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Kundalakesi ( Kuṇṭalakēci, lit. "woman with curly hair"), also called Kuntalakeciviruttam, is a Tamil language Buddhist Epic poetry written by Nathakuthanaar, likely sometime in the 10th-century.Aiyangar 2004, p. 360 The epic is a story about love, marriage, getting tired with the married partner, murder and then discovering religion.
The Kundalakesi epic has partially survived into the modern age in fragments, such as in commentaries written centuries later. From these fragments, it appears to be a tragic love story about a Hindu or Jain girl of merchant caste named Kundalakesi who falls in love with Kalan – a Buddhist criminal on a death sentence. The girl's rich merchant father gets the criminal pardoned and freed, the girl marries him. Over time, their love fades and they start irritating each other. During an argument, Kundalakesi reminds him of his criminal past which angers Kalan. A few days later, he invites her to a hike up a hill. When they reach the top, he tells her that he will now kill her. The wife requests that he let circumambulate him – her husband – three times like a god, before her death. He agrees. When she is behind him, she pushes her husband over into the valley below and kills him. She feels remorse for killing the boy she once fell in love with and someone she had married. She meets teachers of various religious traditions, adopts Buddhism, renounces and becomes a nun, then achieves Nirvana. Sections of the story are very similar to the Buddhist Pali Therigatha legend.
The Kuntalakeci is one of Aim-perum-kappiyam ( lit. "five great kavyas", or The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature) according to the later Tamil literary tradition.Zvelebil 1992, pp. 70–73 with footnotes 123 to 125 The surviving stanza fragments of the epic are in kalitturai poetic meter. It was likely an epic drama-musical for Tamil Buddhist audience in and about the 10th-century. The work likely ridiculed Jainism and Hinduism, attracting commentaries and debate. Various Tamil scholars dated between 10th- and 16th-centuries have called the Buddhist epic as a work of tarukkavadam (polemics and controversy).
"Formerly in Tamil country an elder named Nathakuthanaar compiled a work in Tamil containing the story of Kundalakesi, for refuting heretical doctrines, adducing arguments for demolishing the views advanced by non-Buddhists."
An additional five have been recovered, but whether they were part of Kundalakesi has not been proven conclusively. The 19 verses recovered have been found in the commentaries for Tolkāppiyam, Veera Sozhiyam, Yapperungalam , Thakkayagaparani, Sivagnana Siddhiyar Parapakkam (Thirvorriyur Gnanaprakasar's commentary), the epic Neelakesi (Nilakeci) and the poem Vaisyapuranam. Nilakeci — one of the five lesser Tamil epics — was a Jainism religious work about the life of the female Jain monk of the same name, who was a rival preacher of the Buddhist protagonist of Kundalakesi. The Nilakeci was written as a Jain rebuttal to the Buddhist criticism of Jainism in Kundalakesi.
Some surviving fragments imply that Kundalakesi was a Jain girl who first defeated all the Hindu scholars with her arguments, but ultimately converted to Buddhism. In contrast, the Nilakeci extensively quotes portions of the Buddhist epic, calls it a provocation, and counterclaims that Nilakeci "vanquished Kuntalakeci in argument, taught her and finally won in argument with the Buddha himself". The surviving references to the Buddhist epic give different versions of the story. Kundalakesi is a Hindu girl in some versions, in some she converts to Buddhism before she kills Kalan, and the story details of the epic vary such as in the late Tamil text Vaiciyapuranam.
The recovered verses do not reveal the plot of the epic and are advisory in nature. The introductory and 15th verses contain references to Buddhism.zvelebil 1992, pp. 69-70K. Krishna Murthy (1987), p. 102Ramaswamy 2003, pp. 164-165 Yapperungalam, which also quotes the epic's Kadavul Vazhthu (lit. invocation to God) describes it as a tharkavadham — a book of controversy and polemics. Veera Sozhiyam's commentator Perunthevanar and the 14th century anthology Purathirattu both describe it as a akalakavi — a large poem.
The love fades, and one day, the sulking Kundalakesi reminds Kalan of his criminal past. This enrages the mercurial Kaalan. He plots to murder her and steal her jewels. He tricks her into visiting the summit of the nearby hill. Once they reach the summit, he announces his intention to kill her by pushing her off the hill. Kundalakesi is shocked and asks him to grant a final wish — she wishes to worship him, her husband, by going around him three times before she dies. He agrees and, when she gets behind him, Kundalakesi pushes him off the summit, killing him.
Kundalakesi feels disgust and remorse with what she did to Kalan. She learns about different religious traditions and converts to Buddhism. She renounces, becomes a nun and achieves nirvana.
The song "Neela Warala" by Sri Lankan musician W. D. Amaradeva mentions Kundalakesi repeatedly in the chorus.
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