சீவக சிந்தாமணி
Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi — The Fabulous Gem
Tiruṭakkaṭēvar · c. early 10th century CE · மாகாவியம் — The Great Epics
The third of the five great Tamil epics — and the most exuberant. Cīvakaṉ is the Tamil literary tradition's supreme portrait of the perfected worldly hero: warrior beyond compare, musician whose playing makes heaven weep, physician who cures the incurable, scholar who masters all learning, lover who wins the heart of every woman he meets. In thirteen cantos named for the women he marries, he travels the known world, reclaims his lost kingdom, and rules it as a perfect king.
Then he renounces everything.
Also called Maṇa Nūl — the Book of Marriages. Written in the viruttam metre that Tiruṭakkaṭēvar introduced to Tamil literature, and which Kambar would use a century later for his great Rāmāyaṇam. The most technically brilliant, most sensuously alive, and — in its final quiet — most devastating of the epics.
The just king Caccantan of Ēmāntaka is overthrown and killed by his treacherous minister Kaṭṭiyaṅkaraṉ. His pregnant queen Vicayai escapes in a flying peacock-vehicle, gives birth to a son at a cremation ground, entrusts him to the merchant Kantukkaṭan, and becomes a Jain nun. The boy is named Cīvakaṉ — the living one.
Cīvakaṉ grows up extraordinary in every way. When he learns his origin, a Jain sage counsels him to wait one year before seeking revenge. During that year he travels across kingdoms — repelling bandits, winning music contests, breaking magical curses, rescuing serpent-bitten women, performing austerities, fighting warrior-princesses. Each adventure ends in marriage. Seven wives by year's end.
He defeats Kaṭṭiyaṅkaraṉ, reclaims his kingdom, rules as a perfect king with eight queens and many sons. Then, one by one, his wives and sons die. He sees impermanence clearly. The Jain sage returns. Cīvakaṉ lays down his crown, his jewels, and his life in the world — and abides in liberation.