When the Sea Swallowed a City Whole

John Simpson indeed! I have asked Chowk editors to credit me as the author.
#3 sadna
Up until now it has been speculated that the destruction of these ports/coastal areas occurred due to erosion or silting up. Makes sense since we didn`t know anything about tidal waves in the indian ocean. Now there`s reason to reassess.
According to the epic Manimekalai, Chola king was grieving over the loss of his son and failed to put up the celebration for Indra. Manimekalai the goddess got angry and destroyed Puhar as punishment. This suggests a certain suddenness, a catastrophe. As for the period of these epics, the evidence is highly circumstantial and based on a chain of reasoning. So&so mentioned in this book, therefore this precedes him, etc., with the time of so&so itself is lost in the mists of time. According to some authors, Ilango & Sattanar (author of Manimekalai) were contemporaries. But the fact that Puhar was a thriving city according to Ilango and past its prime according to Sattanar suggests a chronological order to some others.

#2 MBZI
I don`t think science is the solution for every disaster. Global warming can be slowed down by exercising caution not by new technology. At any rate, adaptation of new technology again comes down to human factors.
There`s quite a bit of talk about a warning system for future Tsunamis. Given that we have very little history or cultural memory of Tsunamis, I`d think this would not be a very effective idea. To give an extreme example, we could deploy the best technology to plan against an asteroid impact. But it would be ineffective since we have no experience & no training.
I am told that right after the first waves hit, huge crowd of gawkers and concerned folk gathered at the beaches in TN. Clearly this was because they had no clue what was going on. If a second wave had hit, they probably would have kept away but no such thing happened (fortunately) and the possibility of something like this remains theoretical. Should another tidal wave strike again, you can expect gawkers to get back there again. Disasters are prevented only if they occur with a certain frequency and people can be conditioned to react. I am not sure technology is going to help here.

#1 Veeresh
Nagappattinam continued to be a source of smuggled goods until into the 90s. Easing of import restrictions put an end to the smuggling activity. You could get gillette blades, japanese cassette tapes and chinese Hero pens from walking into any of the tea stalls.

`Silappadigaram` seems to date from 2-3rd century AD?

Mahabalipuram was apparently once a thriving port city too and there is a flood story in Mahabalipuram too. The Hindu reported that in fisherman fable, the Mahabalipuram Shore temple( dating from 7th century Pallava?) was said to have six counterparts which are submerged.

Recently, remains of structures stretching over a large area were discovered underwater about a kilometer offshore from the Shore temple. The submerging could have been caused by a local coastline/sea level change of course and not a catastrophic event.

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Nagapattinam was my first Indian port as a cadet, way back in July 1975, onboard a cargo ship. Flew Bombay to Madras, metre gauge train from Egmore to Nagapattinam, and thence by rickshaw to the fishing jetty. Onwards by fishing boat to the anchorage and onboard the mv SATYA KAMAL, in with wheat from the US.

Spent a month there, and all I remember is working, slogging, as the juniormost cadet on board. However, we did manage to go out on the fishing boats a few times to the neighbouring towns of Karaikal and Velankani, if I remember the spellings correctly.

It was also the first port of call for the passenger ships on their way from Singapore and Kelang to Madras. There used to be a lot of private commerce (also called smuggling) going on. The onset of aviation, the evolution of Colombo as a trans-shipment port, and the growth of Tuticorin as well as Chennai put an end to those glory days.

Yes, there used to be a lot of very rich people in and around Nagapatinam in the `70s and `80s. Then it slowed down. And now, it is a coastal area, post tsunami waves.