The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature - The Five Epics

The Five Epics

Silappatikaram (story of anklet) depicts the life of Kannagi, a chaste woman who lead a peaceful life with Kovalan in Puhar (Poompuhar), the then capital of Cholas. Her life later went astray by the association of Kovalan with an unchaste woman Madhavi. The duo started resurrecting their life in Madurai, the capital of Pandyas. Kovalan went on to sell the anklet of Kannagi to start a business, but was held guilty and beheaded of stealing it from the queen. Kannagi went on to prove the innocence of her husband and believed to have burnt the entire city of Madurai by her chastity. Apart from the story, it is a vast treasure of information of music and dance, both classical and folk.

Manimekalai is a 5th century Buddhist epic created by Sithalai Sathanar during the 5th century. It is believed to be a followup of Silappatikaram with the primary character, Manimegalai being the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi. It contains thirty cantos describing the circumstances in which Manimegalai renounced the world and took the vows of Hinayana sect of Buddhism, which is followed in Burma and Sri Lanka. Apart from the story of Manimegalai and her Buddhist inclination, the epic deals with a great deal with Buddha's life, work and philosophy.

Civaka Cintamani, an epic of the 10th century CE was written by Thiruthakka Thevar, a Jain monk. It narrates the romantic exploits of Jeevaka and throws light on arts of music and dance of the era. It is reputed to have been the model for Kamba Ramayanam. The epic is based on Sanskrit original and contains the exposition of Jain doctrines and beliefs. It is a mudi-porul-thodar-nilai-seyyul, a treatise of the fourfold object of life and aim of literary work of virtue, wealth, pleasure and bliss. It is in 13 books or illambagams and contains 3147 stanzas. It is noted for its chaste diction and sublime poetry rich in religious sentiments and replete with information of arts and customs of social life. There are many commentaries on the book, the best on the work is believed to be by Naccinarkiniyar.

Kundalakesi is now extant, but quotations from it and found from references used by authors who had access to the classic. The poem was used for showing the purpose of showing the advantage of Buddhist philosophy over Vedic and Jain philosophies. The Jain in reply wrote Nilakesi which has opposing views to the ideologies in Kundalakesi. Kundalakesi was a Jain nun who moved around India, expounding Jainism and challenged anyone who had alternate views. Sariputra, a disciple of Buddha, took up the challenge one day and defeated Kundalakesi in debates. She renounced Jainism and became a Buddhist. The author is believed to be Nagaguttanar. The record of culture and Buddhist views during the era were lost with the book.

Valayapathy is also an extant work and it is not certain whether it is a Buddhist or Jain work. Some scholars believe it is a Buddhist work and base their claims on the quotations of Valayapathy found in other literary works. The author of Valayapathy quotes from Thirukkural and it is possible that he took inspiration from it.