The Tamil writers characterized Kumari Kandam as an ancient, but highly advanced civilization located in an isolated continent in the Indian Ocean. They also described it as the cradle of civilization inhabited solely by the speakers of Tamil language.
Lemuria and Kumarikandam ...the lost continent..a myth or a mystery
What is Kumari kandam ?
Kumarikandam is the hypothetical lost continent with ancient Tamil civilization ,its said to be lost in the Indian Ocean...It is said to be the cradle of tamil civilization....present day Tamil Nadu is all that is left behind of this wonderful continent..another name for kumari kandam is kumari nadu....The very first civilization in the world originated here and the very first language in the world was spoken here...It is said to have been sunken some 20,000 years back...kumari kandam now serves as a source of fictional inspiration for writing novel ...The word "kumari"is a tamil word which means pure/virgin...its said that it symbolizes the purity of the tamil culture that survived there ,and purity of the Tamil people who lived there before invasion by the Indo Aryans.
What is lemuria?
Lemuria is a hypothetical lost land around Indian and Pacific ocean...Geologist believe there had to be some huge continent that has sunk deep below the oceans ,which had an important civilization..Lemuria is what the westerners call this unknown continent.
Is kumari kandam and Lemuria the same ?
There have been claims that these both Lemuria and Kumari Kandam are one at the same...lot of references from sangam litreture were quoted..but because there was no scientific evidence and till date the lost continent never recovered,hence this is still in the debate..
Why did kumar kandam/lemuria drown ?
There are some intresting theories about it
1.pole shift :It is said that there has been some sudden tilt in the pole ,that has lead to this catastrophie
2.Earthquakes
3.Raise in the sea level
4.continental drift theory :due to some problem with the tectonic plates ,this continent is said to have moved away.
Who ruled kumari kandam and what is so important about it?
-Kumari Kandam was said to be ruled by Pandiya kings
-the first two sangam eras (Tamil literary academy ) is said to be present here..I have to mention a word about these tamil sangams
First tamil sangam : was eatablished in Thenmadurai (not madurai-madurai is in Tamil nadu ,but Thenmadurai ,south of madurai was in kumari kandam ) ,dated some 4400 years back and was attended by 4449 poets (this is like the present day book release function ,where their poems and litrary works were inograted )..The fuction was presided over by Lord Shiva and Lord Muruga (It is said that Muruga was given the status of Tamil Lord here)-technically 4449 literature and poetry works were released
Second Tamil Sangam: Second tamil sangam was hosted in a place called 'Kapatapuram' ,which were attended by 3700 poets and 3700 literary works were released..
It is said that both these tamil sangams were washed away by oceans..taking away all these books and epic works along with it.
Third tamil sangam: this is established in Uttara (located in present day Madurai) ,this tamil association flourished for 1860 years (after which it was closed down,dint know what happened)
-Lot of good/rare literary works is said to be lost here
-Some say the first ever library in the world ,with some cool collection of tamil litreture ,first inograted by the pandiya king,is said to have lost here..
-Lot of nice monumental temples and sculptures have said to be drowned here.
-There were some mind blowing siddhar resided in the continent with some awesome knowledge in science and predictions of future is said to have been lost here (few claim that the olai chuvadis in chidhambaram temple ,where nadi josiyam is popular,where the future are predicted ,is nothing but the saved ones,and the remaining lost when this continent drowned )
-Lot of ways of tamil culture is said to have had its origin here..
-It is also said that the present day residents of Kaniya kumari ,are the saved people from the lost continent.
Literary evidence for Kumari Kandam
There are lots of evidence of this lost land in the sangam litreture