246. Ponniyin Selvan

 

This is a Tamil book that was published in 1955, comprising 5 volumes and stretching to about 2210 pages in all.  Prior to this, from 29^th October 1950 to 16^th May 1954, the story was serialized in the weekly edition of the Kalki magazine, a staggering 5-year period😊!!  The author being the editor of the magazine, Kalki Krishnamurthy.  It seems that there used to be a mad rush at all the magazine stores in Tamil Nadu to get the weekly copy and read the next chapter of the story!  The book tells the story of early days of Arulmozhivarman, who later became the great Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I (947 CE – 1014 CE). Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information for it. Ponniyin Selvan is widely considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written in Tamil literature.  The craze for the series which was published weekly was such that it elevated the magazine circulation to reach a staggering figure of 71,366 copies – no mean achievement in a newly independent India. Even today, the novel has a cult following and fan base among people of all generations. The book continues to be admired and garner critical acclaim for its tightly woven plot, vivid narration, the wit of the dialogue, and the way in which the power struggle and intrigues of the Chola empire were depicted. (source – Wikipedia)

A brief as to what the story is, without giving out any of the spoilers… (source Indian Express)

Set in the 10th century, the novel is about the ascent of its titular character, Ponniyin Selvan, who is widely known as Rajaraja Chola I. He is one of the few kings, who is regarded as The Great. The Chola kingdom is said to be at its best during his rule between 947 CE – 1014 CE. He is popularly known for building the great Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Chola capital city. However, the story is not entirely based on accounts of true events. Kalki has taken a lot of liberty in writing historical fiction. However, he has also blended many well-researched events into the story, which calls for a separate article. To put it simply, Ponniyin Selvan is not a historical book to rely on, it is a fictional work based on some real events and people. Ponniyin Selvan is the story of how and why Arulmozhi Varman, the second son of Sundara Cholan, succeeds him.

Sundara Cholan, the emperor of the Chola Kingdom, is bedridden with deteriorating health. He is in Thanjavur, one of the capitals of Cholas. It is hard for anyone to see the king as he is heavily guarded by Periya Pazhuvettarayar and Chinna Pazhuvettarayar. Factually, the Pazhuvettarayar clan were feudatories in the Chola kingdom, who had a great reputation with the royal family. They were also related by blood and marriage. In the book, Pazhuvettarayars along with Nandini Devi (as the wife of Periya Pazhuvettarayar) are depicted as the antagonist, who stage a coup to stop Aditha Karikalan, the elder son of Sundara Chola, from becoming the king. Instead, they want Madhuranthagan, Karikalan’s cousin, as the next emperor. All this while, Aditha Karikalan is in Kanchipuram building a golden fort for his parents. He wishes his parents to come and live with him in the fort. So, he sends Vallavarayan Vanthiyathevan with two objectives. One is to go to Thanjavur and invite Sundara Cholan to Kanchipuram. He has to then go to Palaiyarai (another capital city of Cholas) and meet Aditha Karikalan’s sister Kundhavai aka Ilaya Pirattiyar and pass on a secret message. Ponniyin Selvan’s novel is predominantly the journey of Vandhiyathevan.

When he finishes one mission, another one finds him. You may now ask, what about the titular character Ponniyin Selvan aka Arulmozhi Varman? While Aditha Karikalan is in the North of Thanjavur, Arulmozhi is in Eelam (Sri Lanka), deep South beyond the ocean. He is sent by his father to capture Eelam. With all the key players far away from the capital, the Chola kingdom faces the threat from its mortal foes – Pandyas, who have infiltrated the Chola kingdom. So, the war here is not fought on the battlefield. The enemies come from within.

I had heard about this from my mother and wife who had read the book and considered it to be the best Tamil book of all times.  I wanted to read the book, but reading some 2000+ pages in Tamil always seemed to put me away😊.  A couple of years back, I had met with an accident and was forced to do exercise to ensure that my legs were healed properly.  I used to spend about half an hour on the treadmill for the exercise.  I used to download Kapil Sharma shows of Saturday and Sunday and used to watch them from Monday-Thursday.  The show used to be of one hour and I used to finish both the episodes in 4 days.  That left me to think of something else to watch on the other 3 days.  It is difficult to do exercise without concentrating on something else😊!!

While exploring what else to see, I chanced upon a podcast where a lady was telling the story of Ponniyin Selvan in Tamil.  She had started sometime back and had almost finished the 1^st Book.  I started listening to the podcast, from Friday to Sunday.  Each chapter was told in about 20 minutes.  It was not an actual reading but telling the story in her own words based on what was written in the chapter.  She also used to give background information on the characters.  After the initial couple of days, I started doing exercise for 40 minutes so that I can finish 2 chapters during one exercise😊.  Over a period of time, I had finished all the podcast and had to wait for the lady to record further chapters and publish it.  The story was so interesting that I searched on the internet and found the 1^st three books in English.  I downloaded the books and binged on them till I finished them.  After further search on the internet, I came to the conclusion that the balance 2 books could not be got for free from internet in English.  Amazon and other stores had the English version for sale.  My motto in life is, if something is available for free, why pay for it😊!!

After arriving at a crossroad, I decided to read the further 2 books in Tamil😊!!  Of course, even though my speed in reading Tamil is much slower than English, it is still good enough.  Finally, I completed the books and it was quite exhilarating.    The book has everything that one needs in a story.  Like the famous dialogue in Sholay, “is story mein emotion hai, drama hai, tragedy hai”.   Almost all the characters are fleshed out so beautifully that you are totally immersed in the story without having any other care in the world!  Even today, there are so many fans of the novel that they remember each character’s name in the story and what they did in the story. 

And about a couple of years back, there was an announcement made that Mani Rathnam is making the story into a film in 2 parts.  How he got the story is also an interesting story😊.  The original rights of the book to be made into a film was got by MGR.  But MGR could not make the movie.  Kamalahaasan then bought the rights from MGR but he too could not make it as there was no concept of Part 1 and Part 2 in movies in those times.  Since the thinking was of a single movie, he felt that 5-part book could not be told in a single movie.  Then he offered it to Mani Ratnam who has made the story in 2 parts.  At the time of writing this, the 1^st part is scheduled to release on 30^th Sept and the 2^nd part in about 9 months' time

And I have confirmed tickets to the movie for 2^nd October😊!

Cheers till next time😊!!