The Lost Continent of Kumari Kandam.
There had been many legendary cities that today’s world has lost in time. Some of those were the city of Atlantis, and the city of Dwaraka that
is mentioned in Mahabharata. But out of all these, there existed one
huge land mass to the south of today’s Indian peninsula extending from
Kanyakumari in the north, and its sides touching as far to the west as
Madagascar and as far to the east as Australia. This huge continent of
the Tamil people was called Kumari Kandam or the Lemuria continent that was swallowed by the seas, and eventually lost forever.
Hundreds
of thousand years ago, continents started drifting, and different
continents were formed. And after a much long time, the earliest human
beings were born on the earth about 400,000 years ago. During the end of
the last Ice age, earth’s temperature started rising, large icy masses
and glaciers started melting, and thus sea levels started rising. During
this period, 12000 years ago, India's Dravidian peninsula was swallowed
by the ever rising seas. Various oceanographic researches have shown
that the sea level in the Indian peninsula has risen by 100 meters
within the past 14,500 years. There had been three major episodes of
sea level fluctuations resulting in the submergence of the Kumari
continent which existed to the south of Kanya Kumari (About 14,500 years ago, Sri Lanka was connected with Peninsular India!)
The earliest civilization that we know of today is the Sumerian civilization established in Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) around 4000 BC. After this were the Egyptian civilization, and then the Indus valley civilization. But the Tamil civilization
around Kumari Kandam had been much earlier than this, which would put
it to the first in the time scale of civilization of mankind. What is
even more interesting is that, many world-renowned researchers also
claim to have deciphered the Indus script to be Tamil!
As per Nakkirar’s Iraiyanaar Akaporul the three Tamil Sangams (Academies of Tamil poets) functioned for 9990 odd years!
As per Nakkirar’s Iraiyanaar Akaporul the three Tamil Sangams (Academies of Tamil poets) functioned for 9990 odd years!
However,
very sadly, all that is extant today is the Tamil literature works from
the third Sangam. Everything else is lost in the sea, and in time; the
people of the civilization were swallowed by the seas. It’s a tragedy of
a huge magnitude. The quality of life of the ancient Tamils in Kumari
Kandam should have been extraordinarily sublime". As I got myself submerged into the poignant historical introduction of the magnificent lost continent, the 3D show suddenly went off, and the street-zoomer stopped to a sudden halt. An announcement followed: “However,
fortunately, some significant parts of the Kumari Kandam have been
preserved and restored, thanks to technological advancements, and most
importantly because of the vision, perseverance and passion of some
individuals- a trip to the magnificent world of Kumari Kandam is
possible today! Please follow the signs and walk towards the front.”
