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By SI Blog reader Racer44
(Parts 1 to 3)

(For SI readers Boopalanj and Shadowfax_Arbit who first mentioned this tour de force)

Note to SI Readers: I have used the word “Sozha” which I have verified with scholars as being the phonetically correct spelling, as opposed to “Chola”.

Caveat: Before delving into the review of Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki, I would like to acknowledge that my knowledge of other similar historical Tamil fiction novels is limited, having had the good fortune of reading only two more works, also of Kalki, Parthiban Kanavu and Sivagamiyin Sabadham (those too a fairly long time back). Readers should, therefore, forgive me for not including references to what, I hear, are works of similar magnitude such as Sandilyan’s Kadal Pura series and Yavana Rani.

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Set in the latter half of 968 A.D and beginning in the month of Aadi (which corresponds roughly to July-August), Ponniyin Selvan is a semi-fictional account of the tumultuous period that culminated in the simultaneously orchestrated assassination attempts on the lives of the then Sozha Emperor Sundara Sozhar and his two sons, the anointed heir to the throne Adithya Karikaalan and his younger brother, Arunmozhi Varman (whose sobriquet forms the title of the epic and who would go on to acquire great glory, take the Sozha empire to dizzy heights and forever etch his name in the annals of history as the Great Rajaraja Sozhan).

From the very outset, Kalki chooses not to follow the oft-tread path, by centering his saga, not around any of these aristocratic men, whose own heroic deeds would easily fill a thousand pages, but around a little-known bold, quick-thinking young man, our protagonist Vallavaraiyan Vandhiyathevan, who happens to be the last remaining descendant of the great Vaanar kulam (clan) who, in their glory days, controlled large swathes of the peninsula and cast terror into the hearts of the Sozhas, Cheras and Pandiyas, his father’s generation having been vanquished, ironically, by the very Sozhas to whom he now swore allegiance.

In fact, a poem composed about a Vaanar king goes:

En kavigai, en sivigai
En kavasam, en duvasam
En kariyeedhu en pariyeedhu
enbare – pankavala
maavendhan vaanan
varisaipparisu petra
paavendharai, vendhar
paarthu

The poem is an amusing account of how even great kings (Vendhar) had to wait in line to seek an audience with the Vaanar Emperor as they had been preceded by great poets (PaaVendhar) who had already gone into the royal palace. As the kings wait patiently, they watch in a mixture of awe, shock and envy as the tributes they have brought for the Vaanar Emperor, such as jewel-encrusted shields, prize horses and elephants and expensive palanquins are generously handed out by the Vaanar Emperor to the poets with no heed to the expensive nature of these gifts. The poem exemplifies the boundless munificence and large-heartedness of the once-renowned Vaanar kulam.

Having earned the confidence and friendship of the Crown Prince Adithya Karikaalan while serving under him in the Northern Division of the Sozha Army, Vandhiyathevan is entrusted by Karikaalan to deliver two confidential letters, one each to his father, the Emperor who lies bed-ridden at his fort in the Sozha capitol of Thanjavur, rendered unable to walk by a debilitating illness that has its roots in a troubled past, and his sister, the lovely Kundhavai Devi living in Pazhayaarai, once capitol and now home to the ladies of the royalty.

The story thus begins with Vandhiyathevan aiming to rest for the night at the waystation of Kadambur, home to the minor kingdom (one among several in the Sozha Empire) of the Sambuvarayars, whose prince Kandhamaran is a close friend of his. Vandhiyathevan’s curiosity is piqued when he discovers that, on the very night of his stay at Kadambur, the Sambuvarayars will also be playing host to a coterie of minor rulers and chieftains from around the Empire, gathering for a clandestine rendezvous convened by one of the most powerful men in the Empire, the Revenues and Foodgrains Minister, Periya Pazhuvettarayar (Elder Pazhuvettarayar). Circumstances arise that cause him to stumble upon their meeting, and, in a life-changing decision, he decides to spy upon the assembly.

In an atmosphere charged with growing resentment against the two princes (for the elder’s alleged vanity and indolence at the northern front and the younger one’s insistence on shipping foodgrains from home to feed the soldiers fighting under his command in Sri Lanka), and pent-up frustration against an Emperor seen as relying too much on the advice of his daughter and aunt on critical issues of governance, the members of the secret conference soon decide to take matters in their own hands and thus, the seeds of a conspiracy take root, whose stated purpose is to install on the throne the cousin of the present Emperor, Madhuranthakan, once the Emperor, whose demise is said to be imminent, passes away. Vandhiyathevan also discovers, to his mounting dismay, that several previous communications to the Emperor have been intercepted by the Commander of the Thanjavur Fort, Chinna Pazhuvettarayar (the Younger Pazhuvettarayar), and prevented from reaching His Highness.

Kalki’s story-telling skills come to the fore in this segment, as he conjures up the scene in front of our eyes in prose that is, at once pithy and yet, evocative.

Sample this:

“Keezhe kurugalaana mutram ondril, moondru pakkamum nedunchuvargal soozhndhirunda idathil pathu pannirendu paer utkarnthirundhargal. Paadhi madhiyin velichathai nedunchuvargal maraithana. Aanaal oru suvaril padhithirundha irumbu agal vilakkil erindha deepam konjam velicham thandhadhu.

Much like a Lion stalking its prey from behind the long grasses of the savanna, Kalki criss-crosses between the cover of Vandhiyathevan’s feverish thought process and the open space of the narrow courtyard beneath him whose occupants are discussing the fate of an Empire he has sworn to guard with his life. Continue reading »