; Journal of Geophysical Research, 1984.

2. Blavatsky H.P.; The Secret Doctrine, Vol 12; Theosophical University Press, online edition, 2001.

3. David Shulman; ‘The Tamil Flood Myths and the Cankam Legend'; The Flood Myth; Berkeley, 1988.

4. Geiger, Wilhelm (translated by); ‘The Mahavamsa or The great chronicle of Ceylon'; Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, Madras, 1993.

5. Hashimi N.H., Nigam R., Nair R.R. & Rajagopalan G.; ‘Holocene sea-level fluctuation on western Indian continental margin: An update'; Journal of the Geological Society of India; Bangalore, 1995; Vol.46; pages 157-162.

6. Jayakaran S.C.; ‘Lost Land and the Myth of Kumari Kandam'; Indian Folklore Research Journal; Vol.1 No.4.; National Folklore Support Centre, 2004; pages 90-108.

7. Stephen Oppenheimer; ‘Out of Eden: The peopling of the World'; Constable and Robinson Ltd., London, 2003.

8. Scott Elliot W.; ‘The Lost Lemuria' (1904); Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana, U.S., 1997; paperback.

9. Subrahmanian, N.; ‘The Tamils, their History, Culture and Civilisation'; Institute of Asian Studies, 1996.

10. Sumathi Ramaswamy; ‘Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping the Lost Continent of Lemuria'; Representations 67; The Regents of the University of California, U.S., 1999.

11. Wishar S Cerve; ‘Lemuria – The Lost Continent of the Pacific' (1931); Supreme Grand Lodge of the Ancient & Mystical Order Rosae Crucis; published by the Grand Lodge of the English Language Jurisdiction, AMORC, Inc., 1997.

12. Personal communications with K.H. Vora and Rajiv Nigam of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.



Maps

1. Hydrographic chart, Sheet no. INT 709 7706 of scale 1:3,500,000 (1973); hydrographic chart, sheet no. INT 717071of scale 1:10,000,000 (1986).

2. Cochin to Vishakhapatnam (hydrographic chart), Scale 1:1,500,000 (1974) – all the above three charts produced by Naval Hydrographic Office, Dehra Dun.

3. Hydrographic chart, Sheet no. INT 709 7706 of scale 1:3,500,000 (1973); hydrographic chart, sheet no. INT 717071of scale 1:10,000,000 (1986).

Tamil civilisation - is it the oldest?

N. Parameswaran , Tamil Guardian , 12 October 2005
Introduction

It may be timely to pose the question of as from when did Tamil civilisation exist. The tsunami of December 26, 2004 vividly demonstrated the destructive force of tidal waves and what havoc the attendant deluges could cause. It was, however, not unknown to the ancient Tamils who occupied southern India from that time. Their traditions refer to extensive lands submerged in the remote past that had once existed in the Indian Ocean, south of Kanya Kumari or Cape Comorin. They had indeed a word for such happenings. They called it kadatkol - meaning the sea devouring the land.

The name of the lost lands is Kumari Kandam. At the time of those inundations, they were home to a high Tamil civilisation that hosted the First and Second Tamil Sangams or Acadamies of Advanced Learning. The Tamil language and literature as well as the philosophy and culture were cultivated and fostered through such Sangams. The works of these two Sangams were lost when the cities in which they were created were submerged by such inundations. Though the tradition of these Tamil Sangams and the deluges which destroyed them lived on, there was no historical evidence forthcoming to back them until very recently.

Recent Developments

The current state of play as known to history, until the recently emerging evidence, is that the history of the Tamils is said to begin in the pre-historic or more acceptably in the proto-historic period of about 500 BC. Tamil / Dravidian culture associated with the megalithic sites in places such as Adichanallur (more correctly Adityanallur) in the Tinnevely District of Tamilnadu and across the Palk Straits in Pomparippu in north-western Ilankai/ Sri Lanka are regarded by historians / archaeologists as belonging to the Dravidian peoples of whom the Tamils at that time were their first and foremost representatives.

Those finds from Adichanallur though dated earlier to be around 300 BC have now been shown to date back to 1,700 BC, following the currently ongoing excavations with advanced dating techniques. The archaeologists, studying the inscriptions on stones and artefacts, reported recently on that basis that Tamil civilisation existed more than 4,000 years ago. They went on to say that Tamil / Dravidian civilisation which began in present day Tamilnadu spread to the other parts of the world from there, as they considered Adichanallur to be the cradle of Tamil civilisation. Linguistic data of Tamil and other existing Dravidian langages too support only a movement from south to north of the spread of those languages, as Tamil is shown to be their parent language.

This present state of knowledge has however received a startling knock from another quarter with the recent underwater archaeological finds relating to the lost Tamil continent of Kumari Kandam. For what those discoveries reveal, though at the presnt moment only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, has been uncovered, is the existence of a lost continent and lost cities in an antediluvian era stretching back before the melt-down of the Last Ice Age and the inundations of those lands.

The evidence thus far reveals the existence of man-made structures twenty-three metres beneath the sea, five kilometres off the Tarangambadi- Poompuhar coast near Nagapattinam in South India. Its existence at such a depth is calculated as having taken place over many thousand years ago. This ties in with the geological evidence of such happenings at that time as well as the Tamil traditions of the first two Tamil Sangams referred to earlier.

The unfolding archaeological and geological evidence is proving to be the historical validation that Tamil civilisation which reached a high-point during those two Tamil Sangams had their beginnings 11,000 years ago or circa 9,000 BC. What is the evidence currently available, be it archaeological, geological or other which will substantiate the Kumari Kandam tradition?

Literary Evidence

According to th Kumari Kandam tradition, over a period of about just 11,000 years, the Pandyans, a historical dynasty of Tamil kings, formed three Tamil Sangams, in order to foster among their subjects the love of knowledge, literature and poetry. These Sangams were the fountain head of Tamil culture and their principal concern was the perfection of the Tamil language and literature. The first two Sangams were not located in what is now South India but in antediluvian Tamil land to the south which in ancient times bore the name of Kumari Kandam, literally the Land of the Virgin or Virgin Continent.

The first Sangam was head-quartered in a city named Then-madurai (Southern Madurai). It was patronised by a succession of eighty-nine kings and survived for an unbroken period of 4,400 years during which time it approved an immense collection of poems and literature. At the end of that golden age, the First Sangam was destroyed when a deluge arose and Then-madurai itself was swallowed by the sea along with large parts of the land area of Kumari Kandam.

However, the survivors, saving some of the books, were able to relocate further north. They established a Second Sangam in a city called Kavatapuram which lasted 3,700 years. The same fate befell this city as well, when it too was swallowed by the sea and lost forever all its works with the sole exception of the Tolkappiyam, a work on Tamil grammar. Following the inundation of Kavatapuram, the survivors once again relocated northward in a city identified with modern Madurai in Tamilnadu, then known as Vada-madurai (Northern Madurai). The Third Sangam lasted for a period of 1850 years and most scholars agree that that Sangam terminated around 350 AD.

Literary evidence of the lost continent of Kumari Kandam comes principally from the literature of the Third Tamil Sangam and the historical writings based on them. Many of them refer to the lost Tamil lands and to the deluges which ancient peoples believed had swallowed those lands. The Silappathikaram, a well known Tamil literary work, for instance mentions, “ the river Prahuli and the mountain Kumari surroundered by many hills being submerged by the raging sea”.

The Kalittogai, another literary work, specifically refers to a Pandyan king losing territories to the sea and compensating the loss by conquering new territories from the Chera and Chola rulers to the north. In his commentary on the Tolkappiyam, Nachinarkiniyar mentions that the sea submerged forty-nine nadus (districts), south of the Kumari river. Adiyarkkunelar, a medieval commentator, says that before the floods, those forested and populated lands between the Prahuli and Kumari rivers stretched 700 kavathams, ie for about 1,000 miles. As observed by Prof.(Dr) M. Sunderam, “The tradition of the loss of a vast continent by deluge of the sea is too strong in the ancient Tamil classics to be ignored by any serious type of inquiry.”

Archaeological & Geological Evidence

A discovery made by a team of marine archaeologists from India’s National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in March 1991 has begun to bring about a sea-change. Working the off-shore of Tarangambadi-Poompuhar coast in Tamilnadu near Nagapattinam, a research vessel equipped with side-scan sonar, identified a man-made object and described it as “ a horse shoe shaped structure”. In 1993, it was examined again and NIO’s diver archaeologists reported that the U-shaped structure lies at a depth of 23 metres and about 5 kms offshore.

The significance of that discovery is that it is a much older structure to any discovered earlier. Subsequent explorations carried out by Graham Hancock and his team, who working in association with Dr Glen Milne, a specialist in glacio-isotacy and glaciation induced sea-level change, were able to show that areas at 23 metres depth would have submerged about 11,000 years before the present time or 9,000 BC. The historical significance of that fact is that it makes the U-shaped structure 6,000 years older than the first monumental architecture of Egypt or of ancient Sumer or Mesopotamia (in present day Iraq) dated around 3,000 BC and traditionally regarded as the oldest civilisations of antiquity.

The Durham geologists led by Dr. Glen Milne have shown in their maps that South India between 17,000-7,000 years ago extended southward below Cape Comorin (Kanya Kumari) incorporating present day Ilankai/ Sri Lanka. It had an enhanced offshore running all the way to the Equator. The maps portray the region as no history or culture is supposed to have known it. The much larger Tamil homeland of thousands of years ago as described in the Kumari Kandam tradition takes shape. It supports the opening of the Kumari Kandam flood tradition set in the remote pre-historic period of 12,000 –10,000 years ago. The inundation specialists confirm that between 12,000-10,000 years ago Peninsular India’s coastlines would have been bigger than what they are today before they were swallowed up by the rising seas at the end of the Last Ice Age.

With its description of submerged cities and lost lands, the Kumari Kandam tradition predicted that pre-historic ruins more than 11,000 years old should lie underwater at depths and locations off Tamilnadu’s coast. The NIO’s discovery and Dr. Milne’s calculations now appear to confirm the accuracy of that prediction. At that period of time, Ilankai/ Sri Lanka was part and parcel of South India. It is, however, in the inundation map for 10,600 years ago as seen that the island to the south of Kanya Kumari had disappeared to a dot, and the Maldives further ravaged.

But more importantly, a neck of sea is seen separating Tuticorin in South India from Mannar in what is now Ilankai/ Sri Lanka. It is however in the map for 6,900 years ago that the separation of Ilankai/ Sri Lanka from the South Indian mainland is complete as it is today. Ilankai/ Sri Lanka’s separate existence as an island, so it seems, began 6,900 years ago or circa 4,900 BC.

Conclusion

At present, no civilisation, as known to current history, existed in the Tamil lands of South India around 9,000 BC. Yet the discovery of the U-shaped structure by India’s marine archaeologists leads us to seriously consider that it was the work of a civilisation that archaeologists had failed to identify as its ruins lie submerged so deep beneath the sea. As Mr. S. R. Rao, the doyen of Indian marine archaeology, stated in February 2002, “I do not believe it is an isolated structure; further exploration is likely to reveal others around it”.

Though it is understood that no further explorations have taken place since 1995, the Boxing Day Tsunami of last year can be expected to renew interest in them. There is ample scope for socio-anthropologists, archaeologists, geologists and scholars of Tamil and Tamil history to further research the subject. Given that the First and Second Sangams were a golden age of literary, artistic and musical creativity amongst the Tamils, we are looking at a civilisation which had reached a high level of development, organisation and cultural advancement from as early as 11,000 years ago from today.

N. Parameswaran is a writer on Tamil history. His latest book is ‘Tamil Trade and Cultural Exchange.’ His previous publications are ‘Early Tamils of Lanka-Ilankai’ and ‘Medieval Tamils in Lanka-Ilankai.’ He can be contacted on +61-8-3541039.