Netunceliyan I

Netunceliyan
Āriyappaṭai-kaṭanta Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ
Kannagi asking for justice in the court of Netunceliyan, a scene from Cilappatikaram
Pandyan Ruler
Successor	Pudappandiyan
Spouse	Kopperundevi
Issue	Pudappandiyan
House	Pandyan

Netunceliyan, was an early Pandya king. He is a character in Ilango Adigal's Cilappatikaram, one of the Five Great Epics in Tamil literature.

Literature

Netunceliyan appears in Cilappatikaram , one of the Five Great Epics in Tamil literature, which describes the trafic story of Kannagi and Kovalan. ^{[1] [2]} It is attributed to a Ilango Adigal, a Chera prince turned monk, and was probably composed between 2nd to 6th centuries CE. ^{[3] [4]}

The first part of Cilappatikāram describes the city of Puhar in the Chola Empire, where the pair of Kovalan and Kannagi reside. After Kovalan loses his wealth through his illicit relationship with the dancer Madhavi, he returns to Kannagi and the couple decide to move to Madurai in the Pandya Empire. The Pandyas are led by king Neduncheziyan and his wife Kopperundevi. ^[5]

When Kovalan attempts to sell one of the two anklets of Kannagi to raise money, the royal goldsmith, who had earlier stolen an anklet belonging to the queen Kopperundevi, finds the that anklets are similar, and falsely accuses Kovalan of stealing the queen’s anklet. Enraged by the act, the king Neduncheziyan orders Kovalan’s arrest and execution without a fair trial. ^[6] After Kovalan is executed, Kannagi appears in the royal court, trying to prove her husband’s innocence and demanding justice. She breaks open her remaining anklet to reveal that her anklet contained rubies whereas queen Kopperundevi's missing anklet contained pearls. When the king realised the truth and his mistake, he kills himself due to remorse. ^[7]

Archaeological evidence

Tamil-Brahmi inscription from Mangulam, dated to the era of Netunceliyan

According to Iravatham Mahadevan, the Tamil Brahmi inscriptions discovered at Mangulam, possibly mentions the Pandyan king Netunceliyan. ^{[8] [9]} He is titled as Āriyappaṭai-kaṭanta Neṭuñceḻiyaṉ (Netunceliyan who defeated the Aryans), signifiying his defeat of the Aryans. ^[10]

In popular culture

Year	Title	Language	Actor
1942	Kannagi	Tamil	Unidentified
1964	Poompuhar	Tamil	O. A. K. Thevar
1968	Kodungallooramma	Malayalam	Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair
2016	Paththini	Sinhala	Ravindra Randeniya

See also

• List of Sangam poets

References

1. Zvelebil 1973, p. 174–175.
2. Pollock 2003, p. 296–298.
3. Sastri 2002, p. 397.
4. Alain Danielou 1965, p. viii. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAlain_Danielou1965 (help)
5. Parthasarathy 1993, p. 73–90.
6. Dikshitar 1939, p. 217–221.
7. Dikshitar 1939, p. 247–251.
8. Mahadevan 2003, p. 43.
9. Umamaheshwari 2018, p. 43.
10. Kavitha, S. S. (19 September 2012). "About a secular past". The Hindu .

Bibliography

• Danielou, Alain (1965). Shilappadikaram (The Ankle Bracelet) by Iḷaṅkōvaṭikaḷ. New Directions Publishing. ISBN   978-0-8112-0001-1.
• Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra (1939). The Silappadikaram. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-9-390-03592-2.
• Mahadevan, Iravatham (2003). Early Tamil Epigraphy from the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. Harvard University Press. ISBN   978-0-674-01227-1.
• Parthasarathy, R. (1993). The Cilappatikaram of Ilanko Atikal: An Epic of South India. Columbia University Press. ISBN   978-0-231-07848-1.
• Parthasarathy, R (2004). The Cilappatikāram: The Tale of an Anklet (Iḷaṅkōvaṭikaḷ). Penguin Books. ISBN   978-0-14-303196-3.
• Pollock, Sheldon (2003). Literary cultures in history: reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. ISBN   0-520-22821-9.
• Sastri, Nilakanta (2002) [1955]. A History of South India (Reprinted ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-195-60686-7.
• Umamaheshwari, R. (2018). Reading History with the Tamil Jainas: A Study on Identity, Memory and Marginalisation. Springer Publishing. ISBN   978-81-322-3756-3.</ref>
• Zvelebil, Kamil (1973). The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India. Brill Publishers. ISBN   978-9-004-03591-1.