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Ilango Adigal (a title, literally "prince ascetic", fl. c. 4th-6th century CE) was a Jainism monk, belonging to the Chera Dynasty, from the city of Vanchi. He is traditionally credited as the author of the epic poem Cilappatikaram, one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature.
In the patikam (the prologue) to the poem, Ilango Adigal identifies himself as the brother of the Chera dynasty Senguttuvan (c. late 2nd century CE). However, it is generally assumed that the author was a member of the Chera royal family who lived much later than Cenkuttuvan and composed the poem based on a reliable version of the historical tradition concerning Cenkuttuvan and Kannaki.
According to the text, Ilango Adigal was a Chera prince ("Kudakko Ceral Ilanko"). He was the younger son of the Chera dynasty king "Imayavarampan" Ceralatan and Conai/Nalconai of the Chola dynasty. His elder brother was Senguttuvan, the future warrior-king from the Chera family.
Ilango is said to have renounced royal life after a soothsayer informed the Chera court that the younger prince was destined to succeed his father. To avoid this fate, he chose the path of asceticism and became a Jain monk, residing in a monastery called "Kunavayirkottam", located outside the Chera capital of Vanchi.
It was likely another poet, Chathanar — a friend of Ilango — who discussed the legend of Kannaki with him and inspired the creation of the epic poem. In several parts of Cilappatikaram, the main characters are shown encountering a Jaina monk or nun.
Scholar Kamil Zvelebil suggested that the Ilango Adigal background and his connection to Cenkuttuvan could be a product of "poetic fantasy", possibly introduced by a later member of the Chera dynasty (in the 5th or 6th century CE), reflecting on events from the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Zvelebil, however, expanded on this by stating: The author Ilango appears as a character in the final canto of the poem (lines 155–178), where the phrase "I also went in ..." is used. Scholars interpret this "I" as referring to Ilango Adigal himself.
According to Zvelebil, the background was likely added by Ilango Adigal to ensure that he remained part of the collective memory within the epic he composed. Zvelebil suggests that Adigal was probably a Jain scholar who lived several centuries later, and that his epic "cannot have been composed before the 5th or 6th century AD".
R. Parthasarathy, another scholar, suggests that Ilango Adigal was likely neither a prince nor connected to the Chera dynasty. Instead, he believes that these references were added to elevate the status of the text, secure royal patronage, and play a key role in the institutionalization of the worship of the goddess Pattini and her temples in the Tamil country (modern Kerala and Tamil Nadu) as described in the poem.
Cilappatikaram (Canto 30, lines 155-164) states that the poet Ilango Adigal attended the consecration of the Pattini by Chera king Cenkuttuvan, at the Chera city of Vanchi, in the presence of Gajabahu, the king of Sri Lanka. The Gajabahu mentioned in the text is identified with the historical ruler of Sri Lanka bearing the same name (c. 173-95 CE). This identification has led to the proposal that Ilango Adigal lived during the same period as the historical Gajabahu, in early historic south India.
However, scholars such as Obeyesekere consider the epic's references to Gajabahu and the kinship between Ilango Adigal and Cenkuttuvan to be "ahistorical", suggesting that these portions were likely late interpolations into the poem. However, it is now widely recognized that additional evidence generally supports the Gajabahu chronology.
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