Eric Alagan

Song of the Ankle Rings Eric Alagan

Song of the Ankle Rings is a literary novel based on Silapathikaram, an ancient Tamil classic of a chaste woman, Kannagi, immortalised in statues and temples in India and Sri Lanka.

Kannagi, born in the Chola Kingdom during the glorious age of the Cheran, Cholan, and Pandyan renowned for their just rule, and when men were honourable and women virtuous, marries Kovalan, scion of a merchant prince.

Societal norms smother Kannagi's verve. She miscarries several times and, beneath her calm, struggles with private demons. Her life shatters when Kovalan abandons her and consorts with Madhavi, an accomplished dancer but also a budding feminist.

Madhavi questions Kovalan's morals and infuriates him. But realising his errors, he returns as a pauper to Kannagi, who takes him back and gives him her ankle rings to rebuild his wealth.

They travel to the Pandyan Kingdom. The Pandyans arrest him for stealing the queen's ankle ring and he faces the executioner's blade.

An outraged Kannagi crosses her threshold unescorted, an unheard-of conduct by a chaste woman. But she is all alone in a foreign land, has to get past the palace guards, and confront their upright king.

Kannagi races to Kovalan's rescue to fulfil her destiny, not knowing whether she will be late for his salvation or early for her vengeance.

Adapted for the modern reader and written in the first person, from Kannagi's and Kovalan's points of view, Song of the Ankle Rings hints at the patriarchal (and polygynous) norms of the city dwellers and the matriarchal (polyandrous and often ignored) practices of the ancient hill tribes.

Song of the Ankle Rings also addresses two glaring anomalies in the original, Silapathikaram:

How did two craftsmen living in two kingdoms fabricate two sets of identical ankle rings; one for a king and another for a merchant? The anklets were the central article in the story. Was this a plot hole overlooked by the original author?

Why did the Pandyan king, renowned for his just rule, sentence Kovalan to death without so much as an investigation? What compelled him to act rashly and out of character? The original version offers no hints.

Song of the Ankle Rings has a plotline that bears scrutiny and portrays characters with warts and all. The realism in the novel might not sit well with all readers; and especially those who are familiar with and expect an English translation of the original version. This is not a translation, but an adaptation.

"You write well as a woman." - Jane Stansfeld, Texas, USA (published author)