01The city of the Sangam poets
The Pattinappalai, a Sangam poem in praise of Karikala Chola, describes Puhar in detail: the customs house stamping goods with the tiger emblem, horses landed from overseas, pepper from the hills, gems and pearls, the streets of the Yavana merchants, and the two quarters of the city, Maruvurpakkam by the sea and Pattinappakkam inland. Ilango Adigal’s Silappatikaram opens here, with the wedding of the merchant’s son Kovalan and Kannagi and the great Indra festival of the city. The sequel Manimekalai tells that because a king neglected that festival, the goddess Manimekala let the sea overwhelm Puhar.
02On the shore and under the sea
The Archaeological Survey of India dug at Kilaiyur and Vanagiri near Poompuhar in the 1960s and found a brick wharf and a water inlet of the early centuries BCE. The National Institute of Oceanography explored the sea floor off the coast in the 1980s and 1990s and reported brick and stone structures at shallow depths. Today Poompuhar is a fishing village with a lighthouse and the Silappathikaram Art Gallery, built by the Tamil Nadu government in 1973, whose panels tell Kannagi’s story. The Pallavaneswaram temple nearby is sung in the Tevaram.
The life of this place
- Sangam agePuhar flourishes as the Chola port; Karikala’s reign is praised in the Pattinappalai.
- 1960sASI excavations at Kilaiyur and Vanagiri uncover a brick wharf.
- 1973The Silappathikaram Art Gallery is built at Poompuhar.
