I would totally agree with SPS regarding the justification of Kannagi
Halving heard the whole silambu for three weeks in my tamil class when I was in the eighth standard I know the impact of it...
As youngsters we decided to do a skit on Silambu so change scene Kannagi wears jeans gifts a rolex to kovalan etc and it was funny infact ...but our Tamil teacher was so upset that we had insulted a great epic...the next three weeks he told us the whole strory with the original version and said this is the greatness of the epic....
Kovalan going astray only affected his family...It was the norm of the times poligamy and all infact Nallathangal took her husband to the mistress house But a king making a judgement had far reaching outcomes and thats what she criticised....a system that allowed that to happen ....thats what she punished....and she had the power so she was able to command the gods and burn the city....she did spare he infants inavlids etc.
It also spaeks of the richness of the ancien tamil traders because her silambu was more precious than the pandya queens....