The truth behind the continent of the “Kumari Kandam”. India is a country of many bizarre
and incredible things. From one of the oldest civilizations in the world to the
most powerful kingdoms; its history is brimmed with rich culture and scientific
inventions which have shaped the world as we know it. However, there are still
some mysteries revolving around our country which we are digging for answers
for even in modern times. India, as we see it today, was not always like this.
A billion years ago, its surface looked quite different, and not just India but
the whole world looked different. Most of the countries we know today did not
even exist, instead, they were all combined in a landmass called Pangaea.
Around 200 million years ago, there was a moment in the tectonic plates that
created continental drifts and broke the Pangaea into two new continents,
Laurasia and Gondwanaland. This in result let to the formation of mountains,
submerged lands, volcano eruption, earthquakes, and tsunamis with this, many
life forms and landmasses came into existence and vanished over some time.
Today, we will get some knowledge about one such landmass which lost its presence in the Indian Ocean. In ancient times since Plato gave the theory of the lost city of Atlantis, scholars from different countries started to believe that there are still some undiscovered cities similar to Atlantis. As a result, several theories and discoveries took place to claim the lost cities and nations.
In the 15th century, some Tamil scholars revealed
that a whole continent known as “Kumari Kandam”
or “Lemuria” was
submerged in the Indian Ocean due to the rising sea levels after the last ice
age ended. The mythical continent is said to have existed in the South of
Modern-Day India and is located below the Indian Ocean. Tamil people consider “Kumari Kandam” as their lost home
continent. According to them, the now-drowned “Kumari Kandam”
was ruled by Pandiyan Kings for over 10,000 years; making it the oldest
civilization on the planet. At that time the land was divided into 49 Nadu
or territories: thus are Seven Coconut Territories, Seven Madurai Territories,
Seven Old Sandy Territories, Seven New Sandy Territories, Seven Mountains
Territories, Seven Eastern Coastal Territories, And Seven Dwarf-Palm
Territories; but when the continent started drowning due to rise in sea
level the Tamil of this continent migrated to other parts of Africa, India, and
Sri Lanka and mixed with other groups, leading to the formation of new races,
languages, and civilization. This is how the Tamilians claimed entire humanity
is descended from the inhabitants of “Kumari Kandam”.
According to their belief, it is the cradle of
civilization, the place where everything started. However, the word “Kumari Kandam” was first mentioned in a 15t-century version of the ‘Skanda Purana’- the largest ‘Mahapurana’ which was written by Kachiappa Sivacharaya.
It is described as the kingdom of the earth in the ‘Andakosappadalam’ section of ‘Kanda Puranam’.
In the 19th century European geologist Philip
Lutely Sclater came up with a new term for “Kumari Kandam”. He called it “Lemuria” as a way to explain the migration of Madagascar
Lemurs to India. In his 'Theory of a Landmass', he said the continent
was extended from Africa to Asia agreeing to the Tamil nationalist belief but
all these theories and research, do they have any truth in them, or they are
just a myth?
According to researchers at India's National
Institute Of Oceanography about 14, 500 years ago, the sea level was lower by
100 meters and about 10, 000 years ago it was 60 meters low. This study
strongly suggests that there was once a land bridge connecting the island of
Sri Lanka to mainland India; one piece of evidence can be found in the
contemporary times which support the existence of “Kumari Kandam”, is 1.7 million-year-old artificial Adam's bridge in the Palk Strait,
in the Indian Ocean also known as ‘Rama's Bridge’
but this lone evidence is not enough to prove the existence of such a
civilization for years, many researchers and geologist have looked for answers
and proof behind the lost continent, but apart from its mention in Hindu
scriptures, no one could prove anything on a larger scale.
However, in the future, if anything related to this
vast civilization is proven, it would mean that the treasure of our knowledge
is deeply rooted in the depths of the sea and there is so much we still don't
know about our planet. So this was the mysterious tale of the great “Kumari Kandam”.
I hope you will enjoy reading this blog. If you
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