Ponniyin Selvan- Short summary(Part 1 )

Ponniyin Selvan : Part I : A short summary of the book( Tamil version of Kalki’s 5 part Ponniyin Selvan).

Ok. You are ready to know more about Ponniyin Selvan and you don’t want to read the 1500 page epic in chaste Tamil! This is for you.

So let’s begin. 

The setting for the story is the land of the river Kaveri also known as Ponni. It includes the current fertile regions of Tanjore, Uraiyur( near Trichy) and areas around Chidambaram, all in Tamil Nadu. 

Vallavarayan VandiyaThevan is a messenger-warrior. Yes, he is a small-time young warrior who once belonged to an accomplished house called the Vaanar(no nothing to do with the monkey Vaanaram) and he is currently tasked by his crown prince to carry a secret message. The story begins with this young handsome man, prone to flirting with women, traveling from Kanchi, the capital of the northern kingdom of Thondai to Tanjore the new capital of the Cholas. He is carrying a message from the Commander of the Northern Kingdoms, prince Aditya Karikala to the emperor Sundara, his ailing father. He is also carrying a separate message from the prince to Kundavai, the prince’s sister. 

He reaches a lake that looks like an ocean, the Veera Narayana lake. This lake was built by Emperor Sundara’s uncle Rajaditya several years ago and was one of the largest lakes in south India at that time, fed with flood waters from the Kollidam river. Kollidam is a branch of the river Kaveri and eventually empties itself into the Bay of Bengal(ofcourse it was not called Bay of Bengal in those days!).

The messenger reaches the northern end of the lake to find a festive atmosphere. People are out and about everywhere partying on the banks with food and flowers. It is the Adi Perukku festival, a significant event even today in the Tamil land. He notices some boats and ships coming towards the shore. Someone in the crowd tells him that the Lord Commander and minister of coins and treasury is arriving. This man, Elder Pazhuvettar, is aged but still strong and has been the right hand for the Emperor Sundara and his father for a long time. The Elder, gets off the boat with his retinue and there is a Palanquin as part of this party. Vandiya Thevan notices that there is a fair maiden inside the Palanquin although he makes an assumption that it is a maiden based on the color of her skin. He also notices that the face of the person inside the palanquin notices something behind him and abruptly pulls back. He turns around and sees a vaishnava priest-like person approaching him. 

Now, the purists here should not confuse this vaishnavism with the Iyer, Iyengar clans of the modern era. This story is set in 950 CE or so and Ramanuja the patron saint of the Iyengars would not be born for another 75 odd years. Shankara’s advaita was very popular along with Jainism and Buddhism and there were Advaitins who formed a distinct sect. However most likely these were separate from the Shaivaites( Worshippers of the three eyed Vedic God Shiva) and Vaishnavites ( Worshippers of the Vedic God Vishnu and Krishna). 

So, this priest-like person who approached Vandiya Thevan was a Vishnu worshiper. He identified himself as Alwar Adiyan( Servant of the Alwars and the Alwars were famous for their devotional songs on Thirumal or Vishnu).  

Alwar asked Vandiya Thevan if he could tag along with him to the fort. 

Vandiya Thevan, prone to distractions, was warned by the prince when he left Kanchi not to stop and chat with strangers. So he declines Alwars’s request and proceeds to Kadambur fort. 

After much distress in gaining entrance to the fort, his friend Kandamaran shows him around. The fort is filled with dignitaries from all over. Lords loyal to the Pazhuvettars mostly. There is dance and drama. There is a particularly gory drama that ends in an Oracle, soothsaying dangers to the kingdom, citing a comet in the sky. Vandiya Thevan was not invited to this gathering but was watching all this hiding in the dark. He also notices a strange face on the wall of the fort, a face that resembles Alwar, monitoring all that is going on. 

The night culminates in a conspiracy. The reason for the Lords to gather was to discuss the issue of succession since the emperor is seriously ill. Elder Pazhuvettar is campaigning for prince Madurantakar over prince Aditya Karikala even though Aditya was long named the next in line, being the eldest son of Emperor Sundara. 

So you may ask what is there to be discussed.

The succession line is not cut and dry. The family tree of Emperor Sundara is a bit complicated. Sundara’s grandfather Parantaka had 3 children. First was one we saw earlier, Rajaditya of the famed Veera Narayana Lake. This eldest prince died in battle and so his brother Gandaraditya was appointed as emperor. His wife Sembian Mahadevi and he were immersed in religious work in devotion to Lord Shiva. He relinquished all but the title of emperor to his brother Arinjaya. Now Sundara was Arinjaya’s son. When Sundara was in his early twenties, a child was born to his uncle Gandaraditya and Sembian Mahadevi. However, Gandaraditya died soon after. Arinjaya became the king formally but he too died in a few months. 

Sembian Mahadevi made a decision to appoint Sundara as the new emperor since she had her reasons for her own child Madurantakan not to become the king. Now, her son is grown up and is married into the Paluvettar family. Sundara also had children of his own growing alongside Madurantan but his eldest son Aditya was a year younger than Madurantakan. Given the elder son theory of succession Madurantakan should be the crown prince. 

So in the conference at the Kadambur fort, Elder Pazhuvettar made this eloquent argument to convince the assembled lords to vote in favor of Madurantakan over Aditya Karikala. It was also convenient in a way for the Pazhuvettars since Madurantakan was married into their family. 

In a surprising twist, Madurantakan emerges from the Palanquin which was supposed to be inhabited by Elder Pazhuvettar’s young bride and makes a case for himself. Of Course men were not supposed to hide in palanquins and travel around and so this episode raised some eyebrows. However Pazhuvettar held sway and it was decided that all the lords assembled will throw in their lot behind Madurantakan. 

Now who is this young bride who was supposed to be in the palanquin? This takes us to the most important character of the story  in my opinion, Nandini, one of the most beautiful and irresistible women in the land. Elder Pazhuvettar fell for her and married her two years back ( in the story) and took her along with him everywhere he went. It was an unusual situation for sure since the age gap was huge and the fact she was always at his side, something that warriors never do. Even more unusual was that she never allowed for their marriage to be consummated, providing some excuse or another. 

More about Nandini later. 

Coming back to Vandiya Thevan, after an eventful night he sets out to head south to Tanjore. His friend Kandamaran puts him on a boat in the morning after that eventful night and sends along a sentry to help him get a new horse on the other side of the river. At the last minute Alwar joins them in the boat as they head towards a mid-point stop on their way to Tanjore. 

Now I have to deviate and talk about some earlier events which are important to the story. The Cholas have been at war with their arch rivals the Pandiyas often. Sundara was an able emperor and he used his valiant vassals and lords to expand his empire. He raided the Pandiyas and forced the Pandiyan King Rajasimha to escape to Lankai, an island off the southern coast of Tamil Nadu. He then sent his loyal lord of Kodambalur to Lankai to finish off the Lankan king who supported the Pandiyan. This unfortunately failed, with the lord of Kodambalur slayed in battle and the Pandiyan king exiled in Lankai returning back to Madurai. An enraged Sundara enlisted another lord, Vikrama Kesari along with his son Aditya to finish the Pandiya king off. A young Aditya, under the leadership of a wise Vikrama Kesari, charged the Pandiya capital. The Pandiyas had always been a formidable power. The inner circle that protected the king was a special force that consisted of highly trained men. The Pandiya king escaped.

However the Chola army was able to trace him to the house of a priest. Aditya went in alone and found the wounded king with a young girl attending to him. This girl happens to be Nandini and Aditya is in shock. Nandini pleads with Aditya to let the Pandiyan King live.

At this point the readers should also understand that there is some history between Aditya and Nandini. 

Several years ago a young girl child was dropped off at the Yarai palace by a priestly couple. Sembian Mahadevi was the host and she seemed to know them well. She said she will take good care of her while they are off on their pilgrimage. It appeared her brother was also off on a long pilgrimage. The kids were delighted to have another one for company. Not Kundavai though, for she was jealous of another beautiful girl in the house! Aditya however was smitten and spent all his time with her. 

However Aditya had to go off on war work for a couple of years and came back to find a child transformed into a beautiful teen. He fell in love with Nandini and they saw each other often. Sembian Mahadevi did not like this new development and actively discouraged it. One day Nandini just disappeared. Aditya was furious since he got no explanation. The emperor sends him off to the northern kingdoms and also has his wife’s father Malayaman keep an eye on him. 

Nandini, meanwhile, is back with her adopted family. Her brother has also returned from his “pilgrimage”. He is none other than Alwar Adiyan. Nandini immerses herself in the vaishnavite ways and becomes enamored by the ways of her favorite Alwar, Andal, and decides that she would never marry and spend her life in the service of God. Aditya does meet her once on his trips to Madurai and finds her devoid of all love except for her God. 

When Aditya returns on his final raid with Vikrama Kesari to kill the Pandiya king once and for all, he finds the wounded emperor in a hut that resembles Nandini’s house. He walks in to find her tending to the seriously wounded king. He is shocked. She pleads for the Pandiyan’s life. He asks her what her relationship is with the king and if she loves him so much to plead for his life. She replies yes. In rage, Aditya beheads the king in front of Nandini. He then leaves, ignoring the wails of a distraught Nandini. 

It is this same Nandini who is now wedded to the Elder Pazhuvettar and is the most important woman in the Chola land next only to the grand queen Sembian Mahadevi. 

You may also recall the face in the Palanquin being shocked on seeing someone and Alwar Adiyan being in the neighborhood. And now you know the context. 

Ok, so I do hope you are with me so far. Just in case, let me remind you we have met Vandiya Thevan, Alwar Adiyan, Aditya Karikalan, Emperor Sundara and Nandini in some detail. We have referenced Kundavai, Elder Pazhuvettar and a few others and we will see more of them soon. 

For now our messenger, Vandiya Thevan is on his way to Tanjore and upon alighting the boat Alwar Adiyan finds himself alone with the sentry sent along with Vendiya Thevan by his friend Kandamaran. 

Alwar finds something strange with this guy and eventually discovers he is part of a larger gang of the special forces of the Pandian King who are assembling a plan to avenge their king. 

Meanwhile Vandiya Thevan has an encounter with the Palanquin on his way. He meets Nandini in the Palanquin (Elder Pazhuvettar is not there at this time) and she hands him a signet, asking him to meet her in Tanjore. She heads off on the royal road. Vandiya Thevan is forced to take a slower route and eventually reaches Tanjore where he gets into the palace showing the signet that Nandini gave him. This does raise the suspicion of the younger Pazhuvettar since the signet itself belongs to the Palzhuvettars. 

In Tanjore he befriends a flower boy Sendan Amudan and his mute mother Vaani and stays with them one night where he learns about their family and especially Poonkuzhali, a boat woman and another mute lady who happens to be Vaani’s sister. Vandiya Thevan then manages to get an audience with the emperor and hands over the message that he came to deliver. Prince Aditya had sent a message for the emperor to come to Kanchi and live with him in the new golden palace built for this purpose. 

The emperor says he will reply the next day and asks the younger Pazhuvettar who is the head of the city royal guard to take care of Vandiya Thevan. 

Vandiya Thevan by now does not trust anyone and escapes to meet Nandini. He meets her but their meeting is interrupted by a sorcerer who is a confidante of Nandini. Not wanting to stay there, Vandiya Thevan escapes  into what looks like an underground tunnel that leads him to the treasury. In his adventure he spots Pazhuvettar and Madurantakan from his hidden place and surprisingly he also sees his friend Kandamaran and another warrior. 

He follows Kandamaran only to see the warrior strike a knife into Kandamaran at the point of exit from the tunnel. Vandiya Thevan intervenes and helps Kandamaran out of the place. However Kandamaran mistakenly thinks that it was Vandiya Thevan who stabbed him. 

Vandiya Thevan manages to escape again while the word is out to brand him as a criminal, with the entire city looking for him. After much adventure, he finds the priest Ishana Battar who is close to Sembian Mahadevi to help get an audience with Kundavai. Ishana Battar was the head priest at a Shiva temple, himself being an ardent saivaite. Sembian Mahadevi was a patron of the temple. It so happens that Ishana Battar’s own brother is Alwar Adiyan who is a vaishnavite. The same household had coexisting beliefs in those days. 

Alwar meanwhile, after an audience with Sembian Mahadevi heads home to the house of Ishana Battar. Why does Alwar need to meet Sembian Mahadevi you may ask? Alwar is a man who seems to be everywhere, connected to all the happenings and thus it is revealed that he is a spy. However who he is spying for is still a mystery. 

In Ishana Battar’s house, Alwar gets suspicious of his brother and follows him. He finds his brother escorting someone to Kundavai’s house and it turns out this was Vandiya Thevan!

So we find Vandiya Thevan and Kundavai meeting again. Meeting again you may ask? Well, I hid their first meeting from you dear reader. You remember when Vandiya Thevan was heading to Tanjore? There was a brief detour where Alwar tricked him into meeting the Kudandai Astrologer to help him ascertain if his mission would be successful. At the same time Kundavai and her close friend Vanathi were with the astrologer. This was the first time they met and yes they had an eye for each other as well! 

So now they meet again with Ishana Battar bringing Vandiya Thevan to Kundavai’s palace. She then sends him on a mission asking him to take a message to her youngest brother Arulmozhi.

Who is Arulmozhi? He is the youngest of the 3 children of Sundara. He has been stationed in Lankai having been sent to ensure that the Chola interests are safe there. It is to be noted Arulmozhi is a favorite of the Chola citizens and much loved. He is not only a great warrior but a balanced man and keen to see the good in anyone. His sister Kundavai wanted him to come back home to Old Yarai and Vandiya Thevan was to carry that message. 

So that ends pretty much one section of the story. In summary, the messenger from Kanchi meets the emperor to give a message asking him to get himself out of Tanjore and go to his son at Kanchi. On his way he finds a conspiracy brewing to displace his master and crown prince Aditya with Palzhuvetttar’s choice, Madurantakan. He meets Kundavai and she wants to take action first by bringing her youngest brother back to Yarai. Meanwhile, an enigmatic woman named Nandini seems to hold sway over Pazhuvettar. There also seems to be others who have an interest in causing chaos – the special forces of the slayed Pandian King. 

Let’s go back to Aditya in Kanchi. He is by the great beach with his grandfather Malayaman ( his mother’s father) and his close friend and a scion of the great Pallava dynasty Parthivendran. They discuss the arrogance of the Pazhuvettars. Malayaman has spies everywhere and has learned about this conference in Kadambur and the conspiracy to make Madurantakan the crown prince. He advises Aditya to send Parthivendran to bring back his brother Arulmozhi from Lankai to Kanchi. They can then together raid Tanjore after their father and sister are safely back in Kanchi. So Parthivendran travels off to Lankai. 

We now have Vandiya Thevan headed to Lankai from one side and Parthivendran from another. 

We now pick up in Lankai where Arulmozhi is stationed. 

Vandiya Thevan takes the help of the boatwoman Poonkuzhali. He talks to her about Sendan Amudan and how much that boy loves her. She seems distant and he finds her odd. But she is an expert ocean navigator and boatwoman. She gets him to Lankai. Meanwhile Parthivendran also lands in Lankai. The omnipresent Alwar makes his appearance as well. They find the valiant prince Arulmozhi, and givehim the message. Parthivendran wants Arulmozhi to go to Kanchi and Vandiya Thevan has a message from his sister asking him to go back to Yarai. Arulmozhi enjoys the buddhist culture in Lankai and is close to several of their orders. One such Order of priests requests him to become the King of Lankai. Arulmozhi refuses in the presence of several people. 

There are several other visitors to Lankai as well. The Elder Pazhuvettar meanwhile, coming to know of Vandiya Thevan’s expedition to Lankai to bring back Arulmozhi to Yarai, decides on a plan to bring him to Tanjore instead. He goes to the emperor and asks permission to lie to entice Arulmozhi to come to Tanjore. The emperor in his desire to see his son agrees. The lie is that Arulmozhi is to be arrested for treason since he had plans to become the King of Lankai without sanction from his own king. Pazhuvettar knew if the order to come to Tanjore came with the emperors seal, Arulmozhi would not disobey that. So the Elder Pazhuvettar set sail to Lankai just to be safe and sent forth his warriors ahead of him to capture Arulmozhi.

When Arulmozhi is confronted by Pazhuvettar’s lieutenants and sees the emperor’s seal asking him to come back to Tanjore, he decides to ignore Parthivendran and Vandiya Thevan and obey the order. The seas are becoming rough and a major storm is brewing in the ocean. Arulmozhi reconsiders and agrees that the Tanjore callback could be a conspiracy on the part of the Pazhuvettars. He agrees to go with Parthivendran and boards the ship bound for Kanchi. The storm puts everyone in danger. Arulmozhi notices Vandiya Thevan struggling in his boat and jumps off his ship to save him. 

Arulmozhi saves Vandiya Thevan and along with Pooguzhali escapes into the marshes. Arulmozhi contracts a fever that has been striking the Lankai land and its warriors and is now delirious with fever. 

Oftentimes when in danger Arulmozhi had a savior. An unknown mute woman has been watching over him coming to his aid from his childhood days. He was to have drowned in the river Ponni on a family trip and miraculously a hand had lifted him back on the boat. People talked about seeing a woman swimming strong. None could identify her. In Lankai Arulmozhi had noticed this woman after several near misses where he was nearly killed. Now with a strange fever would he find his savior once again? 

Interestingly, those who had seen the mute woman cannot help wonder the close facial resemblance to Nandini!

Stopping here since I am told that this is where the movie ends. So more later….