Ilangovadigal

Poet traditionally named as the author
of the Tamil epic poem Shilappadigaram
(“The Jeweled Anklet”). The poem highlights several themes important to
Hindu culture, particularly the need for
kings to be righteous in their judgments,
and the power gained by a wife through
devotion to her husband.
The main characters in the poem are
a young couple, Kannaki and Kovalan.
When Kovalan is executed because of a
tragic misunderstanding, his wife
Kannaki pronounces a curse on the city
of Madurai, which causes many of
the citizens to die before Kannaki
retracts it at the behest of Madurai’s
patron goddess.
Ilangovadigal is believed to have
lived in the first or second century C.E., a
date that makes his authorship improbable, since the poem was probably written several centuries later.