Aim perum
Kaappiyankal (The five big tamil epics)
Compiled in a very
summarized fashion by
P.R.Ramachander
( It is
believed that the names of these
five epics are based on women’s
ornaments of those days-
Chilappathikaram-
Chilambu anklet
Mani mekhalai-
Waist belt
Kundala kesi - ear
globe
Valayapathi-
bangles
Cheevake chinthamani(The gem on crown)
Except
Sipaathikaram all of them give in
detail the principles of Budhism
and Jainism.Only Silappathikaram
and Mani mekhalai are well
preserved, and only a part of the book is available as of now
I have studied tamil in school and have come across the story of Silappathikaram and did not have
an inkling about what the four books are about, Based on my online search
I am giving small summary of these epics as I understood them)
1.Silappadhikaram
(The book is a poem of more than 5000 lines)
Kovalan married
Kannaki and they lived happily,
Later Kovalan fell
in love with madhavi the courtesan
Kannaki was heart
broken and in a singing competition,
When Madhavi sang about
a vacillating lover, Kovalan leaves her
Kannak i and Kovalan join together and go to Madurai,
And Kannagi encourages Kovalan to rebuild their shattered life
She gives him one
of her anklets to sell in the market,
But this anklet unfortunately resembled that of queen’s stolen anklet
The gold smith reported
Kovalan and he was hung to
death,
Kannaki rushed to
the queen and broke her remaining anklet,
And proved to
the queen that , it was different from that of hers,
The king realized his mistake and died and so does
the queen
Kanaki’s anger burst
and she burnt the city of Madurai,
And goes from there
to Chera nadu(kerala) and
dies and goes to heaven,
And the Chera
king , builds a huge temple for her,
By bringing a
stone from Himalayas and she is worshipped there.
Chilappathikaram tells
story of Kovalan, his wife
Kannaki
And his lover the
courtesan Madhavi . Kovalan deserts
Madhavi,
And unjustly killed by a Pandya king and Kannaki ,
Condemns the king,
burns his capital and goes to kerala,
2.Mani Mekalai
(Mani mekalai is
the daughter of Madhavi the courtesan
and Kovalan. . At the end of the story
Manimekalai goes to preach
Budhism . This book has 4861 lines
and is well preserved.)
Madhavi turned in
to a Buddhist nun and her daughter ,
Manimekalai , the
very pretty girl also became a budhist
But the prince of the kingdom Udhayakumara
falls in love with her,
And the goddess of
ocean Manimekalai cast a spell on
Manimekalai.
She then took her to
an island Manipallavam and left her
there,
She also gave her
hope to live in that island as a Buddhist
The goddess sends
a message to Madhavi through a close friend
And told her that Manimekalai will come back and is destined to be an
ascetic
In the island her destiny was
revealed to Manimekhalai by the Budhist pedestal ,
And she also gets a magic pot
which will get filled up at her command
The chola prince who was pursuing her
gets killed by accident,
And when Manimekalai returns she
was put in prison by his mother
Her Guru Aravana adikal advised her to wander all over the world,
Feeding poor people and learning more about all religions
Manimekalai is taught to take
any disguise she wants
And reaches the kerala town of
Vanchi(Kodungallore) and took form of a man
After learning about all
relegions in Vanchi , She decided none of them,
Provided for proper solution of life, She learnt all the Buddhist teachings ,
Of how suffering would lead to freedom of desires, through detachment
And she lived in the monastery , following the Buddhist
Dharma
Kundala kesi (Kundala is
ear gobe and Kunthala means pretty curved long hair)
(Only a small part of this book survived)
There was girl
named bhadra but called
Kundala kesi*Possibly kunthala) because she had long curly hair
She lost her mother at very young age
,
And was brought up
by her very rich father
One day she saw a criminal called “Kala” being lead to
gallows,
She fell in love with him and her rich father
after giving,
Weight for weight gold
got him released
and
Kundala kesi got
married to him
“Kala’ the criminal was
only after money ,
And one day he took
her to a steep mountain top,
And when he was
about to push her down ,
She wanted to go round him before death,
And while behind ,
she pushes him to his death
And she becomes a
budhist nun
Valayaa Pathi
(This book is almost lost. This is what the
available fragments indicate)
There was a rich
merchant with two wives,
He abandoned one
of them and sent her away
In the new land ,
that lady gave birth to a boy,
Who was called Valaya pathi
When the boy grew up , other children
Started
teasing him saying he was fatherless
Then he cried and
requested his mother,
And she told the
name and place of his father
When he traced that person and told
him,
That he was his father , he refused to acknowledge,
Then with aid of
goddess he got his mother there
And merchant acknowledges and makes him a merchant
Civaka chithamani
(This book is well
preserved and has 3145 quartrains)
There was a king who was over thrown in a coup
The king allowed the pregnant
queen to escape
Later the queen
gave up this world became an ascetic,
But she gave her
son who is born to a trusted servant
That boy not only
grew up in to a man
But a superman excelling
in all skills ,
He exceled in war
, regained his kingdom , defeated all kings,
And makes all
women he met to fal for him
He regained the
kingdom that his father lost,
Became a great
king , married very many girls
And after
enjoying his love life
to the hilt,
He later gives up
this world and becomes an ascetic
