Is Kumari Kandam the forgotten Lemuria or the Atlantis?
Imagine a land mass spread across the current Indian ocean stretching all the way up to the Antarctica. Imagine stepping into a mystical civilization that was at its peak around 12,000 years ago, filled with towering palaces, splendid temples and spiritually advanced human beings. Imagine this vast landmass swallowed by the ocean and to be never discovered again. Is this the lost kingdom of Lemuria or Plato’s Atlantis called Kumari Kandam?
Now all of this cannot be true. The fact remains that these are still not accepted scientific theories. In order to become a theory it needs concrete archaeological evidence. In order to find evidence we need to dig or dive in this case. For a long time the city of Troy was just a fictional kingdom from the Iliad but it was later discovered in an archaeological dig as described here.
Archaeological dig in the middle of ocean is not only tough but close to impossible. We all know that humans have seen the night sky and conquered the space more than the blue oceans and its depths. The discovery of the Mariana trench was not only one lucky drop but a prolonged expedition by the British Royal Navy survey ship HMS Challenger. Considering such a humongous task and close to impossible chances of finding any wreck, it is but no surprise that we have not found anything till now but neither is it true and to be blindly believed that such things exists.
India is best placed to do research in this area considering our access to well, Indian ocean and the history of the Tamil people. The discovery of the suspected Dwaraka as mentioned in the Mahabharata lead to a considerable “I told you so” hand raising by many fundamentalists but with no further discovery being made it has remained a one time hit.
The study of the shore temples of Mahabalipuram and the related myth of the Seven Pagodas are connected to the history of Kumari Kandam.
These current studies by the National Institute of Oceanography look promising among others though not focusing on discovering KK it could end up accidentally doing so.
1. Geological and geophysical studies of coastal zone of India
2. Ocean Science Towards Forecasting Indian Marine Living Resource Potential.
What would we do if we discovered a sunken kingdom? Apart from the fundamentalists again going gaga over our history and scriptures, as any nation with a government and an organization we need to categorize, catalog and protect it.
Till this happens this is purely up to fiction to explore the possibilities.
