Kumari continent destroyed 20,000 years before

Kumari continent destroyed 20,000 years                                     before

A map of the Kumari Kandam according to the 20th century Tamil revivalist writersTypelost continentNotable charactersDravidiansFirst appearanceKanda Puranam(purportedlyalluded to inSangam literature, but not by this name)Kumari Kandam(Tamil:குமரிக்கண்டம்) refers to a mythical[1]lost continent with an ancientTamilcivilization, located south of present-day India, in theIndian Ocean. Alternative names and spellings includeKumarikkantamandKumari Nadu.In the 19th century, a section of the European andAmerican scholars speculated the existence of a submerged continent calledLemuria, to explain geological and other similarities betweenAfrica,IndiaandMadagascar. A section ofTamil revivalistsadapted this theory, connecting it to thePandyanlegends of lands lost to the ocean, as described in ancientTamilandSanskritliterature. According to these writers, an ancient Tamil civilization existed on Lemuria, before it was lost to the sea in a catastrophe. In the 20th century, the Tamil writers started using the name"Kumari Kandam" to describe this submerged continent. Although the Lemuria theory was later rendered obsolete by thecontinental drift(plate tectonics) theory, the concept remained popular among the Tamil revivalists of the 20th century. According to them, Kumari Kandam was the place where the first two Tamil literary academies(sangams) were organized during the Pandyan reign. They claimed Kumari Kandam as thecradleof civilizationto prove the antiquity ofTamil languageandculture.Etymology and namesAfter the Tamil writers were introduced to the concept ofLemuriain the 1890s, they came up with the Tamilized versions of the continent's name (e.g. "Ilemuria"). By the early 1900s, they started using Tamil names for the continent, to support their depiction of Lemuria as an ancient Tamil civilization. In 1903,V.G. Suryanarayana Sastrifirst used the term "Kumarinatu" (or"Kumari Nadu", meaning "Kumari territory") in his workTamil Moliyin Varalaru(History of the Tamil language). The term Kumari Kandam ("Kumari continent") was first used to describe Lemuria in the 1930s.[2]The words "Kumari Kandam" first appear inKanda Puranam, a 15th-century Tamil version of theSkanda Purana, written by Kachiappa Sivacharyara (1350-1420).[3]Although the Tamil revivalists insist that it is a pure Tamil name, it is actually a derivative of the Sanskrit words"Kumarika Khanda".[4]TheAndakosappadalamsection ofKanda Puranamdescribes the following cosmological model of the universe: There are many worlds, each having several continents, which in turn, have several kingdoms. Paratan, the ruler of one such kingdom, had eight sons and one daughter. He further divided his kingdom into nine parts, and the part ruled by his daughter Kumari came to be known as Kumari Kandam after her. Kumari Kandam is described asthekingdom of the Earth. Although the Kumari Kandam theory became popular amonganti-Brahminanti-SanskritTamil nationalists, theKanda Puranamactually describes Kumari Kandam as the land where theBrahminsalso reside, whereShivais worshipped and where theVedasare recited. The rest of the kingdoms are described as the territory of themlecchas.[5]The 20th century, Tamil writers came up with various theories to explain the etymology of"Kumari Kandam" or "Kumari Nadu". One set of claims was centered on the purportedgender egalitarianismin the prelapsarian Tamil homeland. For example, M. Arunachalam (1944) claimed that the land was ruled by female rulers (Kumaris). D. Savariroyan Pillai stated that the women of the land had the right to choose their husbands and owned all the property, because of which the land came to be known as "Kumari Nadu" ("the land of the maiden"). Yet another set of claims was centered on the Hindu goddessKanya Kumari. Kandiah Pillai, in a book for children, fashioned a new history for the goddess,stating that the land was named after her. He claimed that the temple atKanyakumariwas established by those who survived the flood that submerged Kumari Kandam. According to cultural historian Sumathi Ramaswamy, the emphasis of the Tamil writers on the word"Kumari" (meaning virgin or maiden) symbolizes the purity of Tamil language and culture, before their contacts with the other ethnic groups such as theIndo-Aryans.[6]The Tamil writers also came up with several other names for the lost continent. In 1912, Somasundara Bharati first used the word"Tamilakam" (a name for theancient Tamil country) to cover the concept of Lemuria, presenting it as thecradle of civilization, in hisTamil Classics and Tamilakam. Another name used was "Pantiya natu", after thePandyas, regarded as the oldest of the Tamil dynasties. Some writers used "Navalan Tivu" (or Navalam Island), the Tamil name ofJambudvipa, to describe the submerged land.[7]Submerged lands in ancient Indian literatureMultiple ancient and medieval Tamil and Sanskrit works contain legendary accounts of lands inSouth Indiabeing lost to the ocean. The earliest explicit discussion of akatalkol("seizure by ocean", possiblytsunami) of Pandyan land is found in a commentary onIraiyanar Akapporul. This commentary, attributed toNakkeerar, is dated to the later centuries of the 1st millennium CE. It mentions that thePandyankings, an early Tamil dynasty, established three literary academies (Sangams): the first Sangam flourished for 4,400 years in a city called Tenmaturai, attended by 549 poets (includingAgastya) and presided over by gods likeShiva,KuberaandMurugan. The second Sangam lastedfor 3,700 years in a city called Kapatapuram, attended by 59 poets (including Agastya, again). The commentary states that both the cities were"seized by the ocean", resulting in loss of all the works created during the first two Sangams. The third Sangam was established inUttara(North) Madurai, where it is said to have lasted for 1,850 years.[8][9][10]Nakkeerar's commentary does not mention the size of the territory lost to the sea. The size is first mentioned in a 15th-century commentary onSilappatikaram. The commentator Adiyarkunallar mentions that the lost land extended fromPahruliriver in the north to the Kumari river in the South. It was located to the south ofKanyakumari, and covered an area of 700kavatam(a unit of unknown measurement). It was divided into 49 territories (natu), classified in the following sevencategories