Originally posted on Instagram 30th January 2022

Kundalakesi is one of the five great Tamil epics of the Sangam Age. Only 19 of its original 99 verses survive today; an additional five have surfaced, but it has not been conclusively proven that they belong to Kundalakesi.

It was likely composed between the 6th and 5th centuries BC, and its author was a Buddhist poet named Natakuptanar.

Scholars have pointed out that Kundalakesi was a Buddhist didactic text, which could have been a reason for its destruction by Buddhist antagonists.

The Story

Kundalakesi is the story of a young woman by the same name who was born into a merchant family in Puhar. She may have been a Jain girl – Jainism is an ancient Indian religion.

She sees and falls in love with a Buddhist thief named Kalan, and convinces her father to pay for Kalan’s release. The king agrees, and so Kundalakesi and Kalan are married.

The marriage begins happily, but it does not last, and one day Kundalakesi reminds Kalan of his criminal past. Enraged, he plots to murder her and steal her jewels.

Kalan tricks Kundalakesi into going with him up to the summit of a nearby peak, then reveals that he intends to push her from it.

Thinking quickly, Kundalakesi asks to perform a final act of worship for Kalan, and he agrees. She pretends to walk around him three times, but when she gets behind him, she is the one who pushes him.

Despite intending to kill him, Kundalakesi still feels disgust and remorse for what she did. She converts to Buddhism and becomes a nun, later achieving Nirvana.

The fire of lust that grabs one’s thought
and sizzles like a flame in his heart –
trying to douse it by physical union
instead of cold waters of renunciation
is like trying to dam the waters of a flood
with another flood, who can do that?

‘Kundalakesi’ (6)

See also:

• Blog Post: The Morrígan
• Blog Post: Nüwa
• Bitesize History: Women in Mythology Summary
• Reading Recs