PONNIYIN SELVAN - IV Chapter 40

This is the English Translation of Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan, which has been nationalized by the Government of Tamilnadu and hence is in public domain.
The copyright for this translation however rests exclusively with the author, Varalotti Rengasamy. No part of this work shall be reproduced, transmitted or otherwise dealt with in any form whatsoever except with the express written permission of the author. Quoting parts of the work for the purpose of literary criticism or comments, with due credits to the author is however permissible. The author morally asserts his copyright.

PONNIYIN SELVAN PART IV
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THE CROWN

Chapter 40 – Water Games

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Six hundred years before the time of this story there were seven famous Chieftains in Tamilnadu apart from the three great Tamil Kings – Cheras, Chozhas and Pandyas.

The seven chieftains were also known as great philanthropists. It is customary to refer to them as “The Seven Great Philanthropists.” One of the seven was Ori, who ruled over the Kolli Hills.

Ori was a great master in archery. He was compared to Lord Rama in archery. Once Rama shot an arrow to prove a point, or rather to prove his prowess to King Sugriva who was about to forge alliance with him.

The arrow pierced seven trees which were not in a straight line. Similarly there was a legend that the arrow shot by the great Ori first pierced the body of a tiger, a deer, a boar and finally a rabbit. The great poets of Tamilnadu have glorified Ori’s archery in their songs. And because of this he was called as the “One who is adept in wielding a bow."

Once one of the three Kings of Tamilnadu, the Chera King was furious over Ori. The Chera King wanted to finish off Ori; but he could not do it alone.

He sought the assistance of Malayaman Thirumudikkari. Kari was no less than Ori. And Kari had an added advantage. He had a much stronger army than Ori. Malayaman invaded the Kolli Hills, killed Ori and destroyed the fort built by him on the hills.

Athikaman Nedumananchi was a Chieftain, like Ori. He was ruling over a small territory which was adjacent to Ori’s called, Thahadoor.

Ori was his best friend. And Nedumananchi wanted to avenge his friend’s death. He knew very well that he could not invade Malayaman Kari all by himself.

He sought the help of the Chozha King at that time, one who went by the name Killivalavan.

Killi Valavan was already displeased with Malayaman because of his growing strength and his allegiance to the Chera King. Killivalavan was, therefore, only too eager to help the campaign launched by Athikaman Nedumananchi.

They joined hands to attack Malayaman. Malayaman could not withstand the onslaught and he died on the battlefield. His two sons were held captive by the soldiers of the Chozha Army.

Killivalavan and Athikaman wanted to destroy the entire clan of Malayaman. The children were buried in sand up to their neck. The King’s elephants were order to trample them.

A poet who had once sung the praises of Malayan and had gained personally by his philanthropy reached the place at the nick of time. He made a passionate plea to the Chozha Emperor on behalf of the innocent children.

“Your Majesty, please see the smile on the faces of these innocent children. They are too young to know about their destiny.

"Blissfully unaware of the approaching death they are laughing at the elephant’s trunk, which is dangling from its neck. They perhaps think that this is a different kind of circus. Are you going to kill these innocent children, Your Majesty? Is it fair to kill the children for the faults of their father?”

The Chozha King changed his mind. He rescinded his orders. He ordered that the children be retrieved.

When the children came of age he made the eldest son the ruler of Thirukkovalur.

From that time onwards the clan of Thirukkovalur Malayamans had been faithful friends of the Chozha clan. It was friendship rooted in gratitude.

The relationship extended till the time of Sundara Chozhar, for the Emperor had married, Vanamaadevi, who was the daughter of Malayaman.

Meanwhile the clans of Ori and Athikaman lost their powers and vanished from history. The Kadambur Sambuvarayars claimed that they were descendants of Ori and Athikaman.

They never forgot the enmity of Oris with the Malayamans. In these circumstances it was quite natural that the Sambuvarayar did not want the grandson of a Malayaman to become a Chozha Emperor.

Adithya Karikalan’s arrogance, his attitude of treating the Chieftains like dirt fuelled the hatred of Sambuvarayars. That made them actively participate in the conspiracy to place Kandaraathithar’s son, Madhuranthakan, on the Thanjavur throne.

But ever since Karikalan came to Kadambur, Sambuvarayar’s mind was going through a gradual change. It was his darling daughter Manimekalai, who brought this change in her father. There were unmistakable signs that Manimekalai had stolen the heart of the Crown Prince.

It was rumoured that Karikalan would never look at women and that he had vowed to remain unmarried throughout his life.

But Karikalan spent most of his time in the ladies’ chambers in the Kadambur Palace. He was talking in a flirtatious tone to the women of the Royal Household. In particular he was praising Manimekalai’s natural gift of enthusiasm. Manimekalai too appeared to be deliriously happy since the arrival of the Crown Prince.

Sambuvarayar naively thought that his daughter too had fallen for the Prince’s charm. He was pleased to see his daughter and the Crown Prince being happy with each other. If his daughter married Karikalan she would become the Empress of the vast Chozha Kingdom.

And the child born to her would succeed Karikalan to the Chozha throne. Whatever honour and glory that Malayaman was enjoying today would be his in the next generation.

Why should I interfere with the Lady Luck who was coming on her own to his household? Why should he oppose his own daughter’s glory?

It was true that Sambuvarayar wanted to give his daughter’s hand to Madhuranthakan the heir apparent to the Chozha throne.

But Madhuranthakan already had two wives. And one of his wives was the daughter of the Junior Pazhuvettaraiyar. He also had a son through her. So if Madhuranthakan was crowned the King, Pazhuvettaraiyar’s clan would come in the direct line of succession.

Sambuvarayar’s daughter Manimekalai would be one of the thousands of maids in Thanjavur Palace.
But if Manimekalai married Adithya Karikalan she would be the Empress of the Chozha Kingdom. Her son would be crowned the King after Karikalan.

Again it was next to impossible to make Madhuranthakan the King. People were against him.

And they would have to wage a war against Malayaman and Kodumbalur Velan to achieve the near impossible feat of making Madhuranthakan the Emperor.

Even Madhuranthakan’s mother would oppose the move. Why should we get into that kind of a trouble where there was no gain for him or his family?

On the other hand Adithya Karikalan’s coronation was a decided issue. It was not likely to be opposed. The only possible resistance would be the adamant attitude of Pazhuvettaraiyars. Of the two brothers, the elder one, at his age, was a slave to his young wife’s beauty.

How long would he be alive, nobody knew. Why should Sambuvarayar undertake a risky venture relying only on the support of that old man? Yes, it was true that Sambuvarayar had pledged his support to Madhuranthakan. So what? Let me explore the ways of accomplishing my desire without violating the pledge.

Madhuranthakan was a gullible person. It was easy even to make him refuse the throne. He did not even go to that extent. Enough if Madhuranthakan said that without his mother’s blessings he would not accept the Crown.

Sambuvarayar’s mind had started thinking on these lines. That made him enthusiastically support the Pazhuvettaraiyar’s decision of going to Thanjavur to bring Madhuranthakan. Pazhuvettaraiyar’s absence would give Sambuvarayar opportunities for a “heart to heart” talk with Adithya Karikalan.

Once he knew what was in the Crown Prince’s mind then he could devise his strategy accordingly. He hastened Pazhuvettaraiyar’s trip to Thanjavur and personally arranged a retinue to go with him.

Once Pazhuvettaraiyar left for his long journey, Karikalan and his friends left for hunting. Sambuvarayar was even ready to send his daughter, Manimekalai, and her friends along with the hunting expedition. But Kandhanmaran who had been seeing things from a different perspective strongly objected to it.

Kandhanmaran was shrewd enough to know that the attention Karikalan paid to Manimekalai was only on account of Nandini. That made him hate the Crown Prince even more. He could not explain the subtle relationship to his father.

Hence he opted for the usual arguments: “What’s the use of girls while we are going on a hunting expedition? If they came with us, we will be spending most of our time worrying about their safety.

"Again, this is the Tamil month of Aippasi (October – November) Rains may come at any moment. . There might be floods.The ladies will be stranded.”

Sambuvarayar abandoned the idea thereafter. Karikalan left for hunting along with his friends Parthibendran, Vandhiya Thevan, Kandhanmaran and a group of hunters.

Sambuvarayar’s Palace now wore a deserted look. But for Sambuvarayar, there were no men in the palace.

Nandini now started to make her move. She spoke to Manimekalai.

“Men were a nuisance to us when they were here. But if all of them are away then we start missing them. There is nothing to make fun of. It’s boring.”

“Yes, Akka. We too could have gone with them. I want to see hunting. I used to go with my father and my brother. But today Kandhanmaran was quite adamant in stopping us. I don’t know why. Perhaps he knows that you hate hunting and that was the reason for his ban.”

“Yes, Manimekalai. I don’t like hunting. I am allergic to blood. But that was not the reason for Kandhanmaran’s ban. He was particular in keeping you away from one of the guests. That was why he did not want us to come.”

Dimples appeared on Manimekalai’s cheeks. After some time she replied.

“Let the men go to hell, Akka! Who cares! Who needs their company, anyway? But Akka, I have a plan. Why don’t we go to the Mandapam in the middle of the lake to have a swim?”

Nandini agreed. Manimekalai made the arrangements.

We have seen earlier that on the eastern side of the gigantic Veeranarayana Lake there was a huge bank and seventy four canals that carry water from the lake to agricultural lands. There was no such bank on the Western Side.

On the western side the water level was low and near the bank it was almost at the ground level. Further west were the dense forests.

Near the western bank, where the water level was low, there were some small islets here and there. These islets were thick in vegetation. In one of these islets on the western side there were steps and a Mandapam.

The women of the Kadambur Palace used to visit this place to have a bath and entertain themselves with water sports. To reach this place one has to go around the lake for about ten miles.

Because of the distance and because of the fact that the place was reserved for the women of the royal household, people never came near that place.

Nandini and Manimekalai got on a boat and rowed to this secluded place. There were two maids who did the rowing. They had even bought vessels and provisions for cooking. As soon as the boat reached the Mandapam the maids got down and started cooking.

Nandini and Manimekalai sat on the steps to gossip about the members of the Royal household. Manimekalai was intelligent, talented and quite mischievous. She mimicked the voice of Pazhuvettaraiyar, Karikalan, Kandhanmaran, Parthibendran and Vandhiya Thevan.

Nandini could not control her laugh. But Nandini’s mind was not there. It had drifted to a secret corner of her mind where something crucial was cooking.

Suddenly Manimekalai stood up with a jolt.

“Akka, we have not come for hunting. But you know hunting is coming towards us.”

She shouted while pulling out a knife from her waist.

Nandini was shocked. She looked at the spot pointed out by Manimekalai. On a leaning branch of a large tree there was a leopard. It was looking at the two women as if it was making its mind whether to spring on them or not.

They also heard the sound of horses galloping in water.

Original Author: Kalki
Translation: Varalotti Rengasamy
Editing Support: knot2share

© Varalotti Rengasamy aka R.Sridharan,MADURAI

 

thanks a lot, Lalitha for the kind words. The knack of stopping the episode at the right place belongs to Kalki. I just stop where he stops.
thanks for coming in,
love,
sridhar

 

thanks jayani. Have now posted the next chapter.
thanks for coming in
sridhar

 

thanks a lot, vamsi for coming in. Didn't see you for some time.
have posted the next chapter.
sridhar