kumari kandam is theorized as an isolated (both temporally and geographically) land mass. geographically, it was located in the indian ocean. temporally, it was a very ancient civilization. many tamil writers do not assign any date to the submergence of kumari kandam, resorting to phrases like "once upon a time" or "several thousands of years ago". those who do, vary greatly, ranging from 30,000 bce to the 3rd century bce. several other writers state that the land was progressively lost to the sea over a period of thousands of years. in 1991, r. mathivanan, then chief editor of the tamil etymological dictionary project of the government of tamil nadu, claimed that the kumari kandam civilization flourished around 50,000 bce, and the continent submerged around 16,000 bce. this theory was based on the methodology recommended by his teacher devaneya pavanar.