MOTHER KALI OF KODUNGALLUR

Emerging out from the court she tore off her left breast and threw it in the streets fox total annihilation. She then appeared more fierce than Bhadrakali, fuming with rage and fluttering in uncontrollable emotion. Leaving the burning, Madurai behind, she reached Chenkunnu in distant Kerala and committed self immolation to join her departed Lord in heaven. 

The reigning king Senguttuvan considering her as the incarnation of Mother Kali decided to erect a fitting memorial with all due publicity. Being a king famous for his theistic leanings, he made a beautiful image of Kannaki from a superior stone brought by himself from the; Himalayas on his successful return from the conquest of the North, and installed it in the temple. He raised Kannaki to the level of divinity and praised her as the kodungallur Amma and the guardian deity of the Chera, worthy of eternal soulful adoration. His deification reached finale with the consecration of her image with unusual pomp and splendour, attended by many outstanding kings and monarchs including the reigning dignitaries like the King of Ceylon, Gajabahu. 

And treasuring up her material remains in a secret chamber in the garbhagriha of MOTHER Kali. A befitting honour! And a memorable memorial!! By honoring that immaculate chaste Sati, he honoured his well-nurtured culture, so is honoured by the future generations. His eldest brother Ilango Adigal immortalised this remarkably divine Kannaki Kovalan romance in his celebrated work Silappadikaram, which is as popular as the epics of our Punya Bharat. This epic rightly establishes that chastity was not monopolized by the Vedic women, nor is it a mirage. Ilango Adigal immoralised himself with this imperishably glorious work too. Are not pen and book superior to the spirit and matter?

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