Silappadikaram
Silappadikaram — 10 chapters, 100 questions. Tamil epic — the Silappadikaram (traditionally by Ilango Adigal).
The Silappadikaram is a Tamil literary epic, not a Purana — one of the five great epics of Tamil. This retelling is written from a direct reading of V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar's 1939 English translation (Oxford University Press), not from summaries. Scholars disagree widely on its date — proposals run from the 2nd century to the 5th-6th century CE — so no single date can be given. Tradition names the Chera prince Ilango Adigal as its author, but that too is disputed, and so is his religion: the poem carries Jain, Shaiva and Buddhist signals side by side. The story enters Hindu tradition through the goddess Kannagi, worshipped as Pattini.
- Why This Story Is Told — The story of an anklet — in which a king dies, a city burns, and a woman becomes a goddess
- The Wedding at Puhar — Puhar, the harbour city at the mouth of the Kaveri — where a twelve-year-old merchant's daughter was married to a sixteen-year-old merchant's son
- Madhavi — A dancer of Urvashi's line, rewarded by the king for her first performance — and whose garland Kovalan bought for 1,008 kalanjus
- Songs That Stung — At a song exchange on the seashore Kovalan sang first, Madhavi answered — and Kovalan, out of his own suspicion, left her
- The Road to Madurai — Returning to Kannagi, ruined, Kovalan asked her forgiveness — Kannagi took him back without reproach, and the two set out for Madurai
- One Anklet — The goldsmith pinned the blame for the queen's stolen anklet on Kovalan — the king ordered his death without any inquiry
- Kannagi in the Royal Court — The Sun bore witness — "He was no thief" — then Kannagi broke her second anklet in the royal court and proved the truth
- Madurai Burns — Kannagi wrenched off her left breast and cursed the city — the goddess Madurapati appeared and told her that this death was the fruit of a debt from a past life
- The Stone from the Himalaya — Hill-maidens first worshipped Kannagi as a goddess — then King Senguttuvan marched north to bring a stone from the Himalaya to carve her image
- Pattini — Even today Pattini is worshipped in Kerala and Sri Lanka — a goddess from a Tamil poem, still binding people together centuries later