At the age of about 5 or 6, I remember being fascinated by my father, who could read a book, only with his eyes ! He did not have to read it out aloud to understand and I remember thinking it was one of the coolest things I had seen in my life (till then !!). I guess my initial reading was restricted to devouring anything and everything by Enid Blyton. So there I was, living in a small hill station in Tamilnadu, dreaming about ginger-beer, ham sandwiches and bacon (not knowing it was meat of course !!) without a clue on how they would look like.
I had studied tamizh for exactly 2 years in school. The first was in class I, when I learnt the alphabets and then in class III when I learnt words and sentences. The difficulty in finding a good library was probably the first reason for me to turn to reading Tamizh magazines and books. That and the concept of a circulation library where a person would come and deliver weekly and monthly magazines right to our doorstep. Now tamizh magazines and books were usually censored by my mother then. There were authors that were considered acceptable by my mother and I could read anything by such authors and then there were those that were absolutely banned for fear of getting my mind corrupted. In case of authors like Sujatha, the book had to first be read my mother before the verdict was passed.
Kalki is probably the first writer, that my mother encouraged me to read. ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ - supposedly Kalki’s most popular work was serialized in the tamil weekly magazine called Kalki, was my first attempt at a historical and it was my first exposure to Kalki’s works too. And the rest, as they say, is history (I mean, my history !!).
R.Krishnamurthy, more popularly known as Kalki was a freedom fighter, magazine editor, novelist, short story writer and an art critic. He was the man who made the popular weekly ‘Ananda Vikatan’ a household name in lakhs of Tamizh homes. He gained a lot of popularity for his epic trilogy - Sivagamiyin Sabatham, Parthiban Kanavu and Ponniyin Selvan. His other famous works include Alai Osai, Tyaga Bhoomi, Poimaan Karadu, Kalvanin Kathali etc.
I will not elaborate on Kalki as a person as I will not be able to give more information than Wikipedia or the internet, nor is my information drastically different. I will instead, attempt to describe his greatness as a novelist, especially in his works based on Tamizh history, or atleast their impact on me and my literary tastes.
So what makes these three novels great? Why, the characters, for one ! Every character is well-etched and Kalki’s writings made you actually visualize a lot of incidents. His works are a wonderful mixture of history, fiction and humour. They are historicals, but no less thrilling than any best-selling mystery novel. For once, his female characters are extremely strong and not mere supporting characters.
For instance, take the case of Sivagamiyin Sabadam :
Facts :
-King Mahendra Varman converted from Jainism to Hinduism after Appar (aka Thirunavukarasar) cured him of some disease.
-The Chalukya king attacked Kanchi.
-Narasimhavarman (popularly known as Mamallan) avenged the seige of Kanchi by attacking Vatapi and burning it down.
-Paranjothi was the commander of Narasimhavarman’s army and lead the attack on Vatapi (Trivia : He supposedly brought back a pillar with the idol of Ganapati on it as a proof of his victory and installed it in the temple in Tiruchengatangudi in the Tanjore district. This idol was the inspiration for the Vatapi Ganapati idol installed in Tiruvarur temple and hence the song ‘Vatapi Ganapathim Bhajeham’ by Dikshitar).
-Paranjoti later gave up worldly life and changed his name to Siruthonda Nayanar and was one of the 63 Shaivaite Nayanars.
-During Mahendravarman’s rule and his son Narasimha Pallavan’s rule, arts and crafts flourished in the region and the shore temples and numerous other sculptures were created in Mamallapuram (now known as Mahabalipuram).
Now if I look at sculptures of a beautiful woman in Mamallapuram, I would probably take a few snaps (most that would include me in silly poses and posing for the camera !!). What would happen if a creator of Kalki’s stature saw them? - An epic romance set in the time of Narasimha Pallavan !!
The prince Mamallan (aka Narasimha Varman) loves the daughter Sivagami of the master sculptor Ayanar. Sivagami is a great bharatanatyam dancer and is the inspiration of many of her father’s sculptures. As in any love story, the emperor is against this romance and orders the son to stay back in Kanchi while he engages in a battle with the Chalukya king Pulikesi. After a lot of interesting twists, Sivagami and Ayanar are captured by Pulikesi. Pulikesi humiliates her and Sivagami vows that she would leave Vatapi only if Narasimha Varman burns the city down and rescues her (and hence the title). So even when Narasimha Varman visits her secretly and tries to rescue her, she refuses to go with him. Narasimha Varman later returns after almost 9 years and re-captures Vatapi, but things are not the same anymore.
On reading the novel, you will realize how beautifully the above mentioned historical facts have been woven into the novel. It is hard to separate facts from fiction. All characters are complete and well-written.
The heroine is a damsel in distress, for sure, but she is extremely strong willed and is not faultless. She has a bad temper and is extremely stubborn. This novel has one of the most chilling villains in Tamil literature. The Jain monk - Naganandhi, whose actual name is Neelakesi and is the brother of the Chalukya king Pulikesi is a connoisseur of arts, unlike his royal brother and is a master king-maker and spy.
‘Parthiban Kanavu’ is chronologically after Sivagamiyin Sabadam and describes the story of the Chozha prince Vikraman who father dies in the battlefield after expressing his dream of regaining his kingdom from the Pallava King Narasimha Varman (the hero of the previous novel), to a mysterious monk. As in a good Indian movie, our hero falls for a girl Kundavi, who is none other than the daughter of his arch-rival Narasimha Varman. This novel too has many historic references and has interesting narratives of practices during the period including the Kapalikas (worshippers of Goddess Kali) who believed in human sacrifices etc. There is a wonderful suspense in this novel too, but unfortunately I saw the B&W movie made on the novel first and knew what the suspense was in the first shot (Why did they think that makeup could completely disguise a person like Ranga Rao?
‘Ponniyin Selvan’ is the last in the trilogy and is about the Chozha dynasty. This is by far the most interesting of the 3 books and has more colourful characters than the other 2 put together. Although the title Ponniyin Selvan (son of Ponni, the river) refers to the prince Arulmozhi Varman, the actual hero of the novel is Vandiyathevan, a lovable rascal, who is a close friend of Karikalan, Arulmozhi Varman’s brother. This book has not one or two, but at least 6 very strong women characters - Arulmozhi varman’s sister Kundavai, the boat woman Poonkuzhali (what a beautiful name !), the queen of pazhuvoor Nandini (a wonderful character), the kodumbalur princess Vanathi, the mute woman Mandakini Devi, Raakammal the spy and so on. The most interesting character is that of Aazhvarkadiyaan, the vaishnaviite who roams around the country and picks up fights with Saivaiites.
The plot of the novel is very intricate and maintains a superb suspense till the end. One part of the novel, that seems particularly etched in my memory is where Kalki describes and compares the beauty of Kundavai and Nandini. Both of them are extremely beautiful women, but while one’s beauty is pleasing and has a calming effect, the other’s is mesmerizing and is capable of driving men crazy. He compares Nandini’s beauty to that of a serpent and for some reason I seem to remember this particular description very well.
For each run of these novels in the Kalki weekly magazine, a different artist was responsible for the illustrations. I remember Maniyam Selvam’s illustrations and later Vishnuvarman (I think that’s his name). However, the best illustrator would be our own minds. As I have said often before, my worst fear about Ponniyin Selvan is that someone would decide to make a movie out of it and ruin the whole magic. One of my favourite pastime is wondering who, in the current crop of actors, could play of each of these roles and sadly I can’t think of any suitable ones, especially if they have to speak in chaste tamizh.
I have read all the other works of Kalki too, including Alai Osai and Tyaga bhoomi, but to me none of them can match this trilogy in terms of pace or characterization. I have also had a chance to read some of his other non-fiction works including some music reviews that he wrote under the pen-name Karnatakam, some of his old editorials and a collection of essays etc and the genius of Kalki shines through every single piece of work.
Sorry about the long post, but the comment from a fellow blogger on one of my previous posts, brought a flood of memories of Kalki and ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. For those who cannot get the book, the entire book is available online here. The English translation is available here although if you can read Tamizh, I would strongly recommend the original.
