Kannagi
Sign in to saveKannagi, sometimes spelled Kannaki, is the titual character of the Tamil in Ilango Adigal's Cilappatikaram, one of the Five Great Epics in Tamil literature. She is described as a chaste woman who stays with her husband Kovalan despite his adultery. The epic further describes the couple's attempt to rebuild their marriage after her unrepentant husband had lost everything, how he is framed for a crime that he did not commit, and Kannagi's quest for justice. She later curses the entire Pandya city of Madurai, which is burnt to the ground as a consequence of her curse. In Tamil folklore, Kannagi h
Key facts
- Character.name
- Kannagi
- Character.image
- Statue of Kannagi.jpg
- Character.alt
- Kannagi
- Character.caption
- Statue of Kannagi in Chennai
- Character.first
- Naṟṟiṇai
- Character.gender
- Female
- Character.spouses
- Kovalan
- Character.home
- Puhar, Early Chola Kingdom
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- Statue of Kannagi.jpg
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10 sectionsContents
- Literature
- Legend
- Iconography and worship
- South India
- Sri Lanka
- In popular culture
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Kannagi, sometimes spelled Kannaki, is the titual character of the Tamil in Ilango Adigal's Cilappatikaram, one of the Five Great Epics in Tamil literature. She is described as a chaste woman who stays with her husband Kovalan despite his adultery. The epic further describes the couple's attempt to rebuild their marriage after her unrepentant husband had lost everything, how he is framed for a crime that he did not commit, and Kannagi's quest for justice. She later curses the entire Pandya city of Madurai, which is burnt to the ground as a consequence of her curse. In Tamil folklore, Kannagi has been deified as the symbol of chastity, and she is worshipped as a goddess in certain regions in South India and Sri Lanka.
==Literature== Kannagi appears in the Sangam era poem Naṟṟiṇai. A more extended version of her character appears in the Cilappatikāram. Cilappatikāram ("the Tale of an Anklet"), is the one of the Five Great Epicss in Tamil literature. It is attributed to a Ilango Adigal, a Chera prince turned monk, and was probably composed between 2nd to 6th centuries CE. The epic consists of 5,730 lines, and narrates the tragic story of Kannagi and her husband Kovalan.