When the Sea Swallowed a City Whole

Where the river Kaveri drains into the Bay of Bengal, there once was a city that was the setting for two famous ancient Tamil epic poems, Silappadigaram (“The Anklet Story”) and Manimekalai. Puhar or Poompuhar, as it is presently known, is a fishing hamlet that was supposedly destroyed by an angry sea.

Manimekalai bears a lot of similarity to Nyayaprakasa, a book of Buddhist logic. The epic is named after its central character, a girl named Manimekalai, but the name also happens to be the name of the deity of the sea, who in a fit of anger causes the city of Puhar to be destroyed. The period of Manimekalai is thought to be between the 3rd and 6th centuries of the Common Era.

Silappadigaram may have been an earlier work that describes a thriving port city of Puhar. The story is of a young couple, Kovalan and Kannagi, from wealthy merchant families. The marriage sours quickly when Kovalan finds himself attracted to a beautiful and talented dancer, Madhavi. Kovalan spends all his wealth on Madhavi but when it dawns on him that she is only a dancing girl, returns to Kannagi who has remained faithful. They have nothing left of their wealth save for a pair of ankets that he had given Kannagi at the time of their wedding. Kovalan and Kannagi set off for Madurai, the seat of Pandya kingdom, to restart their life.

Once in Madurai, Kovalan approaches a goldsmith in court dress, who is being followed by a hundred jewelers all famous for their craftsmanship, and inquires if the smith would estimate the value of the anklet that he is carrying. The goldsmith takes the anklet, asks Kovalan to wait while he shows the jewelry to the queen. Now it transpires that the queen’s anklets had been stolen by the goldsmith himself who, seeing that the bracelet brought by Kovalan looks very much like the missing anklets, accuses Kovalan of the theft. The King tells the goldsmith to put the thief to death and bring him the bracelets whereupon Kovalan is promptly killed.

When Kannagi learns of what happened she demands to see the king. The king defends himself saying it was his duty to put a robber to death. Kannagi says it’s easy to prove that her anklet was hers because it was filled with precious gems, the one’s that were stolen from the queen on the other hand, were filled with pearls. Kannagi breaks open her anklet and a gem springs up into the king’s face. The king realizes that he had put an innocent man to death, and gives up his own life.

Kannagi is not satisfied and in her anger, she curses the city, tears her left breast apart and throws it down. The city catches on fire.

The author of Silappadigaram, Ilango, was supposed to be a Jain and a prince from the Chera kingdom, what is now Kerala.

The following description of Puhar is taken from Alain Danielou’s translation of Silappadigaram:

“The riches of the Puhar ship owners made the kings of faraway lands envious. The most costly merchandise, the rarest foreign produce, reached the city by sea and caravans. "

“The sunshine lighted up the open terraces, the harbor docks, the towers with loopholes like the eyes of deer. In various quarters of the city, the homes of wealthy Greeks were seen. Near the harbor, seamen from various far off lands appeared at home."

“At the center of the city were the wide royal street, the street of temple cars, the bazaar, and the main street, where rich merchants had their mansions with high towers."

“Near the shore lighthouses had been built to show ships the way to the harbor. Far away one could see the tiny lights of the fishing boats laying their nets in the deep sea. All night lamps were burning, the lamps of the foreigners who talk strange tongues, and the lamps of the guards who watch over the precious cargos near the docks.”

From The Hindu, Dec 26, 2004: A report from Porayar near Nagapattinam said soon after the tremor, giant tidal waves were experienced in the coastal areas between Nagapattinam and Poompuhar.

NDTV.com Dec 27, 2004: The coastal town of Nagappattinam in Tamil Nadu is the worst affected by Sunday’s Tsunami waves which have killed more than 1,400 people in the area.