Kannaki confronts the King of Madurai over his unjust execution of Kovalan

The Life of Kannaki:
Grief and Fury

When Kannaki heard the sad news that her husband had been executed on the orders of the king, in the most gruesome manner although her husband was innocent of the charge, she rushed to the king's palace and appeared before him.

Furious, she cursed the king by tearing her left breast and dashed it on the ground. Uttering words over her perdition, she invoked the gods to punish the king for this cruel act that he had committed without proper investigation.

The story says that after the curse, the palace rose in flames consuming everything by the roaring tongues of fire, including the king himself. The heart-broken Kannaki had, thereafter, left Puhur for the Chera kingdom where she had died and become a goddess.