The Silappadikaram

The Silappadikaram is a Tamil epic that is speculated to have been composed

around the fourth to sixth century AD (Zvelebil 178). t is said that of the Dravidian
lan!ua!es "Tamil has maintained the !reatest purity and has preserved some of its ori!inal
literature# (Adi!al $). %f &hat are called the "'reat()oems# or the "*f+ive ma,or poetical
&or-s in Tamil# only the text of the Silappadikaram and t&o others survived ($). The
author. )rince lan!o Adi!al. &as the supposed brother of /in! 0en!uttuvan &ho appears
later in the story. althou!h no other Tamil poems mentioned that the -in! had a brother
(Zvelebil 171). There are t&o existin! commentaries. one &hich is ancient (the
Arumpadavuri) and the other from the fifteenth century by Adiyar-unallar (Adi!al 2).
This story has been translated into various lan!ua!es but most are not exact in depictin! the
tale li-e the ori!inal lan!ua!e (Zvelebil 173).
The Silappadikaram be!ins in the city of )uhar in the -in!dom of 4hola. a bustlin!
tradin! to&n in &hich /anna!i and /ovalan are to have a marria!e arran!ed by their
parents (5olmstrom 6). After the marria!e /anna!i "spent most of her day learnin! about
the household# and "*s+he -ne& that both /ovalan7s parents and her o&n loo-ed to her to
maintain the traditions and honour of her family8# thereby illustratin! her devotion to her
role as a &ife. This role involved learnin! her duties as a partner and homema-er from her
mother in la&. then implementin! her s-ills in a &ay to ma-e home life harmonious for
/ovalan and herself. 9ears later a dancer named :adhavi captures /ovalan7s eye. /ovalan
starts another life &ith this &oman. even havin! a child &ith her. all the &hile ne!lectin!
/anna!i. /ovalan becomes increasin!ly charitable in his ne& life. especially to those &ho
have made mista-es. and he ends up fritterin! a&ay his fortune. 5e starts to sell his and
/anna!i7s o&n possessions and feels an over&helmin! sense of !uilt and restlessness.
%ne day he returns to /anna!i declarin! "*a+ll these years 7ve lived &ith a &oman
&ho cannot tell the difference bet&een truth and falsehood. %n such a &oman have
&asted all my ancestral &ealth. brin! you nothin! but poverty. am bitterly ashamed#.
/anna!i tells /ovalan to ta-e her an-lets. !iven to her by her mother as a &eddin! !ift. to
help him !et his fortune bac-. This act sho&s her dedication to her husband even after years
of loneliness and abandonment. /ovalan decides they need a ne& start so they snea- out of
)uhar at ni!ht and start their ,ourney to :adurai in the )andya -in!dom. They stop and tal-
to the "renunceint# /avundi &ho decides to !o &ith the couple on their lon! ,ourney.
:any events happen alon! the trip. ;uite a fe& &ith lessons attached. <or instance.
a mon- reminds the !roup that "each of our actions is li-e a seed that is so&n and is bound
to brin! a harvest of its o&n -ind.# &hich told of ho& karma affects people based on their
behaviour. Another lesson comes from /avundi &ho. after turnin! t&o people into ,ac-als
&hen they teased /anna!i. stated that "*d+isrespect is no small thin!#. This once a!ain
illustrates ho& one7s life should be lived. in this case in re!ard to the treatment of others
(63). They also stop at a temple &here "Aiyai. !oddess of hunters# is bein! &orshiped .
=hen the !roup finally !ets to :adurai. /avundi leaves /ovalan and /anna!i in
the care of :adari an animal herder. =hen /ovalan !oes to the smith to try and sell one of
/anna!i7s an-lets. the smith thin-s /ovalan stole the piece of ,e&ellery from the ;ueen.
/in! >edunche?hiyan &as informed of this and put out the order "*s+ee if the thief has the
;ueen7s an-let in his possession. f that is really so. -ill him immediately and brin! me the
,e&el to the ;ueen7s chambers#. The order is carried out and /ovalan is -illed. /anna!i
receives the ne&s of her husband7s un,ust death and is devastated. 0he calls out to the 0un
'od &ho replies "this city &hich accuses him shall be destroyed by fire#. /anna!i !oes
before the -in! and sho&s him his mista-e. for the ;ueen7s ori!inal an-let had pearls
&hereas the one ta-en from /ovalan had rubies. /anna!i !ives the 0un 'od the order to
"not on any account spare the &ic-ed# and the city is burned. %nly the !oddess of the
@oyal )andya house. Aharatan. &as left. The !oddess tells of ho& both /ovalan and
/anna!i &ere connected in a past life. n that life /ovalan had -illed /anna!i7s husband by
mista-eB this caused /anna!i so much !rief that she had thro&n herself off a cliff. The
!oddess told /anna!i that "*a+ virtuous life is !ood in itself. but may not prevent the sins of
a past life from bearin! fruit#. puttin! into perspective &hy these unfortunate events had
happened to /ovalan and herself.
The next se!ment of the boo- is a chapter about the 4heran /in! 0en!uttuvan. 5e
heard the story of /anna!i and ho& she &as carried from the 4hera -in!dom by the !ods to
,oin her husband. 0en!uttuvan decided to !et a bloc- of stone from the 5imalayas to carve
a li-eness of /anna!i the "'oddess of 0teadfastness#. 5e marvels at ho& "three !reat
Tamil /in!doms had been lin-ed to!ether by the story of /anna!i#. meanin! the 4hola
/in!dom (&here the story be!an). )andya /in!dom (&here /anna!i destroyed the city of
:adurai). and his o&n 4hera -in!dom (&here /anna!i &as ta-en by the !ods). Cach had
been a part of /anna!i7s ,ourney and she affected people from all three -in!doms
profoundly.
%ne thin! that should be noted about the 0ilappadi-aram is that throu!hout the
&hole story many different reli!ious sects and rituals &ere mentioned. This reflects the
diversity of the settin! it &as &ritten in. =hen leavin! the city of )uhar. /anna!i and
/ovalan pass by "the !reat $ishnu temple#. "seven Auddhist $iharas#. and "&anderin!
Dain mon-s# all &ithin close proximity to each other sho&in! the obvious acceptance of
multiplicity. At the time of /anna!i and /ovalan "Arahmanism (5induism). Dainism. and
Auddhism E &ere at the time harmoniously coexistin! in the south# (Adi!al $).
The 0ilappadi-aram sho&ed that some deep rooted traditions of ndia that can still
be seen today. A main theme in the story is karma &hich is still a modern principle present
in ndia today. n the boo- not only &as /ovalan &arned about his actions in the present
causin! bad future karma. the murder he committed in a past life brou!ht him an
unfortunate end. $arious other traditions. such as /anna!i and /ovalan7s arran!ed
marria!e. findin! an auspicious day for the ceremony. and consultin! astrolo!ers. reflects
part of ndian culture that is still prevalent today.
Another interestin! aspect of the Silappadikaram &as the portrayal of the ideal
&oman. Throu!hout the &hole story /anna!i proved ho& pure and true she &as. Throu!h
her husband7s infidelity and misconduct she stayed faithful and chaste. =hen /ovalan
comes bac- to her. /anna!i is &illin! to do anythin! to help her husband includin! sellin!
the an-lets that &ere from her mother as a &eddin! !ift. =hen /ovalan is murdered.
/anna!i &ould have -illed herself &illin!ly for her husband immediately if she hadn7t had
the duty to uphold his honour by clearin! his name. n the end. /anna!i destroys a &hole
city for her husband and remained loyal throu!hout. t is because of this that /in!
0en!uttuvan is so impressed by her story that he erects a statue in her honour. ma-in! it
clear that /anna!i &as a version of the ideal &oman of that time.
The Silappadikaram, by )rince lan!o Adi!al. is a story about a &oman and her
husband as they stru!!le &ith the problems of fidelity. ri!ht and &ron!. and ,ustice. The
core themes of the Silappadikaram are very relevant to the human experience. &hich is
probably &hy it still is a &ell read story today. t is a tale that produces !ood insi!hts to the
culture. lessons. karma. and ideals of the Tamil people &ho hold it dear.