the medieval commentator adiyarkunallar stated that the size of the land south of kanyakumari, lost to the sea was 700 "kavatam". the modern equivalent of kavatam is not known. in 1905, arasan shanmugham pillai wrote that this land amounted to thousands of miles. according to purnalingam pillai and suryanarayana sastri, the number was equivalent to 7000 miles. others, such as abraham pandither, aiyan aarithan, devaneyan and raghava aiyangar offered estimates ranging from 1,400 to 3,000 miles. according to u. v. swaminatha iyer, only the land amounting in area to only a few villages (equivalent to the tamil measure of two kurram) was lost. in 1903, suryanarayana sastri suggested that kumari kandam extended from the present-day kanyakumari in north to kerguelen islands in south, and from madagascar in the west to sunda islands in the east. in 1912, somasundara bharati wrote that the continent touched china, africa, australia and kanyakumari on four sides. in 1948, maraimalai adigal stated that the continent stretched as far as the south pole. somasundara bharati offered an estimate of 6000–7000 miles.