[S.T.D.]

Dear Thiru Podolangai,

Thanks for your following informations which I will be making use of in my thread "with your permission" while editing same.

"....In relation to your list of temples in Kerala, there's also a Kannagi temple in Kollam (Vadakkenadayil Bhagavathi). The current temple is rather new - only around a couple of decades old - but it's said to have been built on the site of a much older temple which was washed away. The idol, according to the locals, was originally installed by the Cholas in Pumpuhar, and was brought to the Chera kingdom when the sea took Pumpuhar. That's their legend, anyway.

In villages around Madurai, you used to be able to find people who could tell you a lot of legends about Kannagi connected with places around Madurai - in their spoken Tamil, they called Kovalan "Kovalom" and Kannagi "Karnagi" or "Karni". There's a place called "Kovalompottal" where they believe Kovalan was killed. Many used to identify her with Meenakshi. I should say that my knowledge of this is indirect - my grandfather heard all this many years ago when he used to travel to rural areas to train mill workers, and he's shown me some of these places. When I was in the area a few years ago, I tried to find out more, but didn't have much luck. It is entirely possible that young people from those areas no longer learn these legends. Folk religion in central and southern Tamil Nadu has been quite heavily Sanskritised in the past few decades......"

Again my sincere thanks to you.