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Most people are familiar with the story of Atlantis, the legendary sunken city as described by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. Till this day, opinion is still divided as to whether this story should be understood literally or taken merely as a morality tale. Further east in the subcontinent of India is a similar tale, though it probably is less well known compared to that of Atlantis. This is the ‘lost continent’ of Lemuria, frequently connected to the legend of Kumari Kandam by speakers of the Tamil language.
The term Lemuria has its origins in the latter part of the 19 th century. The English geologist Philip Sclater was puzzled by the presence of lemur fossils in Madagascar and India but not in mainland Africa and the Middle East. Thus, in his 1864 article entitled ‘The Mammals of Madagascar’, Sclater proposed that Madagascar and India were once part of a larger continent, and named this missing landmass ‘Lemuria’. Sclater’s theory was accepted by the scientific community of that period as the explanation of the way lemurs could have migrated from Madagascar to India or vice versa in ancient times. With the emergence of the modern concepts of continental drift and plate tectonics, however, Sclater’s proposition of a submerged continent was no longer tenable. Yet, the idea of a lost continent refused to die, and some still believe that Lemuria was an actual continent that existed in the past.
One such group is the Tamil nationalists. The term Kumari Kandam first appeared in the 15 th century Kanda Puranam, the Tamil version of the Skanda Puranam. Yet, stories about an ancient land submerged by the Indian Ocean have been recorded in many earlier Tamil literary works. According to the stories, there was a portion of land that was once ruled by the Pandiyan kings and was swallowed by the sea. When narratives about Lemuria arrived in colonial India, the country was going through a period when folklore was beginning to permeate historic knowledge as facts. As a result, Lemuria was quickly equated with Kumari Kandam.
The story of Kumari Kandam is not regarded as just a story, but seems to be laden with nationalistic sentiments. It has been claimed that the Pandiyan kings of Kumari Kandam were the rulers of the whole Indian continent, and that Tamil civilisation is the oldest civilisation in the world. When Kumari Kandam was submerged, its people spread across the world and founded various civilisations, hence the claim that the lost continent was also the cradle of human civilisation.
So, how much truth is there in the story of Kumari Kandam? According to researchers at India’s National Institute of Oceanography, the sea level was lower by 100 m about 14,500 years ago and by 60 m about 10,000 years ago. Hence, it is entirely possible that there was once a land bridge connecting the island of Sri Lanka to mainland India. As the rate of global warming increased between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago, the rising sea levels resulted in periodic flooding. This would have submerged prehistoric settlements that were located around the low-lying coastal areas of India and Sri Lanka. Stories of these catastrophic events may have been transmitted orally from one generation to another and finally written down as the story of Kumari Kandam.
One piece of evidence used to support the existence of Kumari Kandam is Adam’s Bridge (also called Rama’s Bridge), a chain of limestone shoals made up of sand, silt and small pebbles located in the Palk Strait extending 18 miles from mainland India to Sri Lanka. This strip of land was once believed to be a natural formation, however, others argue that images taken by a NASA satellite depict this land formation to be a long broken bridge under the ocean's surface.
The existence of a bridge in this location is also supported by another ancient legend. The Ramayana tells the tale of Sita, Rama’s wife, being held captive on the island of Lanka. Rama commissions a massive building project to construct a bridge to transport his army of Vanara (ape men) across the ocean to Lanka.
As with most so-called myths, it seems likely that there is at least some truth to the ancient Tamil legends of Kumari Kandam, but just how much, is yet to be determined.
“Lot of research were conducted by many european researchers”
- Few researchers State this was the place where the first Human came to birth.
- 30,000 years BC Pandians Ruled this region.
- It consisted of 49 Countries.
- Kumari Kandam had high resourceful Rivers named, Paleru and Kumari.
- Two Mountain regions named Kumari and Mani Mountains.
- The Largest economically developed Cities were Then Madurai and Kabalapuram.
- Pandiyans Ruled this entire region.
8. The First Three Tamil Sangam took place in this region.
9. Most of the Top Tamil Liturature were written in this region like “Purananooru, Kalarivezhi Agathiyam, Thollkapiyam, Agananooru, Naaladiyarr, Thirukural etc.. “
10. Because of a big Flood or Global warming during its Golden Period the Continent sunk.
There was many debates to prove it, Some stated this a fake hoax but few managed to prove :
this following content was taken from jaiRajkumar ( இரா இராச குமார்),’s answer on Kumari kandam’s Myth :
The Lemuria proved by the research team by Lewis Ashwal(geologist).
The lost continent (Lemuria-kumari kandam of Tamil world) which is the world's oldest place ever.
The Recent proof:http://www.wits.ac.za/news/lates...
WE URGE OUR GOVT SHOULD SUPPORT THIS PROJECT TO EXCAVATE LEMURIA
EVEN mr.ORSSIA BALU did many studies regard that existence of kumari kandam under the India ocean region on tip of the Tamil Nadu coast
Researched on the Kalinga-Tamil relationship was the beginning which became his passion for research into the Tamil history.
His present research area is ‘Culture through Geography.Going beyond the emotional approach to the existence of Lemuria, Balasubramani , in addition to the study of literary references, conducts experiments on the Tamil coast making use of the traditional knowledge of the coastal community.
He claims, which is important, that the traditional sailors and fishermen have a lot to contribute towards our knowledge of navigation , tsunamis and how transgression and regression in the Tamil Nadu coast had affected history, society and livelihoods.
WE HAVE MANY LITERATURE EVIDENCE ABOUT kumari kandam
In his view the Tamil language originated in "Lemuria" (இலெமூரியா Ilemūriyā), the cradle of civilisation and place of origin of language. He believed that evidence of Tamil's antiquity was being suppressed by Sanskritists.
Tevaneyap Pavanar's timeline for the evolution of mankind and Tamil is as follows:
- ca. 500,000 BC: origin of the human race,
- ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of "the Tamilian or Homo Dravida[4]",
- c. 200,000 to 100,000 BC, beginnings of Tamil
- c. 100,000 to 50,000 BC, growth and development of Tamil,
- 50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation
- 20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture on Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation
- 16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged
- 6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
- 3031 BC: A Chera prince wandering in the Solomon Islands saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Tamil Nadu.
- 1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
- 7th century BC: Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant Tamil grammar
In the 19th century, a section of the European and American scholars speculated the existence of a submerged continent called Lemuria, to explain geological and other similarities between Africa, Australia, India and Madagascar.
A section of Tamil revivalists adapted this theory, connecting it to the Pandyan Kingdom of lands lost to the ocean, as described in ancient Tamiland Sanskrit literature. Here is an instance of sanskrit literature about kumari kandam recorded in English:
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.
The Lemuria theory 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 the cradle of civilization to prove the antiquity of [Tamil language] and culture.
Multiple ancient and medieval Tamil and Sanskrit works contain legendary accounts of lands in South India being lost to the ocean.The earliest explicit discussion of a katalkol("seizure by ocean", possibly tsunami) of Pandyan land is found in a commentary on Iraiyanar Akapporul. This commentary, attributed to Nakkeerar, is dated to the later centuries of the 1st millennium CE. It mentions that the Pandyan kings, an early Tamil dynasty, established three literary academies (Sangams): the first Sangam flourished for 4,400 years in a city called Tenmaturai (South Madurai) attended by 549 poets (including Agastya) and presided over by gods like Shiva, Kubera and Murugan. The second Sangam lasted for 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 in Uttara(North) Madurai, where it is said to have lasted for a decade of years.
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 on Silappatikaram. The commentator Adiyarkunallar mentions that the lost land extended from Pahruli river in the north to the Kumari river in the South.
You can also watch Kandam (2016), a Tamil Canadian/Sri Lankan film directed by Pras Lingam. The film is based on the premise of the existence of the continent of Kumari Kandam and the prevalence of Tamil civilization in antediluvian times.
Kumari Kandam appeared in The Secret Saturdays episodes "The King of Kumari Kandam" and "The Atlas Pin". This version is a city on the back of a giant sea serpent with its inhabitants all fish people.
Kumari Kandam appeared on Season Two, Episode Three of the History Channel television show Ancient Aliens.
Changes in southern India
It is possible to demarcate the land lost to the sea in the south of India from postglacial inundation maps that indicate the significant changes in the coastline.
The author has prepared inundation maps on the basis of bathymetric contours and the sea-level curve for the central west coast to work out the configuration of the coastline south of India since the last Ice Age. This study shows that about 14,500 years ago the sea level was lower by approximately 100 m than the present sea level. The land between the present coast and the bathymetric contour of 100 m roughly was the land that was exposed during that time.
In other words, hypothetically, if a 100 m column of sea water were to be removed, the land that went under water would be exposed. At that time the present Gulf of Mannar was a landmass of 36,000 sq. km connecting Sri Lanka with peninsular India and the coast was wider by about 80 km to the east, south and west of present-day Cape Comorin exposing a triangular mass of 6,500 sq. km adjoining the Cape. The coastline was 25-35 km wider than the present near Cuddalore and about 25 km wider near Colombo.
Global warming
The increased rate of global warming between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago saw the sea level rise almost 50 m, inundating low-lying lands and covering a major part of the exposed continental shelf. About 10,000 years ago, the sea level was about 50 m lower than the present sea level. At that time, the land extended about 25 km south of the Cape and the coast was about 40 km broader than the present coastline along the east and the west, which exposed about 1,000 sq km of land near Cape Comorin. Rameswaram and Mannar were joined by land and the land that extended in the present-day Gulf of Mannar was a 2,500-sq km stretch marked by sedimentary formations and coral reefs.
AN INUNDATION MAP by S.C. Jayakaran. He prepared the map on the basis of bathymetric contours and the sea-level curve for the central west coast to work out the configuration of the coastline south of India since the last Ice Age. It shows that about 14,500 years ago the sea level was lower by about 100 m than the present. The land between the coast now and the bathymetric contour of 100 m was the land that was exposed then.
As the research of Rajiv Nigam indicated, sea levels continued to rise and reached the present level around 6,000 years ago. This is about the time Sri Lanka evolved as an island. Between 4,000 and 3,500 years ago, heavy rains, in addition to melting of snow, also contributed to the sea level rise. It rose by a couple of metres and fell to the present level about 2,000 years ago.
It is scientifically uncontested that the earliest Homo sapiens developed in Africa 100,000 to 200,000 years ago and migrated to Europe and Asia. Genetic evidence and fossil records of early human beings indicate that they came out of Africa as early as 100,000 to 60,000 years ago. Their descendants migrated to the Far East, probably along the coastal areas adjacent to the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal around the Indian peninsula, Sri Lanka and then north into China and south into Sumatra.
As the sea levels rose, resulting in periodic flooding and deluges, prehistoric settlements that were located in the low-lying coastal lands and the exposed continental shelf were inundated. The people who lived in the coastal area of the Indian peninsula and Sri Lanka and who escaped the deluges perpetuated the oral tradition of a lost land. It is my considered opinion that it is this development that gave rise to the legend of Kumari kandam.
References
Jayakaran, S. C., 2011`. The Lemuria Myth. [Online]
Available at: http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=archiveSearch&aid=20110422280809000&ais=08&avol=28
Mahalingam, N., 2010. Lemuria and Kumari Kandam. [Online]
Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/lemuria-and-kumari-kandam/article482101.ece
Parameswaran, N., 2005. Tamil civilisation - is it the oldest?. [Online]
Available at: http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=256
Wikipedia, 2014. Kumari Kandam. [Online]
Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari_Kandam
Wikipedia, 2014. Lemuria (continent). [Online]
Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemuria_(continent)
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/lost-continent-kumari-kandam-001941
Jayakaran S.C.; ‘Lost Land and the Myth of Kumari Kandam'; Indian Folklore Research Journal; Vol.1 No.4.; National Folklore Support Centre, 2004; pages 90-108.
Stephen Oppenheimer; ‘Out of Eden: The peopling of the World'; Constable and Robinson Ltd., London, 2003.
Scott Elliot W.; ‘The Lost Lemuria' (1904); Kessinger Publishing Company, Montana, U.S., 1997; paperback.
Subrahmanian, N.; ‘The Tamils, their History, Culture and Civilisation'; Institute of Asian Studies, 1996.
Sumathi Ramaswamy; ‘Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping the Lost Continent of Lemuria'; Representations 67; The Regents of the University of California, U.S., 1999.
Wishar S Cerve; ‘Lemuria – The Lost Continent of the Pacific' (1931); Supreme Grand Lodge of the Ancient & Mystical Order Rosae Crucis; published by the Grand Lodge of the English Language Jurisdiction, AMORC, Inc., 1997.
https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl2808/stories/20110422280809000.htm
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