Kumari Kandam - Part 3 (Submergence of Kapatapuram)

Lost History of Ancient Tamils / Tamizhs - Submergence of Kapatapuram

            In Continuation from the Part 2 of Kumari Kandam
https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2019/12/kumari-kandam-ancient-tamilakam-part-2.html

      From the last two parts of Kumari Kandam, it is evident that Pandyan King Satyavrata headed as Vaivasvata Manu with the help of Matsya Avatar of Lord Vishnu and Adisesha. Saptarishis were also migrated along with the King to the Bharata Kandam. This post will elaborate details about submergence of Second Tamizh Sangam at Kapatapuram.

         Kumari Kandam contains 49 territories which were grouped as seven lands (Ezhuthangu nadu)

1. Seven Coconut Lands [Elu thenga nadu]
2. Seven Mango Lands [Elu maturai nadu]
3. Seven front sandy lands [Elu munpalai nadu]
4. Seven Back sandy lands [Elu pinpalai nadu]
5. Seven Dwarf palm lands [Elu kurumpanai nadu]
6. Seven Eastern Coastal lands [Elu kunakarai nadu]
7. Seven Hilly lands [Elu kunra nadu]

         In Kanyakumari district, there is a coastal place called 'Thengapattnam', which is named after dense coconut groves. 

        There were 72 kings of Pandyan empire who ruled Kumari kandam for more than 10,000 years. When their capital cities ThenMadurai and Kapatapuram was lost, some of the Pandya Kings have migrated towards North of Tamizhagam and some of them moved towards East and explored many countries. There are many places in the world, ruled by Pandyas which were named in the memory and honor of Kumari Kandam (which will be covered in subsequent parts).

   

he Pandya kings were said to have belonged to the Lunar race. They claimed Pururavas and Nahusha as ancestors. Pururavas is listed as one of the ancestors in the Velvikudi inscription of Nedunchadaiyan Varagunavarman.

The Pandya kings were said to have belonged to the Lunar race. They claimed Pururavas and Nahusha as ancestors. Pururavas is listed as one of the ancestors in the Velvikudi inscription of Nedunchadaiyan Varagunavarman.

he Pandya kings were said to have belonged to the Lunar race. They claimed Pururavas and Nahusha as ancestors. Pururavas is listed as one of the ancestors in the Velvikudi inscription of Nedunchadaiyan Varagunavarman.

        It is mentioned in the ancient book Kandapuranam that Kumari Kandam covers the land of 700 Kavatam from Pahruli river in the north to the Kumari river in the south. Kavatam is a measuring unit in Tamil, which is still unknown to all. 

Kavadapuram / Kapatapuram - The capital city of Pandyas during Second Tamil Sangam around 5500 BCE during Treta Yuga. It was situated at the northern side of Kumari kandam. It was a port city, originally located near Thoothukudi, which is now submerged under sea.

Kavatai - refers to a type of rich pearls, meaning grabbing. As the oyster grabs the pearls in the mouth, it was termed as kavatai. In Arthasastra, Chanakya refers to the Pearls from "PandyaKapatam".  
     
    Around 57 early Pandya Kings ruled Kapatapuram as their capital for 3700 years. Tolkappiyam was composed during the time of Second Tamizh Sangam at Kapatapuram / Kavadapuram. Several seals discovered in the Indus valley site mentioning about certain religious traditions cited in Tolkappiyam. This proves that Tolkappiyam belonged to the age of the last phase of the Indus valley civilization i.e. 1500 B.C. Almost all Tamil scholars agree that Tolkappiyam belonged to the last phase of the Second Tamil Sangam held at Kapatapuram, which was engulfed by the sea around 2000 B.C.E.

        Therefore, we may safely conclude that Tolkappiyam was written before the submergence, i.e before 2000 B.C.E. The social and cultural history of the Tamils in the ancient Tamil Land were portrayed in Tolkappiyam and it's been validated on the basis of the artifacts and other materials discovered from the megalithic sites in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

       The first phase of Second Tamizh sangam was dated between 5500 bce - 5000 bce, as 2000 bce was the last phase of second tamizh sangam. So, 5000 B.C.E has been fixed as the date of Kapatapuram, the second capital of the ancient Pandyas. The famous urn burial site Adichanallur is located 21 kms from Korkai. The ancient Korkai port was also called as 'Pandya Kavada' mentioned in 'Kallithogai'. Because this port was once located at the banks of Tamiraparani river near the seacoast and it was part of Kavadapuram / Kapatapuram. The capital city Kapatapuram was originally located near Thoothukudi, which is now submerged under sea. 

        In the last 2000 years, due to the excessive sedimentation, the sea has receded about 6km from Bay of Bengal, which pushed Korkai inland today, that is before the delta of Tamiraparani River. Also, in the course of time, Tamiraparani River has shifted its course towards East and South, earlier it used to mix with the sea near Thoothukudi. 

     The ancient site at Korkai was first excavated in 1827 by R. Caldwell, who found a few urns of giant size. Next, during 1968-69 a team of archaeologists led by R. Nagasamy conducted excavations at Korkai. They discovered a number of inscribed potsherd with Tamil scripts, various objects of copper and iron, perforated terracotta tiles, beads of crystal, conch shells, and pearl-oysters.

        Therefore, we may conclude that the Adichanallur which is 15km from Korkai port, was flourished along with the Kumari Land with its culture and even after the submersion of the latter by the sea.

First Kumari kandam was lost, then Kapatapuram was submerged. What was the reason for subsequent Mega Tsunamis ?? 

Here you go -  it's due to impact of Burckle Crater. A large asteriod / comet which was 29km in diameter, that could kill quarter of world's population smashed into Indian Ocean producing mega Tsunami of 600 feet high. 

        This impacted Indian Ocean around 3000–2800 BCE (around 5000 years ago). This has hit the ocean floor with subsequent mega tsunamis for 4000 years and it was the major reason for the mysterious collapse of major civilization in Asia and Europe during that time period. The waves carried huge amount of sedimentation to the land. Currently, this is lying 12,500 feet below the surface in Indian Ocean. 

     Based on some of the Tamil literatures, Second Tamizh Sangam of kumari kandam was destroyed and submerged by a meteorite impact. So, it is evident from Burckle crater that the event of mega tsunamis and flood were common in all these coastlines. 

       

 This crater has triggered many tsunamis and destruction of land along the coastal lines of India. One of the major such event is destruction and submergence of ancient city Dwaraka. Dwarka was also destroyed by mega Tsunami caused by the impact of this crater in Indian Ocean. Submergence of Dwarka and submergence of Kapatapuram has happened during the same time period 1500 - 2000 BCE, i.e 4000 years before (at the end of Dwapara Yuga).

    Unfortunately, the Early Pandyan capitals Thenmadurai and Kapatapuram, were violently hit by successive tsunamis and engulfed by the sea. The first Tamil Sangam functioned at Thenmadurai, the second at Kapatapuram, the third and the last sangam at the modern Madurai.

        Therefore, the Pandyas have  shifted their capitals first from the Thenmadurai to Kapatapuram and then from Kapatapuram to the present- day Madurai. As a result of this shifting, the Pandyas had three capital cities-Thenmadurai, Kapatapuram and modern Madurai and consequently by the assembly of poets also met in the Pandyan courts in these three places, which leads to the formation of three Tamizh Sangams.  

--To be continued...

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan

Kumari Kandam - Ancient Tamilakam - Part 1

Lost Mysterious Land mass of Ancient Tamils

          Kumari Kandam !!! Prehistoric motherland in the Earth. It is the starting point of everything, Cradle of all civilization, fountain head of Knowledge, Birth place of Tamil (Oldest Language), Land of Lord Shiva. It was also popularly called as 'Sangam Era', where every one in the Greater India / Akhand Bharat (Undivided India) spoke Tamil / Thamizhi. The greater India includes 8 sub continents such as Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and part of China regions. The sub continent India was called as Bharata Khande and from the tip of Kanya kumari there was a huge landmass of ancient nation was called as Kumari Khande / Kandam.

        Theory of Kumari Kandam contains many hidden truths, pieces of stories, many links of Ancient Tamil, Origin of Early Humans, Dawn of Bharat, many misunderstandings and many misconceived perceptions. Westerners are calling this as lost Lemuria land , lost treasure City of Atlantis etc. Let them call in different names and connect with Kumari Kandam, the truth and the richness of this motherland will be unveiled in this post. 

           Let me start from the name, there are many citations for the name Kumari Kandam.

Reference 1 : This land was given to the only daughter of Bharata named 'Kumari', so this was called as Kumari Kandam.

Reference 2: In some other reference, this land was given to Lord Murugan's wife Devasena, daughter of God Indra. Lord Murugan has many different names such as Kumaran, Karthikeyan, Skanda / Kanda, Arumurugan, Shanmuga and many more. So, Kumaran's wife being called as Kumari / Kaumari and so it's called as Kumari kandam. 

Reference 3: There was a much celebrated 'Kumari' river at the south of this land, which makes them to call it as Kumari Nadu. Kandam means sub continent / land mass in Tamil. Not only Kumari river, there is also a big mountain at the south of the land called Kumari Hills. 

What is actually Kumari Kandam ???

          Kumari Kandam was the name of an ancient Landmass / sub continent of Prehistoric Tamil people in Bharat (Greater India). It was the place where Tamil language took birth from Lord Shiva,  where the earliest literary works of Tamil 'Agathiyam' was published. It was the first book in Tamil written by the great Sage Agathiyar (Agastya) during the First Sangam period. This land was most celebrated and flourished in Bharata Varshe, before the beginning of the Vedic Period and even before the period of Ramayana and Mahabharata. 

   The size of the land area of Kumari Kandam was 700 kavattam, approximately seven times of the size of Sri Lanka. That is why it was called as Sub continent of Greater India and has the term 'Khand / Kandam' in it's name.

           Some people say that Kumari Kandam is a myth, some say it is a fairy tale of Tamil Pride, some say that it's the lost Lemuria continent and some people say that Kumari kandam was real and true. When we don't have enough calculated proof / lack of interpretation, it will be called as Myth. All of these will be covered one by one in subsequent parts of Kumari Kandam post. 

Glory of Kumari Kandam

Geologically Kumari Kandam is located at the tip of Kanyakumari adjoining Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It also has the sacred mountain at the center, from which four rivers were originated. River Peru, River Kumari, River Pahruli (Parali) and River Kanni. At the South, there was a mountain called as 'Kumari Malai' (Kumari Hills).

The big sacred mountain at the center of this sub continent was called as 'Peru Malai' (Meaning Big Mountain, which is actually the Sacred Meru Mountain) 

Kumari Kandam crossing the Equator

           Kumari kandam was situated at the end of Tamil Nadu, with Indian ocean at the South, Bay of Bengal at the East and Arabian sea at the West. It was the place where life in the Earth has started. It was prospered with Wealth, rich in Gems, Agriculture, Artistic buildings, Magnificent temples, Skilled Poets, Enlightened Sages, many industrial places for Pottery, Weapon making, Jewelry of Gold and silver, Educated civilians, Highly Noble Kings, Strong Army of Soldiers, fame, Skilled in building boats to travel across various countries, Given first writing scripts to the World, a Divine Land of Lord Shiva, the place where the Marthanda black stone fell on the Earth. 

Tamil People closely followed roots of ancient nature worship, they worshiped Lord Shiva as supreme god and there was no caste system in this ancient Tamil land. 

          This huge sub continent was flourished during the era of early Pandyas. They were the earliest explorers of Bharata, Earliest Kingdom in the world and there were 72 kings of Pandya empire who has ruled the ancient Tamilakam (including Kumari Kandam) from 30,000 BCE to 16,000 BCE. 

        Sangam Period has started at Kumari Kandam, also known as ancient Tamilakam, covering current Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sangam meaning Assembly of Tamil scholars and poets , it was also called as ' Tamil Kootam' which was firstly held at 'Then Madurai'. 'Then Madurai' was a first capital and port city of early Pandyas, this city was lost during massive and consecutive Tsunamis. When half of the Kumari kandam was lost, Pandyas changed the capital to 'Kavadapuram', where they held their Second Tamil Sangam, this city was also submerged under the ocean. Then, they have moved towards north and changed the capital city to 'Vada Madurai', that is the current 'Madurai' city in Tamil Nadu, where the Third Sangam was held. So, in total there were 3 Sangams held at three different places due to the catastrophe caused by mother Nature.

According to the ancient Skandapurana (Kanda Puranam), which mentions about Kumari kandam that

• "Kumari Kandam covers about 700 Kavatam (unknown measurement) from Pahruli river in the North to the Kumari River in the South.".
• "It is one of the nine regions of Bharata and the only region which was not inhabited by barbarians.

"Pahruli river was excavated to irrigate the mountain valley by the Pandya Kind 'Nediyon'. "

Third Sangam literary work 'Purananooru' talks about the Sunken land Kumari Kandam and the River Pahruli. Pandyas had love towards Tamil and they contributed to the language by creating Sangams. In Sangams, Tamil language faced many improvisation, created many poems, books, grammars etc. These sangams were held during ancient Pandya period. 

First Sangam / Mudhar Sangam was held at ThenMadurai (South Madurai) during 16,000 BCE, which lasted for 4400 years with 549 members and 4449 poets, where the first literary work by Sage Agathiyar called as 'Agathiyam' has been approved by all the poets, king and Lord Shiva. But, due to massive catastrophe caused by the nature, some cities were sunken under the Indian Ocean and half of the this sub continent were lost and also the first book 'Agathiyam' didn't survive. So, Sage Agastya asked his student Tolkappiyar to write a Tamil grammar book.

Second Sangam / Idai Sangam held at at Kapadapuram (Kavadapuram) during 11,000 BCE, with 59 members and 3500 poets, which lasted for 3700 years. It was the place where, Tolkappiyam was published, by the author Tolkappiyar. He was the disciple of Maharishi Agathiyar. 

Third Sangam held at Vada Madurai (Present Madurai city in Tamil Nadu) during 5000 BCE. Madurai is also called as 'Koodal Nagaram', meaning meeting city, with 49 members, many Kings of Tamilakam and 449 poets. This sangam lasted for 1800 years.

            It was mentioned in many ancient literatures and epics that Pahruli River was at the north of Kumari Kandam. Pahruli term was faced some transformations, as it traveled through many periods. Some researchers says that Pahruli means Pala Thuli river meaning many drops, one more term as Parali aaru as Pazhaya aaru. These are wrong, a river can not be named as many drops. 

      The famous Pahruli river has multiple meanings, the reason behind behind explaining the meaning of this river will be understood in the second part of this post. 

Meaning 1: 'parai oli aaru'. 'Parai' meaning drums, an instrument which was used in ancient times to make an announcement at the center of the city among large number of people, the sound of parai will be huge, 'Parai' defines the fierce of the river. 'oli' meaning sound. Together it was termed as 'Paraioli' aka Paruli aru / Pahruli river. 

Meaning 2: 'Pan aruliya', 'Pan' meaning note of a classical music, 'aruliya' - given with blessings, the place where the classical music was born. Panaruli aaru was then termed as parali, then pahruli. 

Meaning 3: 'Par aruliya aaru',  'Par' means Earth, 'aruliya' means Given with blessings, the river given by mother Earth with her blessings for all the living beings.

Today, there is small river flowing in Kanyakumari district called Parali aaru, which is originated from Mahendragiri Hills.  This is the same river mentioned in the so called myth of Kumari Kandam. 

Parali / Pahruli River

     Tamizhians in Kumari Kandam were Rich in Language, Dance, Music, Arts, Skilled in Pottery, Building Ships, Trading of Food, Gems, Stone and Gold, Silk Clothing, Flourished Agriculture with food grains, Fountainhead of knowledge and science, much Cultured, Civilized, well planned cities and exquisite architecture !!


The life of the ancient Tamils was generally divided into two namely, Aham and Puram. Aham dealt with inside / inner feelings, love-life and Puram means profession and worldly life, charity and doings of royalty with reference to the interests and problems of society. The ancient Tamils knew the meteorological science. They keenly observed climatic changes and divided a year of twelve months into six seasons of each having two months on the basis of climatic change. The transition of Sun was calculated and when the Sun transits to Aries (Mesha Rasi - first Zodiac sign), it was celebrated as Tamil New Year, which is the 1st date of Chithirai Tamil month (April 14th).

Agathiyam, Aindiram and Tolkapiyam  were the oldest literature of Tamil, which were written prior to Rig Veda and composed in 12,000 BCE. Agathiyam, the oldest literature was written by Sage Agastya, also called as 'Agathiyar' in Tamil. He was considered as most Knowledged and Powerful sage, there was an ancient mountain in Western ghats which was named after him and a temple was dedicated to Sage Agathiyar at this mountain, in Tamil Nadu.
            In Vedic texts, it is mentioned that he is one of the Sapta Rishis (Seven Rishis). In Tamil, he is the founder of Siddha, the first Siddhar in Shaivism, he is the first one to create Tamil Grammar. His name was also mentioned in Ramayana and Mahabharata.

      Maharishi Agastya is also the founder of Silambam (powerful martial arts) and Varmam (Ancient Science of healing,  healing using varmam points, this science can also be used to attack a person). 

Maharishi Agathiyar (Agastya)

The reference about kumari kandam are only found in Sangam literature and only people in those period has witnessed it. Though, people say that there are no scientific proof for this period, there are many under water discoveries by NIO archeaological team (National Institute of Ocaeanology), which shows the images of underwater ancient city ruins of Kumari Kandam.

         More details about KK (Kumari Kandam), it's myth stories and truths will be discussed parallelly with respect to Earth's Geography, Literature, Cities of KK, Mountains, Rivers, Yuga cycle, Notable Kings and occasions, Puranas and historic symbols. 

By Geography,

Myth Story 1:    Many researchers and scholars says that Kumari Kandam is a huge land mass connecting Madagascar, South India and Australia. (Like represented in the picture below)

          No ! Kumari Kandam was not connected to Madagascar and Australia. It was connected only to to South India, to be precise, it was a part of Greater India as a single piece of land. 

Truth:  Short history rewind over here. About 100 million years ago, Eastern part of Gondwana, a super continent comprising Madagascar, Australia, India and Antartica started to break up due to the flood basalt of Karoo and Ferrar Large Igneous provinces. Madagascar got separated from Gondwana and joined Indo - Australian Plate.  Indo- Australian plate has started moving towards North - West direction from Australia and Antartica. Then first ocean floor was formed between India and Antartica (Picture below). 

While migrating towards north, Madagascar and Mascarene plateau stretching from Seychelles to Reunion broke off from India, due to the Eruption of Reunion Volcanic hotspot which occurred 65 million years ago. India - Madagascar- Seychelles separation coincides with the Deccan Traps of India. Huge eruption of Reunion Volcanic hot spot has laid down the Deccan Traps in India, it created a vast basalt lava bed and opened a rift which separated Seychelles and Madagascar from India. The basalt deposit on Seychelles are from Deccan traps eruption. 

  Then then Indian tectonic plate started moving towards North East direction, crossed Equator and joined with Eurasia plate. Even today, Indian plate is moving in north east direction with the speed of 1.4 inches per year, Eurasian plate is also moving towards north east (0.79 inches per year), relatively slower than the Indian plate. So in future, this may cause Eurasian plate to deform and Indian plate to compress at the rate of 0.6 inches per year. 

         About 3 million years ago, Indian plate and Australian plate got separated by Capricorn Plate and now it diffuse it's boundaries. 

      Coming back to this post, these continental drift of the Earth are disproving the myth that Kumari kandam was connected to Madagascar and Australia. Also, life in Earth began only few million years before, so human civilization before Gondwana break up is impossible. Hence, Kumari Kandam can't be adjoining Madagascar to the West and Australia to the east. 

 Kumari Kandam was the place where the first literature and languages were born, about a million years ago. A million years ago ??? Yes, humans were evolved about 3 million years ago and there were many human remains found in Asia which dated back to 1.5 million years ago. Ancient early Tamil language was spoken by the humans in all over the world. Many countries, their cities and nature names reflects its tamil meaning. 
       Early Pandyas who ruled Kumari Kandam can be dated back to the beginning of Satya Yuga. Satya Yuga ???

-- More Details and truths about KK in Part 2

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan