THE KUMARI KANDAM AND TAMIL

Kumari Kandam (Tamil:குமரிக்கண்டம், Kumari kandam; 30,000 BC – 16,000 BC) is the name of a supposed sunken landmass referred to in the ancient Tamil and Sanskrit Matsya Purana. It is said to have been located in the Indian Ocean, south of present-day Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of India.

According to the Matsya Purana, Manu was the king of Dravidadesa land in Kumari Kandam. There are scattered references in Sangam literature, such as Kalittokai 104, to how the sea took the land of the Pandiyan kings, after which they conquered new lands to replace those they had lost. There are also references to the rivers Pahruli and Kumari, that are said to have flowed in a now-submerged land. The Silappadhikaram, one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature written in first few centuries CE, states that the “cruel sea” took the Pandiyan land that lay between the rivers…