Kumarikkandam
Kumarikkandam ( குமரிக்கண்டம் - Kumarikkaṇṭam - ˈkumʌriˌkʌɳɖʌm or "Kumari Kandam"), sometimes also called Kumarinadu or "Kumari Nadu" ("Kumari Land"), is the name of a mythical-legendary continent ( Kandam ), which is derived from the Indian South Cape Kanniyakumari ( Kumari ) from to the south, encompassing parts of what is now the Indian Ocean , and is believed to have been the origin of Tamil culture - or even of all human species and civilization. While the previous existence of such a continent or subcontinent as well as a native culture is denied by university research on earth and human history, its acceptance finds supporters from the areas of esotericism , Hinduism and modern Tamil nationalism . It is also being discussed favorably in the border science district.
Kumarikkandam as a cultural motif
According to a modern, presumably nationalist-nativist-motivated reinterpretation of the old Tamil tradition, the Dravids originally come from Kumarikkandam, a continental land mass south of India in the Indian Ocean, which on many depictions from the southern tip of India (including Sri Lanka ) to Madagascar in the west and Australia in the east is enough. This geological speculation is embedded in the context of a more far-reaching historical revisionist draft (the spatial and temporal framework of which it forms at the same time): for example, the Sangams , colleges of ancient Tamil poets, which were first mentioned in the early medieval commentary literature ( Iraiyanar Ahapporul , based on K. Zvelebil approx. 650–750 AD) are mentioned by the representatives of this draft spatially on the sunken Kumarikkandam and temporally localized in epochs that go up to several millennia BC. Go back BC.
It is possible that the few and more open to interpretation passages in ancient and early medieval Tamil literature, on which this modern mythologist is based, represent literary reflections of popular tales of the flood , as can also be found in other peoples. For example, in epics like the Silappadigaram or the Manimegalai, a sunken city called “Puhar” is mentioned. Puhar (also "Pumbuhar") is localized by supporters of the Kumarikkandam theory on the sunken continent, while this city is localized by today's antiquity rather on the coast of today's Tanjavur district in Tamil Nadu and identified with the also lost Kaveripattanam. There is certainly enough reason for such narratives in south Indian history: while the coast of southwest India (e.g. Kerala ) slowly rises from the sea over the decades, the opposite east coast (e.g. Tamil Nadu) sinks to the same extent which evidently led to the abandonment of settlements on the coast in historical times: for example, at Mamallapuram (near Chennai ) in 2004 the ruins of a sunken port city were found in the sea.
According to this modern Lemuria-Kumarikkandam legend, which already experienced a fantastic geographical and historical embellishment in the early 20th century, there are said to have been mountains, forests, even entire kingdoms on the Kumari continent, as well as two great rivers: the " Pahruliyaru ”and the“ Kumariyaru ”. The assumption that not (accepted as it is today) Africa, but this Kumari Continent, the Cradle of Humankind and their original language which consequently Tamil must be, seems to be still very common in a variety of Tamil academics and intellectuals. These ideas gain weight in the Tamil scientific literature in the first decades of the 20th century, but can also be proven in the years before. A central multiplier of such theories was the autodidactic linguist Na , who was associated with the "only Tamil movement" ( Tanittamil-Iyakkam , English "pure Tamil movement"), which was particularly active from 1916 onwards . Tevaneyan (also "Tevaneya Pavanar", 1902–1981): z. B. emergence of mankind from a "homo dravida"; all languages of the world "only corrupted dialects of Tamil ". Supporters of this draft of history, which apparently represents a late ideological reaction to the violation of Tamil national sensitivities during an internal Indian " Aryan - Dravidian " scholar dispute in the 19th and early 20th centuries, explain the disappearance of Kumarikkandam with the possibility that it will take place over a longer period of time was repeatedly hit by tsunamis and thus finally disappeared into the sea. However , there is no scientific evidence for the existence of such a geological formation or for the functioning of such a cataclystical mechanism.
Connection with Lemuria
In modern Tamil works (mainly from the non-fiction genre ) Kumarikkandam is often identified with the continent Lemuria (Tamil: "Ilemuriya") postulated in 1858 by the zoologist Philipp Sclater .
In pop culture
Kumari Kandam appeared in the episodes "The King of Kumari Kandam" and "The Atlas Pin". This version is a city on the back of a giant sea serpent, whose inhabitants are all fish people.
Kumari Kandam appeared in the second season, episode three of the television show Ancient Aliens - Inexplicable Phenomena (Title: Underwater Worlds).
Tamil word forms
In the following the spelling of the above terms in Tamil script (according to Tamil Lexicon, Madras 1926 ff.) And in transcription according to ISO standard 15919; after that in brackets (if different) diacritical-adjusted ISO form and (if identifiable) the most common anglicised spelling in Tamil culture:
Kumarinadu - குமரிநாடு - Kumarināṭu (Kumarinatu; Kumari Nadu); Kanniyakumari - கன்னியகுமரி - Kaṉṉiyākumari (Kanya Kumari); Silappadigaram - சிலப்பதிகாரம் - Cilappatikāram (Cilappatikaram; Silappathigaram, Shilapathigaram); Manimegalai - மணிமேகலை - Maṇimēkalai (Manimekalai); Puhar - புகார் - Pukār (Pukar; Pugar); Sangam - சங்கம் - Caṅkam (Cankam; Shangam); Iraiyanar Agapporul - இறையனார் அகப்பொருள் - Iṟaiyaṉār Akapporuḷ (Iraiyanar Akapporul; Iraiyanar Ahapporul); Pahruliyaru - பஃறுளியாறு - Paḵṟuḷiyāṟu (Pakruliyaru; Pagliyar, Pagliyaru); Kumariyaru - குமரியாறு - Kumariyāṟu (Kumariyaru; Kumari Aru); tanittamil-iyakkam - தனித்தமிழியக்கம் - taṉittamiḻiyakkam (tanittamiliyakkam); N / A. Tevaneyan - ஞா. தேவநேயன் - Ñā. Tēvanēyaṉ (G. Devaneyan); Tevaneya Pavanar - தேவநேய பாவாணர் - Tēvanēya Pāvāṇar (Devaneya Pavanar); Ilemuriya - இலெமூரியா - Ilemūriyā (Ilemuria; <" Lemuria "); U. Ve. Saminadaiyar - உ. வே. சாமிநதையர் - U. Vē. Cāminataiyar (U. Ve. Caminataiyar; UV Swaminatha / Svaminatha Iyer / Ayyar / Aiyar).
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. also Dravids in the Tamil language Wikipedia.
- ↑ The King of Kumari Kandam . Random House Children's Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0-375-86429-2 , p. 1 .
literature
- Sumathi Ramaswamy: The Lost Land of Lemuria. Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.