Ponniyin Selvan

Chapter 1 -- Aadi Festival

We welcome our readers to get into the boat of

imagination and go sailing down the flood of sourceless,

endless time. Let us travel a century for every second and

quickly reach the times of a thousand years before the

present.

In the southern end of Thirumunaipadi, which lies in

between the Thondai Kingdom and the Chozla Kingdom,

about two leagues far to the west of Thillai Chittrambalam,

(Chidambaram Town) there spreads an ocean-like

reservoir. It is known as Veera Narayana Lake. It is about

a league and a half long north to south and about half a

league wide east to west. Time has twisted its name: for

these days the reservoir is known as Veeraanatthu Lake. In the windy months of Aadi-Aavani (August), when new

floods fill the reservoir to almost overflow, anyone who

looks at the Veera Narayana lake will surely recall with

pride and astonishment the splendid deeds of our ancestors

in Tamil Nadu. Did those ancients do things merely for the

welfare of themselves and the people of their own times?

... They fulfilled tasks that would benefit thousands of

future generations in their sacred motherland.

On the 18th day of the month of Aadi, in the early hours of

the evening, a young warrior, mounted on a horse, was

riding down the banks of this ocean-like Veera Narayana

Lake. He belonged to the Vaanar clan which is famous in

the history of the gallant Tamils.

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan was his name. Having

travelled a long distance and being worn and weary, his

horse was walking along rather slowly. The young cavalier

did not seem concerned about this. The sprawling reservoir

had so enchanted his heart!

It was common for rivers of the Chozla Kingdom to run

with flood waters touching both banks during the Aadi

month festival of Padhinettam Perukku. The lakes fed by

these rivers would also be filled to capacity, with waves

jostling and colliding upon their embankments. Waters

from the river called North Cauvery by the devout, but

commonly known as Kollidam, rushed into the Veera

Narayana Lake, through the Vadavaru stream and made it

a turbulent sea.

Seventy four floodgates on the lake distributed the bounty

via aqueducts to distant tracts of the country side. With

these irrigation waters from the lake, activities such as

ploughing, sowing and seed transplanting were being

carried out as far as the eye could see.

Here and there, the song of farmers who were ploughing

and women who were transplanting created a pleasant and

joyous music. Listening to all this, Vandiya Devan was riding quite slowly, without prodding his tired horse. As

soon as he had climbed the embankment, he had started

counting the floodgates with the intention of finding out if

popular claims, which declared the lake to have seventyfour floodgates, were true! After having come about one

and a half leagues along the bank, he had counted seventy

gates.

Aha! How huge is this lake? How wide and how long? Can

we not say that the tanks built by the great Pallava

monarchs in the Thondai Kingdom are mere ponds and

pools compared with this immense reservoir? Did not

Prince Raja-aditya son of King Paranthaka who conquered

Madurai, think of building this great tank to conserve the

waters of the North Cauvery which were going wastefully

into the sea? And did he not execute his thinking into

action? How great a genius he must have been! Who can

we compare to his brave nobility! During the battle at

Takkolam, did he not, riding an elephant go to the

forefront and single handed, enter combat? And in the

course of that confrontation did he not receive enemy

spears on his chest and give up his very life? And because

of it did he not get the title Deva who reposed atop the

elephant as he departed for the heavens meant for the

brave? These kings of the Chozla Dynasty are remarkable!

They were just as just as they were brave! And as in justice

they excelled in the veneration of their Gods. Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan's shoulders swelled with

pride when he thought of his good fortune in having

received the friendship of a Chozla prince of such a

dynasty. Just like the waves that dashed against the banks

of the lake because of the swift western breeze, his heart

too bubbled with gratification and pride. Thinking all such

thoughts Vandiya Devan reached the southern end of

Veera Narayana Lake.

There he could view the panorama of the Vadavaru stream

separating from the North Cauvery and falling into the

lake. For a short distance inside the embankment, the lake

shore was silted forming a sandy beach. A number of

casuarina trees and wood-apple trees had been planted on

the beach so that rising flood waters would not destroy the

embankment. Nanal reeds had grown thickly along the

water's edge. From a distance, the scenic view of the

rushing waters from the tree lined North River merging

into the lake in the south-west, seemed like a colorful,

newly created painting. Vandiya Devan saw a few other

things that increased the pleasing joyousness of this

enchanting scene. Was it not the day of the Aadi Festival?

Crowds of people from nearby villages, dragging their

carts covered with canopies of sandal-colored, supple

coconut-leaves, were coming there. Men, women, children

and even several elderly folks all wearing new clothes and

vividly dressed in various ways had come. Bunches of

fragrant flowers, such as the hearts of country cactus,

chrysanthemum, jasmine, gardenia, champaka and

iruvatchi decorated the braids of women. Several had come with families bringing stewed rice and

fancy picnic foods. Some stood by the water's edge and ate

their picnic rice-dishes from platters of plantain-flower

petals. Others, more brave, had ventured further into the

water to cross over to the bank of the Vadavaru. Some

children threw the platters from which they had eaten into

the floodgates and clapped their hands with laughter to see

the petals float through the gates to be rushed onto the

canals. Some mischievous young men plucked the flowers

off the heads of their loved ones and threw them into the

water, merely to see them being cast upon the shore.

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan stood there watching all this

for a while. He listened with an eager ear when some of

the girls with pleasant voices sang. They sang traditional

boat-songs and flood-songs as well as folk songs like

Kummi and Sindhu.

Come, oh ye young maidens,

Look at the North river bubbling by!

Come watch, oh ye friends,

Look at the White river rushing by!

Come, oh come all ye girls,

To look at the Cauvery tumbling by!

Such flood-songs pleasingly flooded the ears of Vandiya

Devan. Others sang ballads about the bravery and fame of

Chozla kings. Some girls sang of Vijayala Chozla who had

fought in thirty-two battles and had worn his ninety-six

body wounds like ornaments. Others sang acclaiming the

bravery of his son, Aditya Chozla, and how he constructed

sixty-four Shiva temples all along the Cauvery - from

where it rose till it mingled into the sea. One girl sang the

fame of King Aditya's son, Paranthaka Chozla, who had

not only conquered the Pandiya, Pallava and Chera kings

but had also sent an army to Lanka to hoist his victory flag.

When each girl sang, several people stood around her

listening with rapt attention. They applauded with loud

shouts of "Ah, ah" and expressed their happiness!

An elderly woman noticed Vandiya Devan who was sittingon his horse and listening to all this. "Thambi! You seem

to have come from a long distance; you are tired! Come

down from your horse to eat this stewed rice," she said.

Immediately several young girls noticed our youthful

traveller. They whispered amongst themselves about his

appearance and laughed merrily. Vandiya Devan was

overcome by a certain mortification on one side and

delight on the other. For a moment he considered

dismounting and eating the food offered by the old

woman. If he did so, the young maids would surely gather

around to tease and laugh.

So what? Is it easy to behold so many beautiful maidens in

one place? Even their laughter and teasing would be

heavenly music. In Vandiya Devan's eyes all those girls on

the lake shore appeared like the heavenly nymphs Ramba At the same time he noticed something towards the southwest along the flow of River Vadavaru and hesitated.

About seven or eight large boats with white, spreading

sails filled with the breeze were coming swiftly like white

swans floating with wide-spread wings.

All the people engaged in various merriments turned to

avidly look in the direction from which the boats were

coming. One of the boats came forward more swiftly and

reached the lake shore where the embankment turned west.

Several well-built footmen carrying sharp & shiny spears

were in that boat. Some of them jumped on to the lake

shore and started shoving the people with shouts of "Go!

Move!" Before being pushed around too much, the people

picked up their containers and belongings and quickly

started climbing upon the bank. Vandiya Devan could not

understand any of this. Who were these men? Who were

coming in the sailboats behind them? Where were they

coming from? Perhaps they belonged to the royal

household?

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan approached an elderly man

leaning upon his cane by the bank. "Sir, whose men are

these? And whose boats are those coming behind like a

school of swans? Why are these footmen chasing away the

people? And why are the people hurrying away?" came his

questions, one upon the other.

"Thambi! Do you not know? There is a flag flying in the

middle of those sailboats. See what is embossed on it!"

said the elder.

"Seems like a palm tree."

"It is a palm tree! Don't you know that the palmtree-flag

belongs to the Lord of Pazluvoor?"

"Is it the great warrior, Lord Pazluvoor, who is coming?"

asked Vandiya Devan in a startled voice.

"It must be so. Who else could raise the palmtree-flag and

come?" said the elderly man.

Vandiya Devan's eyes opened wide with immeasurable

surprise as he looked towards the boats. Vallavarayan

Vandiya Devan had heard much about Lord Pazluvoor.

But, who would not have heard about them? The names of

the brothers - The Elder Lord Pazluvoor and The Younger

Lord Pazluvoor -- were renowned from Lanka in the south

to the Kalinga Kingdom in the north. Pazluvoor, situated

on the northern banks of the Cauvery near the city of

Uraiyoor was their capital. Even from the times of

Vijayala Chozla, the Pazluvoor Family had won heroic

fame. They had a lot of give and take with the royal family

of the Chozlas. Because of this and also because of their

nobility, bravery and fame the Pazluvoor clan had all the

distinguishing characters of a royal family. They also had

the right to carry their own pennant.

and Menaka!The elder of the present Lords of Pazluvoor had fought in

twenty-four campaigns. During his times he had won

acclaim as having no equal in war in the Chozla Kingdom.

Since he had now crossed the age of fifty, he no longer

entered the battlefield directly. Nevertheless, he now held

several eminent positions in the government of the

Chozlas. In the Chozla Empire, he was the head of finance;

head of food supply. He had the authority to levy taxes

according to political needs. He had the right to call upon

any princeling, nobleman or squire and order them thus:

"This year you shall pay this much tribute" and the powers

to implement such orders. Therefore, next to Emperor

Sundara Chozla he was the most powerful man in the

Chozla Kingdom.

Vandiya Devan's heart brimmed with an eagerness to meet

this powerful, illustrious and noble Lord of Pazluvoor. At

the same time he recalled the words uttered in privacy by

Prince Aditya Karikala, at the new Golden Palace in

Kanchi City.

"Vandiya Deva, I know you to be a brave man. At the

same time I trust you to be intelligent and give you this

immense responsibility. Of the two letters I have given

you, deliver one to my father the Emperor and the other to

my sister the Younger Pirati. (Pirati is the term used to

refer to princesses of the ruling house.) I hear all sorts of

rumors about even the senior officials of the kingdom in

Tanjore. Therefore, the contents of my letters should not

become known to anyone. Even the most eminent persons

should not realize that you are carrying letters from me. Do

not get into quarrels with anyone on the way. You should

not merely avoid conflicts of your seeking; but also not be

involved in disputes thrust upon you. I very well know

about your courage. You have proved it several times.

Therefore, there shall be no loss of valor in escaping from

duels forced upon you. Most important, you should be

particularly careful about the Lords of Pazluvoor and also

my Young Uncle Madurandaka. I do not wish them to

know even who you are! They should definitely not know

why you are going!"

The Crown Prince of the Chozla Empire and the

Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Armies, Prince

Aditya Karikala had told him all this. The Prince had

repeatedly advised Vandiya Devan about how he should

behave. Since he recalled all this, Vandiya Devan

suppressed his desire to meet Lord Pazluvoor. He whipped

his horse to move on quickly. In spite of the prodding, his

tired horse merely plodded ahead. Having decided to spend

the night at the Kadamboor fortress of the noble

Sambuvaraya, he resolved to procure a better horse before

resuming his journey the next morning.