kAkandi, a town

[N. Ganesan]

I am interested in learning about the place, kAkandi/kAkaMdI.
According to the Buddhist epic, maNimEkalai, "kAkanti" is
the name of the port-town where the mouth of the river, kAveri
is located. Also, there are 10th-11th century Chola inscriptions
in another place, kAkanti north of Madras. Near SriharikOTTa,
an ISRO center. The pANDurangesvarar temple here has an inscription,
(for example):"kaTalkoNTa pavattirik kOTTak kAkanti"
("kAkanti, in the county of Pavattiri which was destroyed by the
sea").  Pavattiri is mentioned in sangam works(akanAnURu 340). Tamil
scholars tell that pavattiri/pauvattiri refers to seafaring. I will
check if J. Fillozat, "PaaNDaraGga-PaaNDuraGga" in The Journal of
Oriental  Research, Madras, XXIV-XXV, 1973, p. 31-32. (Or, is it only
about Shiva's dance??) talks about this kAkanti which goes nowadays
by the name pANDurangam. After the Vijayanagar empire's days, the
British first settled in this kAkanti, before moving onto Madras.

Interestingly, there is an inscription engraved
on a railing of the south-eastern quadrant of the Bharhut
stupa. It reads "kAkaMdiya somAya bhichhuniya dAnaM",
(Inscription no. A37, Bharhut inscriptions, Ed. by
H. Luders, Revided by E. Waldschmidt and M.A. Mahindale,
ASI, 1963). This railing is preserved in the Indian
museum, Calcutta. I. Mahadevan, (Identification of KAkaMdi in
Bharhut inscriptions, p. 145-148, G. John Samuel (ed.), Buddhism
in Tamil nadu: Collected papers, 1998, Chennai: Inst. of Asian
studies), identifies the kAkandi mentioned in Bharhut as
KaveripaTTinam based on MaNimEkalai references.

On p.146, I. Mahadevan writes:
"The KA"sikA on Panini (iv,2, 123)cites the name as that of
a place in the east, quoting the derivation KAkandaka, inhabitant
of KAkandI. In paramattha jotikaa, SAvatthi ("SrAvastI) is said
to have originally been the residence of the RSi Savattha,
just as Kosambi was the abode of Kusumba and KAkandI that of
Kakanda. (yathaa kusubassa nivAso kosambI, kakandassa kAkandI). [6]
Hulzsch has referred to the mention of KAkandI in Jaina
literature (paTTAvalI of Kharatavagachha). [7] Luders has also
cited recent references to KAkandI by earlier scholars. [8]

According to PAia Sadda MahaNNavo (Prakrit-Hindi dictionary,
PTS, Varanasi, 1963), KAkandI (variously spelt Ka-iMdI or
KaagaMdI in the sources listed here) was the name of a town
(nagari). However the gloss 'in Bihar' seems to have been
added by the compilers of the dictionary as the exact location
of the place (except that it was 'in the east'), has not been
mentioned in the Sanskrit and Prakrit works.

It appears to me that the failure to identify kAkandI is due to
the fact that the search was confined to Sanskrit and Prakrit
as the references cited above would show. Scholars familiar
with early tamil literature should have no difficulty in
identifying kAkandI with KaverippUmpattinam (PukAr) ..."

My question: Does the wide occurence of kAkandi in North
Indian literature point to any city in the Northeast India?
Is it a port town? Apart from the two S. Indian places
cited here.

Many thanks for any info, references, pointers on Kaakandi,
N. Ganesan


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