To know more about please read the Foreward in SILAPATHIGARAM by Writer Sujatha ..
He has done some indepth study and outlined certain gray areas.
There are stories of Sadukka Bootham talking and things like that..
Most of them considered as Idaicherugals..
Moving out of that,
Primarily it is postulated that ::
There was a Kovalan (Merchant ) in Puhar ( Early Chozha Capital) married to Kannagi in whose life Madhavi came in, gave birth to Manimegalai, and Kovalan separated from her, took Kannagi to Madurai where injustice was done to Him Kannagai revolted, King sacrified his life and Queen followed suit.. set Madurai on fire Reached Chera .. where she was considered Goddess ! And people saw her getting into a sky-ship to reach Heavens..
Poompuhar was Tsunami Hit Centuries back as there are confirmations by researchers.
Merchant community from the Seashore moved closer to Madurai and created a settlement Chettinadu ..
Prior to that Epics were related to Gods and Godliness..
Silambu and Megalai became to be known as COMMONMAN (CITIZEN) based epic...
Pls go through Archives.. One student has Ph D in tracing the route of Kovilan - Kannagi from Puhar to Madurai !