A historical novel is commonly defined as one that
“reconstructs a personage, a series of events, a movement or the spirit of a past age and pays the debt of serious scholarship to the facts of the age being recreated.” It was Sir Walter Scott who established the form in 1814 in Waverley though many writers before him had combined fiction and history. Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, Tolstoi, and James Fennimore Cooper are among his celebrated successors. Though the novels of all these were translated into Tamil in the twentieth century and were known to a small section of the Tamil reading public, it was Scott’s Waverley novels in the original which exerted a tremendous impact on the leading writers of the middle decades of the twentieth century during and after India’s victorious struggle for freedom. A considerable percentage of the early novels written in various regional languages understandably happened to be historical novels which aimed at transporting the Indian youth back to the country’s glorious past. In Tamilnadu, it was Kalki’s novels, written under the direct influence of Scott, which took the Tamil world by storm.
A typical Waverley novel deals with an age when two cultures, one dying and the other being born, are in conflict with each other. In this work, actual historical personages jostle with fictional ones who also participate in actual historical events and, therefore, give expression to the impact which the historical events had upon the common people who lived during the bygone age. The extent to which actual historical events must make their presence, the extent to which actual men and women from history must be allowed, the time which must have elapsed between the events of the story and its writing are among the controversial issues that continue to be raised by historical novelists and critics. But there is no point in insisting upon any hard and fast rules relating to these because everything ultimately depends upon the success of the writer, who, if he happens to be a genius, may overcome the odds and achieve the sublime even by violating rules and going against conventions. However, there is unanimous agreement over the responsibility of the historical novelist to give as far as possible a truthful picture of the age he has chosen to present and over the fact that the historical novel is centered in a social context. But there have been numerous deviations from the ‘formula’. We do have what may be called ‘costume romances’ in which history becomes a mere background for a series of adventurous or sexual exploits and not an integral part. Also, there are ‘novels of character’ in which the historical setting and the age are not given so much of importance as the representation of a group of characters.
It goes without saying that a historical novel is all the more meaningful when its milieu is understood. Fenimore Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities, and Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath will naturally be better understood by readers who are acquainted with, respectively, the American frontier experience, Anglo-Norman Britain, the French Revolution and the American Depression because these novels are primarily about these historical matters to which the characters have to play only a subordinate role.
One may recall here the way a traditional Marxist like the Hungarian Georg Lukacs read the nineteenth century novel. Known for his belief in the reflection theory, Lukacs underscored literature’s reflection of the social reality surrounding it, not a simple reflection of realistic details but a profound one of the essence of a society. Lukacs favored ‘socialist realism’ or ‘critical realism’ as a mode and the nineteenth-century novel as a historical genre on the assumption that the best art both reflects and refracts history as a whole and holds up a large mirror to social changes. In his view, novelists like Dickens and Tolstoy, possessing social and historical visions, afforded what Lukacs called a ‘world-historical’ sense of the various classes and sections of society in dynamic tension, caught as they are in the ebb and flow of social conflict and historical change. Characters in their novels are significant not only as individuals but as types because of their capacity to express the pressures which their social roles thrust upon them. Lukacs could appreciate even historical fictions for the social- economic conditions and class conflicts they portray.
While reading the historical novels of Karunanidhi, it is good to keep in mind that the genre has travelled a long way from Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities. It has evolved into a complex and prestigious one in the second half of the twentieth century. Historical novels such as H.F.M. Prescott’s The Man on a Donkey and Thomas Flanagan’s The Year of the French, the new historicist rereadings of Shakespeare’s history plays and the post-modernist views about historiography indicate the degree of sophistication that the historical material may be subjected to by a master craftsman. That the historical novel Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize for 2009 also witnesses to the eminence attained by the genre.
The salient features of a highly evolved historical novel are identified by Greenblatt. Besides the setting in an era different from the present of the novelist, the interest in significant historical events, and the representations of identifiable, documented historical personages, which are extremely important, the historical figures should be not merely “background material or incidental presences but the dominant characters, thoroughly reimagined and animated. They are at the centre of our attention and their actions in the world seem to carry the burden of a vast, unfolding historical process that is most fully realized in small contigent, local gestures. These gestures are ordinarily hidden from official chronicles, but they are the special purview of the historical novelist.” It is not the big events, the coronations, the big battles or the pomp and processions that matter. But as Hilary Mantel herself says,
This is how the world changes; a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman’s sigh as she passes and leaves on the air trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close on the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh.
It is such subtle touches that animate a historical novel and they abound in Karunanidhi’s Romapurip Pantiyan, Tenpantic Cinkam, Ponnar Cankar, and Payum Puli Pantaraka Vanniyan.
The historical novel, “an act of conjuring,” must provide “a powerful hallucination of presence, the vivid sensation of lived life.” The dead should be brought back to life and made to speak:
“I am not a stick figure in a textbook, I was once alive, emotionally complex, beset with fears and daydreams, just as you are now. I will hide nothing from you. I will reveal to you what it actually felt like to experience in the flesh certain historical forces that are fixed in certain frozen formulaic phrases: the Italian Renaissance, the English Reformation, the Irish uprising. And I will do so in a way that will make you feel, in the midst of a sober conversation about court politics, the touch of the real: “Try one of these sugared almonds.”
Tenpandic cinkam
In Tenpandic Cinkam, a historical novel set about two hundred years ago in the southernmost parts of Tamilnadu, a large amount of well-researched historical material is judiciously used by Kalaignar to make the fiction come alive. Located in time immediately after the treacherous capture of the first formidable freedom fighter of Tamilnadu Virapantiya Kattapomman by the British, the novel rewrites the history of the period with its passionate tone of patriotism. Narrating the story of the political and personal saga of two states - Pattamankalam and Pakaneri – in mortal opposition with each other and commonly against the growing powers the British imperialists, the novel depicts some of the heroes of the Tevar community, who refused to be cowed down even though the odds were against them. It is one more chapter in the tragic history of the merciless annihilation of the natives of many former British colonies because of the power of the gunpowder.
As usual, Kalaignar has done his homework conscientiously before embarking upon this historical novel. As he himself says, “Na.mu.Venkatacami, who is known to the Tamils as Nattarappa, penned the history of the kallars. Details taken from there, along with local legends that were heard of in the days gone by, have been brought together to show how Pakaneri natu and Pattamankalam natu in the Civakanka region of Ramanathapuram clashed with each other in enmity, spilling each other’s blood.”
Another source that has been of immense use to Kalaignar is, as acknowledged by him, Rajayyan’s South Indian Rebellion, from where he could get some valuable historical details.
Kallanatu, a rugged region of thorny shrubs, situated between Maturai and Tiruchirappalli, served as the meeting ground of the three parallel rebel organizations of Tirunelveli, Ramnad and Dindukkal. The Kallars, who were the inhabitants of this hilly territory, were not only gallant fighters but the inverterate enemies of the company for generations. Large sections of them had already sent their support to Marutu and associates of Kattabomman. Gopala Nayak, more than the other leaders, effectively prevailed upon them and gained their alliance. He sent Ellappa Mudali on missions to Kallanatu. On the twenty fifth of February, Kaliani Tevar and Perumal Swami Pillai, the deputies of Kallanatu, visited Kallanatu and gave their consent to join the league.
All the historical details required to follow the story and to understand certain topical allusions are provided by the author wherever they are relevant.
It was customary to call a cluster of towns a natu, several natus together a kottam, several kottams a mantalam or alternately several natus a valanatu and several valanatus a mantalam. Just as kaca natu, konur natu, Tenmai natu, Kannantankutinatu, uratta natu, Paik natu, papa natu, Ampu natu, Valla natu, Varappur natu, Micenkili natu, and Melaittuvakuti natu were renowned in the Cola country, the Kallar kingdoms of the pantiya region have been listed by Civakankai Comacuntaranar and Kallal Manivacakac Caranalaya Atikal who has published his research.
Many towns together would comprise a natu and a chief whose valour was renowned would be recognized as its Ampalakkarar with all the people of those regions submitting to his command. Although, at times, the term ‘Ampalakkarar’ was used to denote a community, it was really the chief of the Kallar natu as the people meant by it. The Ampalakkarar of several natus would also meet to discuss and solve problems. In the regions under their sway, they were given honorific titles and the consecrated silk cloth that was draped on the deity at the temple, was tied around the Ampalakkarar’s head as a mark of respect.
Apart from historical sources, the author taps literary works, legends and folklore also.
Pattamankalam has been described in the Tiruvilaiyatal Puranam as “attamacitti aruliya Pattamankai” or the sacred place where the eight occult powers were bestowed upon a devotee by the divine mother. The Ampalakkarar of Pattamankalam was entitled to receive the consecrated headgear during the chariot procession and other festivals at the Tirukkottiyur temple. The Ampalakkarar of Pakaneri was entitled to all signs of honour and rights at the Civan and Amman temples in their natu. The position of Ampalakkarar was not earned overnight by money or anyother such means. It came down as an inheritance generation after generation. If it so happened that the Ampalakkarar did not have an heir, then another who was found to be worthy of being the chief, would be selected from the community by the people.
Although the Ampalakkarar who received the taxes from their citizens and strengthened the security of their towns – wielding power only next to those that ruled the southern kingdoms – were of the three groups, the Kallar, Maravar and Akampatiyar, they all belonged to one community.
In the first section of the novel itself, a highly sensitive and delicate question needing very careful and tactful treatment is raised by the author himself. Any reader going through the novel may wonder how Kalaignar, a rationalist of the Self-respect movement of Periyar hell-bent on the abolition of the accursed caste system, has chosen to write a novel valorizing the hero of a particular caste. Kalaignar draws the reader’s attention to the following plea made by Venkatacami Nattar in his history of the Kallars:
Although the various communities in Tamilnatu are now split into several groups, that all are the children of Mother Tamil and so of one community is a truth that must be realized with feelings of love and harmony. Let none be slighted as being inferior to another.
Kalaignar assures the reader that he won’t be lagging behind Nattar in the attempt to strive for this communal harmony.
None need doubt that the narrative of Tenpantic Cinkam, its events and characters shall reflect this aspiration. Harmony! How and by whom was it wrecked? How did enmity raise its ugly head? How did the rage for vengeance grow?. Adding the sheen of imaginative fabulation to real events, I now begin to answer these questions.
The hero of the novel, Valukku Veli, the lion of Southern Panti, is the very image of heroism, uprightness and honour. The opening chapter begins with a description of his physical features.
An upright gait. Eyes that looked straight ahead. Above the lips, like a pair of unsheathed swords, the moustache. A commanding look in which it was yet possible to detect a touch of tenderness. A high and slanted headgear like a crown. On the ears a pair of gold rings. Upon the broad chest, strings of precious gems. On legs that were like pillars of iron and on the upper arms that were as if wrought of steel, stiff bands of gold. All these signs of excellence can be seen in Valukku Veli, the lion of the southern Pantiya land, who continues to reveal himself even today in a statue in the village of Kattippattu.
Some of the heroes and heroines of the novel are subtly distinguished from one another. Cuntarampal and her sister Vativampal, two performing artistes, are equally beautiful but differ in character.
Cuntarampal was perhaps twenty years of age. Vativampal was two or three years younger to her… She was like a figure carved out of ivory. Her sister, of gold.
As the story develops, we realize that these two sisters constitute the fair maid-dark lady archetype made memorable by writers like Hawthorne and D.H. Lawrence.
Vellai Aiyar is another archetypal character though endowed with some individual traits. He may not be considered a major character but he does play an important role in the novel.
Vellai Aiyar was known as Maturai Vellai Aiyar to all in Tenpanti region. He wore a coat and a full suit in the western tradition and as a sign of his adherence to western habits, and as a sign of his loyalty to the older tradition, a turban and sacred ash smeared liberally on his forehead. Such was the appearance of this gentleman. As the British sway spread slowly, those that opposed became Kattabommans, while those who were ready to lend their support became Ettappans. As the Tamil regions lay submerged in the dust of slavery, looking ahead into the future as if in political divination, Maturai Venkataramana Aiyar assumed the pseudonym of Vellai Aiyar, learnt the art of tiding over the floods of time and putting it to practice, began to succeed in it. With the name ‘Vellai’ suggesting support to white power conjoined with ‘Aiyar’ seeming to preserve the age-old traditions, he became Vellai Aiyar. However, he was no poisonous creature.
Colonel Durai is portrayed as a typical wily English army chief who came to conquer by hook or by crook and who could easily outwit the Tamil chieftains, stupidly self-centred and hopelessly divided. Vellai Aiyar’s description of Colonel Durai’s conduct is quite in character:
He rinses his mouth with whisky when he wakes up in the morning. He takes brandy in lieu of his morning coffee. Before his noon meal, whenever he is thirsty he gulps down a couple of bottles of beer. When he wakes up from his siesta, he must have a glass brimming with wine by his bed. Throughout the night, he needs both rum and a celestial damsel like Rambha. This in brief is Colonel Durai.
His first appearance itself indicates what fair and foul means he is going to employ to scare the life out of the chieftains. In the paintings upon the wall of the tent in which he meets the chieftains two scenes are depicted:
A tamarind tree. Beneath it a three-legged foot stool. In the blank space between the legs of the stool the word ‘kayattaru!’; upon the stool was Kattabomman. Around his neck the noose! Another painting was hung beside the first. On a throne was seated Ettappan. The scene depicted an English official crowning him. What was the teaching these paintings imparted? “If you submit to the English your rule shall last. If not, your soul shall depart.”
As foreseen and foreshadowed, Colonel Durai’s victory is complete at the end. The Marutu Pandiyas are captured by the English. Kalaiyar Kovil is seized by the whites. Umaitturai, Kopala Nayakkar and the others of the freedom troops are all arrested. Valukku Veli falls into the death-pit in Kattippattu dug by Urankappuli and is killed.
The novel may be considered an alternative history of the time in as much as it is characterized by what Lukacs calls socialist realism and gives prominence to the suppressed classes of Tamil society.
While introducing the two dancing women, Kalaiganar writes,
Are there not those that would, in haste, look upon women who were performing artistes, as saleable commodities? What did it matter what way of life one adopted? Who can stop women whose hearts went leaping beyond the traditions and customs of domestic life and the imprisonment of marital life? The truth is that the world of performing art is such that it makes its women readily available. That is all. Says the kural, “Of what avail is watch and ward? Honour is woman’s safest guard.” Women cannot be imprisoned and their honour, guarded. Chastity, which is their virtue, alone can guard them.
Cuntarampal aspired to live by the truth of this kural and also guide her sister to do so. That is how she succeeded in living as an equal to the landowners who were high up in the social scale.
Cuntarampal of the much maligned dancing community, till the end, proves to be honest, cultured and steadfast in her love for Valukku Veli.
The Tamil society’s love for gods and goddesses, temples, rituals and festivals is not ignored by Kalaignar even though he happens to abhor its irrational beliefs. The second chapter itself is devoted to a realistic description of the celebration of the Sprout Festival in the two villages.
The sprouts of nine kinds of grain in earthen pots arranged in one row after another were like the fingers that stirred, when maidens held their palms still and close together. In all the houses of Pakaneri and Pattamankalam, bee-eyed beauties reveled in the celebrations of the Sprout Festival with the music that the many bangles on their forearms made as an accompaniment. Holding tiny, exquisite pots with the sprouts in their hands, they sang benedictory songs on Valukku Veli at Pakaneri.
Payum Puli Pandaraka Vanniyan
The novel called Payum Puli Pantaraka Vanniyan describes the life of a Lankan martyr who fought against the Portuguese and the British in Lanka during the sixteenth century. In his preface to the novel, Kalaignar writes about the choice of subjects for his novels.
From wheresoever valour, prudence and sacrifice may shine, I have always been enthusiastic to make an epic of the same.
Particularly, when the valour, prudence and sacrifice happen to be the assests of the Tamils, I have always been particular that they should not be lost in the annals of time, uncared for.
The Tamil and the Sinhala kingdoms in Lanka were captured one after the other by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English. But Vanniyan’s kingdom as well as the kanti kingdom were mighty enough to withstand the British onslaught for a longtime. Vanniyan’s territory extended between the yalppanam Paravai sea on the north and Aruvi river on the south; Trinkomalai on the east and Mannar District on the west. It is said that Van Dreburg, an English lieutenant, who defeatd Pantaraka Vanniyan on 31 October 1803, installed a stone inscription to perpetuate the glory of his victory.
Though no satisfactory record of the history of the Vanni region survives, the details provided by G.K.Rajasuriyar will help us understand and appreciate Kalaignar’s use of the historical backdrop. The chequered history of the Vanni during the ancient kings of Ceylon and the period of foreign occupation could be better understood in the words of Tennent.
After the withdrawal of the Sinhalese sovereigns from their northern capitals in the fourteenth century, and abandonment of their deserted country to the Malabars, the latter disorganized and distracted in turn by the ruin they themselves had made, were broken up into small principalities under semi-independent chiefs, and of these the Vanni was one of the last that survived the general decay.
Be that as it may, the wilds of the Vanni were never tamed by either the Tamil or Sinhalege kings. It was a buffer-state to both these kingdoms from time immemorial and it was referred to as the “Adankappattu”, the rebellious state. The Vanni was colonized by Tamil Colonists from Southern India by the kings of Jaffnapattinam. They consisted of all castes from vellalars. During times of war, whether caused by internal dissension or external threats, the kings of Jaffna found the Vanni as a safe heaven of refuge. They hid their crown jewels in the wilds of the Vanni when there were any signs of war….
With the capture of the kingdom by the Portuguese, the Vanni was under their control and “Parangicheddiculam” of the Vanni may have been the fort of the Portuguese. With the arrival of the Dutch on the scene they were only able to exact yearly tribute of 42 elephants. About the year 1782 the continued conflicts came to an end when the Dutch once and for all defeated the Vanniyars. Every foreign power found the Vanniyars a formidable foe and this could be explained in the words of Lewi:
‘It is characteristic of the spirit of this people that the Dutch met nowhere a more determined resistance than from one of the native princesses, the Vannichi Maria Sembatte, whom they were obliged to carry away as prisoner, and to detain in captivity in the fort of Colombo’.
The Vanniyars thence commenced to live a wild and marauding life and carried on a predatory warfare against the Dutch in Mannar and Trincomalee and even penetrated to the Jaffna Peninsula. The Dutch had to build forts along the river to keep them at bay. Even with the advent of the British, Pandara Vanniyan started a revolt to expel them from his district with the assistance of the Kandyans. He attacked the government house in Mullaitevu and drove out the garrison which was under the command of one Captain Drieberg and seized the fort. The victory of the Vanniyars was shortlived. Three detachments from Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee were despatched and the Vanniyars were defeated in the Mannar district. Although Pandara Vanniyan was active again, his grandiose scheme to rule the Vanni faded away.
Given his amazing inventiveness and story-telling skill, Kalaignar is able to draw from history and legends a wide spectrum of events and characters and weaves them into a fascinating tale. As Ramani observes, the finest stroke of genius is to be found in the link that he establishes between the protagonist Pantarakan of Sri Lanka and the mainland Tamil freedom fighter Virapantiya Kattapomman, envisioning thereby a larger picture of the freedom movement launched by the Tamil heroes. The novel thus becomes a historical-fictional account of the contribution of the Tamils to the freedom movement and to the formation of the modern multiethnic Sri Lanka.
Presenting the last few years in Vanniyar’s life, Kalaignar includes all the important historical personages and brings in a few of his own creations. “With minor characters like Cankili, Tanikai, Marttani, Van Dreberg, Edward Madge, General MCDowell and others whose roles in the novel make them not only realistic but also functionally indispensable, the plot weaves its way through interesting episodes that bring out elements of heroism, valour, patriotism, romance, affection, deception, perversion, indulgence, connivance, betrayal, military expediency, poetic justice, pity, frustration, affection, resolve and many such kaleidoscopic twists of the drama of human psychology each consistently developed in accordance with the delineation of the characters who make their inimitable presence in the novel”.
Pantaraka Vanniyan consisting of a series of dramatically exciting scenes is more a dramatic epic than a historical romance. A master playwright, Kalaignar knows how to arouse the reader’s curiosity in episode after episode. Before Pantaraka Vanniyan makes his appearance, he is introduced indirectly to the reader in one of the early chapters in a conversation between Cuntaralinkam and an elderly person who is later known to be the grandfather of Kuruvicci Nacciyar, another major character.
“Sire! I happened to come across a few villages on the way. I am here in this village now. Everywhere I could see festive decorations. But I could find none anywhere. Why?”.
“Oh… The Visaka festival ends today. There will be such festivities at the Kannaki temple at Varrappalai. All people of this region will be there in the temple. Only the old and decrepit like me remain at home. The décor you find everywhere is to mark the Visaka festival. And, this year it is something special, you see! Kurivicci Nacciyar herself conducts the festivities. It is wonderful indeed. Poor that I am, I could not attend the festivities”.
“Sire, Who is that Kuruvicci Nacciyar?”
“You see, my dear! Pantaraka Vanniyan is a young man. There is no one to equal him in his resolve. Ever since he became the king, he had always been in the war field. His life has become one long struggle. His relatives had been all out to get him married. Do you know what condition he laid for his marriage?
“Really? What could such a condition be?”
“I don’t want to settle down to marriage until the British are chased away from this land and freedom is ensured. Whoever is the lady who would like to get married to me shall join hands with me right from now in my fight against the British imperialism.” This is the strict condition he has laid.
When the elderly person said this, Cuntaralinkam’s heart started beating fast. He was impatient to know more. And the elderly person continued.
“Kurivicci Nacciyar is the lady who has come forward. Pantaraka Vanniyan has accepted her as his love declaring that he would marry her once his mission had been accomplished. Kuruvicci Nacciyar acknowledges her gratitude to the deity Kannaki for Pantaraka Vanniyan’s acceptance of her as his love. That is why she is conducting the festivities. It is widely said that the king may be one of the participants in the festivities”.
Kalaignar does not mind alluding to the characters and episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharata and even of some of the Puranas since they have become archetypes well-known to the common people and can also serve his purpose.
The friendship between Vikramaraja Singhe and Pantaraka Vanniyan is compared by the former with the proverbial intimacy between Duryodhanan and Karnan.
“My minister,” said Vikramaraja Singhe in an unmistakable manner, “Have you heard of an incident described in the Mahabharata? Duryodhanan and Karnan were bosom friends. One day when Duryodhanan was away from his house, his wife Banumathi and Karnan were playing dice. She was about to lose the game. Karnan was playing the game with great confidence. Just then Duryodhanan came back. Banumathi saw the approaching husband. She stood up in respect to him. Karnan had not noticed Duryodhanan. He thought that Banumathi was trying to avoid losing the game, leaving half way. He tried to drag her back to her seat. He held the girdle of pearls around her waist. The pearls fell in all directions. Just then Duryodhanan accost them both. Karnan was terribly upset lest Duryodhanan should misread the situation. Duryodhanan knew that Karnan had no dot of blemish in his heart. He collected the pearls and said, “Shall I make a chain of it again?” So pure was his heart. My minister! I am like unto that Duryodhanan in friendship. Pantaraka Vanniyan is my Karnan. But your daughter cannot be compared with that virtuous lady Banumathi.
Though here it is a straightforward comparison, its implications being open and clear, there are occasions when a mythological allusion may become a double-edged weapon in the hands of Kalaignar.
Psychological realism is not wanting in the portrayal of major as well as minor charactrers. The four characters Vikramaraja Singhe, Piyacili, Pilimatalavai and Pantaraka Vanniyan, after a terrible incident in which all the four were involved, are found together trying to behave as if what had happened the previous night had not happened at all though each was in a troubled state of mind. But their thoughts are revealed by the author in a sardonic manner.
“I have had to marry this woman of all those in the world. Such a creature is she! She considers all acts of sin as the stepping stones to heaven. She has decided once and for all that love, desire, affection are but lip-services to enslave men. My God! I don’t know how many such shining snakes of women have you created. She calls me her god but is waiting for the right moment to wring my neck. She says that she cannot live without me… Is it possible to forgive her? But what else could I do ?
She happens to be my queen.”
The king of Kanti was wailing thus.
“What if I am so beautiful? My beauty has not succeeded in enticing this Pantaraka Vanniyan. The beauty of the art of love is there in my eyes… my father’s desire is for the kingdom. My desire is for lying on the wonderful body of this charming man at least for a moment, forgetting the whole world. That made me prepared to execute my father’s plan. I stand defeated. There are ever so many who make a poem of my beauty. How many are there sending me letters describing the beauty of parts! When I see them and when I read them, I am proud of myself. But that pride has been dented last night.”
That was how Piyacili was wailing.
“I planned to change the political map of this region with her help. Who else is there who could earn me my victory but she? I know that there are so many young men who would like to touch her feet. They secretly touch her slippers when they could not touch her feet… But it is my misfortune that this Pantaraka Vanniyan did not surrender himself to her beauty. Though I am sad that my plan did not succeed, I could not help but appreciate this man of perfect valour beyond the reach of lust.”
That was how Pilimatalavai was wailing.
“Treachery in the form of a woman. Conspiracy in the form of a minister. Friendship in the form of the king of Kanti. I expected that she would become the wife deserving his love, a virtuous woman, at least after getting married to him. But she roams as a queen of lascivious nights. She seems to have learnt the art of living a life of wayward lust… it is my good fortune that any friend has abundant faith in me. Our friendship has remained intact. This nation also has survived a misfortune.”
Pantaraka Vanniyan heaved a sigh as he thought so.
This is an instance of skilful catching of a character in a moment of revelation for which great playwrights use what are known as soliloquies. One may be virtuous or villainous but one cannot hide oneself to one’s own heart.
There is a successful fusion of lust, pathos, humour and irony in a dexterously composed dramatic scene in which a king is cajoled into putting his signature on a few blank sheets of paper by an unscrupulous voluptuary.
“Darling! I am drunk you see. I wanted to see if I can affix my signature.” She scribbled her signature a few times.
“Ha, is it such a big game? I can affix my signature well, you see!”
“No, you can’t. you just cannot. You have taken more wine than I.” She hung on his back and made him more passionate.
He took it as a challenge. “Give me the pen. I will put my signature a million times.”
“You cannot, dear. In the state in which you are, you can only scribble and cannot affix your signature.” Piyacili said.
“Let us see!” he snatched the pen from her.
He kept the sheets on a stand near the lamp and said, “See yourself! My signature.”
He held the pen in his hand.
Piyacili smiled in success. “See, here! And here!”
He put his signature wherever she pointed out and asked her if he had been steady enough to affix his signature. His words were lost in his kisses.
One of the most remarkable strokes of artistic genius evident in Pantaraka Vanniyan is the handling of the historical personage Veerapandiya Kattabomman by the author. Though his name is evoked a number of times throughout the novel, he makes his appearance in only one scene and that happens to be the scene of his being hanged to death. The author knows that being the most celebrated hero of the time he could not be avoided completely and that if he appears in many scenes he would become the most dominant character easily outshining all the other major figures. But the single scene depicting him becomes one of the most memorable ones of the novel.
Major Bannerman was arrogant when he spoke. “Do you know why you have been brought here?”
Kattabomman roared like a lion: “Don’t I know even that? My friend the king of Putukkottai competed with the king of Ettayapuram, Ettappar and won the prize for betrayal. That is why I stand here.”
“That is not the reason,” said Bannerman thumping on the table.
“There are other reasons too. If there is a race that had undone itself because of lack of understanding, that race can only be the Tamil race in the whole world. There is no necessity for any enemy to keep them as under. They stand asunder all by themselves because of bitterness, jealousy and rivalry. The Tamil race is at the summit of all these. That is the reason for Veerapandiyan to stand on the stand of the accused in front of you and the Tamil chieftains having assembled to witness the proceedings… Here are persons clad in silk and bejeweled with the most precious stones in the world. They have traded themselves for power and position and lie prostrate in front of you as slaves. Let them understand what you mean. The classical Tamil literature speaks of valour, honour, love, fame and benevolence. Are they just pieces of literature? Oh, no! They are symbols of a culture. They are pearls of history. They are precious jewels of tradition. These have prostituted their valour… The Tamil race has always lived with its head held high. Will that race bend in abjectness when beset with treachery? Will that race be tempted by your tricks ?... I am not bothered about the verdict. I have only one regret. My history would have been more honourable if I had died on the battlefield at the portals of my palace. Bereft of such a fortunate death, I am going to die at the end of a rope. Hey, you who wash the feet of foes and make a victual of the same! You should be happy now. I wish you all the best. Have a nice life! Let me take leave.”
Kattabomman, the pride of the Tamil race, is assigned a final speech worthy of his heroism, valour and love for his mothertongue and motherland. He becomes the author’s mouthpiece when he stresses the message to the Tamil community the world over that their disunity is the rootcause of their downfall.
Again, it is Kalaignar’s voice which speaks at the end of the novel when a minor character, turning a new life, appeals to the villain:
The Sinhalese and the Tamils are the sons of the soil. My desire is that these two races should live in amity getting their share of equal rights here.
Ponnar Sankar
Ponnar Sankar, a historial novel centering round the historical-legendary characters, Ponnar, Sankar, Nalla Thangal and Kunrudaiyan, all the four now elevated to the status of archetypes, has the exquisite charm of a folk-poem. Besides research articles and books, folk songs and tales and hearsay, a lot of field-study has been undertaken to gather materials for this enchanting work. Brinda Beck’s Annanmar Kathai, Ponnalagar Enum Kallalagar Ammanai, Varaguna Perungudikoottam Ponnar-Sankar Varalatru Nool, Annanmar Swamy Kathai and a recorded version of Annanmar Varalatru Kathai are some of the major sources acknowledged by the author himself. He assures the reader that the events having taken place three or four hundred years eariler, the imaginary serial based on the history of Ponnar-Sankar will be an attempt to create a superstructure that will coalesce with the foundation. The researchers concede that the books published on this historical episode, the notes on the palm leaf manuscripts, and the copper plate documents are full of contradicting details.
Regarding the time when the historical events of this novel took place and the social set-up that is pictured here, the author writes,
There was a time when the three crowned Tamil kings, Chera, Chola and Pandiya had extended their rule over a large area. Later they became chieftains of small areas but retained their ancestral names – Chera, Chola and Pandiya. The events of the present history took place in this era. A few kings bearing the name ‘Cholan’ and a few more the names ‘Cheran’ and ‘Pandiyan’ ruled over fragments of the erstwhile larger kingdoms. That era also disappeared slowly and the era in which the British, the Portuguese and the Dutch began to bring our land under their control as a market emerged. This history of valour happens like a silver lining before the foreigners stepped in – in the dark era of Tamilnadu when local chieftains ruled over very small areas and were losing even them mostly. There is evidence to say that the hatred that arose between one clan and another among the people of the Kongu region who lived as Velala Gounder, Vettuva Gounder, Mudaliyar, Chettiar, Vanniyar and Sambuvar is the starting point of this brave history. Contrary to that, only the jealousy among the agnates of the Velala citizenry is the thread that runs through this history. If it had been the history of a clash between the Velalas and the Vettuvas, would it have been possible for people of both these clans which existed then and also exist now to find a place on either side? The enmity that arose among the agnates of a great Velala family runs through not one or two, but three generations, takes various forms and ends as a moving historical epic.
But then Kalaignar is not going to miss an opportunity to propagate his rationalist principles. He bemoans the fact that in Tamilnadu reputed for various admirable qualities like glorious antiquity, literary richness, abundance of art, valour, concern for the protection of honour, the great evil, ‘absence of unity’ continues to be an incurable disease from the Sangam period. And he expresses his great wish that the serialized novel must get rid of this evil and provide a chance to see a healthy and prosperous Tamilnadu at least in the future. Another grievance of the author is also stated in the preface though in an oblique manner. Mentioning that temples have been built for Ponnar, Sankar, and Arukkani in the Kongu region and that in addition to these three, Veerabahu Sambuvan is also worshipped, he thoughtfully adds that from ancient times it has been a practice to extol the virtues of those who differ from ordinary people and perform extraordinary deeds by comparing them with gods. He does not want to sound harsh or contemptuous though he may not approve of the practice. He, therefore, contends that when Valluvar says, “God is nonpareil,” “God is a sage of immense virtue,” he wants to stress that one should aspire to attain all the qualities ascribed to god, “and that anyone who lives following that code of virtue will deserve to be respected on a par with God. Kalaignar’s assessment is that Ponnar and Sankar known as “Annanmar Samy” were only revered like divine beings.
The novel, quite characteristically, opens with the portrayal of an idyllic scene followed by the introduction of three major characters.
That village known as Arichampatti and also as Maniankurichi wore the look of a grand festival. All around there were agricultural lands made fertile by the overflowing Cauvery, fields full of crops gently swaying their heads and groves full of towering coconut trees with a large number of bunches on the top. The richness of the soil was in no way less than the abundance of water … outside, on the way to the village, unmindful of having been cut, banana trees hugged bamboo trees and played with the wind with their broad and long leaves. At several places in the middle of the streets beautiful domes made of coloured papers in a variety of designs had been hung.
Nelliangodan, whose later name ‘Kunrudaiyan’ became a byword for innocence, imbecility and credulity, shows his true colours in the very first appearance:
At that time a bearded man with unkempt rough hair and clad in worn-out dress which appeared to have been soaked in a gutter approached the stage to receive food grains. He was so emaciated that he was not able to walk even. But he was neither old nor sick. With pity in her eyes, Thamarai looked at that man who appeared to have eaten nothing for several days…
Perumayi Ammal asked him, “What do you want – rice, or some millet?” The indigent young man sang in lightning speed a reply nobody would have expected.
Auntie, I didn’t come to get maize or millet
Auntie, I did come as your daughter’s husband
To tie the sacred thali around her neck.
On hearing this audaciously astonishing reply, Perumayi Ammal felt as if she had stepped into fire. Before she could get at him and ask furiously, “What did you say?” the man removed his beard and made - up unkempt hair, laughed at them innocuously and sang.
You used to make fun of me
And called me silly Masachamy
How is it, this Masagoundan’s grand venture?
Not minding the presence of her mother, her friends and the crowd of the people around her, Thamarai Nachi shouted ‘atthan’ and embraced him. On the back of that young man who just then experienced a pleasure he had never felt all his life felt stinging whiplashes. “Appa! Leave him.” Thamarai cried and tried to stop her father.
More and more instances of Nelliangodan’s naivety and Thamarai’s intense love for him are brought to the fore as the novel moves on.
Folk songs and folk tales add extraordinary charm to the one long folk tale the novel is. A boatman tells the story of karagam floating festival.
Sankar said, “Ayya! Begin the story of Karagam floating festival!”
The boatman nodded his head and said,
“Here and now!” and started singing a devotional song about the greatness of Lord Ganesh.
Oh! Vinayaga, the first one
The son of three-eyed Shiva
You the powerful one
The son of great Parvathi
The elephant-faced one
The son of the Protector!
Sankar pulled the boatman to his side and said, “you boatman, if you begin with singing songs in praise of Lord Ganesh it may go on upto dawn. Tell the story of the festival briefly.”
“Is it so? All right …. I’ll tell. Listen to me. In Kailas there is a mountain called Nagamalai. There was a cobra there. As it had no issue it undertook a penance to appease Lord Siva. It was a five-headed snake. Siva took pity on it and told Parvathi. “Go to that snake and take birth as its baby!” And Parvathi was born as a daughter to that snake.
Since it is a tragic tale of Ponnar, Sankar and their sister, the second half of the novel is filled with heart-rending scenes. When misfortunes come in a battalion, Arukkani Thangam’s sorrow, despondency and anger know no bounds.
Like rumbling volcanoes that clash against one another and pump out lava all over, there was wrath and fury in the mind of Arukkani Thangam!
She looked intently at the dead body of her friend. She bent down and kissed her on the forehead. Tears rolled down from her eyes and fell on the face of her friend like flower buds!
She ran into the palace. Even the fire that consumed those virtuous lamps was cooling down as if it mourned for them! She stood outside the palace facing the burnt down area where her sisters – in – law used to live. Prayed and fell prostrate on the ground! She then stood up majestically – now there was no sorrow on her face, no tears in her eyes – and drew the sword from its sheath. The softness typical of femininity took leave and manliness occupied that most delicate flower – like face! With her sword held high she started walking from the Valanadu fort! Her friends walked behind her with swords in their hands! She walked as if a deluge took the shape of a woman!
She walked in a manner that made everybody wonder if women could turn into tremors! She walked as an example of breeze turning into apocalyptic fire! She walked, walked, kept on walking!.
Finally, it is Ponnar who gives expression to Kalaignar’s message to the entire Tamil community in choice words and measured phrases.
The Vettuva clan which has hunting as its profession and the Velala clan which has agriculture as its profession and the other clans which pursue other professions are all one clan, the Tamil clan! Not only my clan, but people of all clans got training in Rockiannan’s barracks.
Kalaignar’s passionate devotion to and his close knowledge of the Tamil classics, especially Purananuru, Tirukkural, Cilappatikaram and Kalingattupparani are evident throughout.
In that poem (Kalingattupparani) there is a description of soldiers lying in the battlefield with spears stuck up in their throats. They are trying to pull them out with their hands. The poet says that it appeared as if they were blowing on their bugles. Such scenes in Veerapur battlefield also!
In fact, the last few chapters of the novel, full of war scenes and heroic deeds, constitute a veritable Purananuru in prose.
Romapurippandiyan
For Romapurippandiyan, Kalaignar chooses as his protagonist Karikalan, the most renowned of the Tamil kings, who is believed to have lived from 60 B.C. to A.D. 10 and during whose reign a Pandya king sent an ambassador to King Augustus of the Roman Empire. The author has diligently collected all the literary and historical evidence available to portray a society when Tamil culture was at its zenith. The historian Warmington in his essay “The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India” asseverates that the Greek and Roman trade with India must have taken place before the second century A.D. The trade between Tamilnadu and Rome is attested beyond a shadow of a doubt in Sangam poetry. The Arecamedu excavations near Puducherry, the former French colony, point to an old Roman settlement, conclusively proving that the yavana settlements mentioned in Patirruppattu and Cilappatikaram are not a figment of the Tamil imagination. “The Roman bottle found there could be dated because of the initials of its manufacturer, so well known to students of Roman history, and this will take us to the first century of the Christian era” (T. P. Meenakshisundaran, A History of Tamil Literature, 14).
The Ionians had their settlements in Tamilnadu called Yavanar irukkai like the one discovered at Arecamedu. In Cilappatikaram, it is said:
To the sworded yavana soldiers strong skilled in guarding the gate of the ramparts rising high.
It is also reported by some historians that the deadly weapons on the fortress of Maturai were similar to the ones Archimedes invented.
Augustus Caesar was at the helm of the Roman Empire from 39 B.C. to A.D. 14. This was the time of Karikalan’s reign in Tamilnadu and Kalaignar comes to the valid conclusion that the Pandya king who sent a Tamil ambassador to Rome might have been Pandiyan Peruvazhuti, a contemporary of the formidable Chola king. The fifty eighth poem of Purananuru is by Kavirippumpattinattuk Karikkannanar “who sings Cholan Kurappallit tunciya perun Tirumavalavan and Pantiyan Velliampalattut tunciya Peruvazhuti when they were together.”
You are ruler over the Kaviri River with its cool waters!
And that man is a bull born of the great lineage of the Pandyas and because his ancestors have now all vanished, he is the support that never weakens of his ancient clan with its noble reputation, as a root might hang down from a banyan tree and sustain an overarching limb that offers dense shade so that, without flowering, fruit still burgeons, though its main trunk has died… could there be anything sweeter, since you two lords are as you are! Listen to me as I go on! May your glory grow and may it last long! May your aid, each to each, the one supporting the other, be reciprocal! And if neither the one nor the other proves false to your alliance, then men will have spoken the truth when they say that you will win this wide and flourishing world circled around by the sea with its roaring waves!
In the fifth-sixth poem of Purananuru, addressed to Pantiyan Ilavantikaippallit tunciya Nanmaran, Nakkirar mentions the Roman trade.
May you live on, with a sweet life, giving away precious ornaments to all those who come to you in need and never running out of them, while every day you take your pleasure as women wearing their shining bangles bring you the cool and fragrant wine carried here in their excellent ships by the Greeks and the women pour it for you out of pitchers made of gold that have been fashioned with high artistry, O Maran, you whose sword is raised on high, like the sun with its rays of heat driving away the darkness that has filled in the spaces of the beautiful sky, like the moon that spreads out its cool rays in the west, may you live long and as firmly established as they are together with the world!
The two South Indian harbours mentioned by Ptolemy must have been Kavirippumpattiman and Puducherry, which had a flourishing trade with Rome by sending pearls, muslin and pepper and getting horses, jars of wine, glassware and gold in return.
The ambience of the Tamilnadu of Karikalan’s time is recaptured by Kalaignar through Sangam poems, especially those of Karikkannanar, Nakkirar, Katiyalur Uruttirankannanar and Ilamperuvaluti. Ilamperuvaluti who is generously given the throne by Chezhiyan at the end of the novel, praises the latter and Kalaignar aptly uses the Purananuru song attributed to the Pandya king for this purpose.
This world exists because men exist who even if they were to win the divine drink of the gods would not drink it by themselves only thinking of its sweetness, men without hate, without slackness in action though they may have fears like the fears of other men, who would even give their lives for fame but would not accept fame with dishonour were it to gain them all the world, men who have no regrets, and with virtues so exalted, never exert their powerful energies for themselves but only for others. It is because they exist that we do!
The novel is as much a celebration of Tamil literature and culture as of the Tamil king Karikalan, who, like a colossus, dominates it from beginning to end excepting for a few scenes at the end, where Chezhiyan as an ambassador to Rome plays a stellar role. As a generous and benevolent ruler, as a mighty monarch, as a munificent patron of arts, as an admirer and friend of poets, as a custodian of his citizens’ rights, as a saviour of the poor and the downtrodden, Karikalan exemplifies the ideal king portrayed by Valluvar. Every crisis reveals his concern for the weak and the suppressed. Even when the whole country opposes his view, he is bent upon asserting the grandeur of Tamil culture. Even when his enemies gain the upperhand, he does not yield to pressures to save his life and belongings at the expense of self-dignity. He always stands by honesty and fair mindedness though his enemies stoop to the lowest level of conduct. To him, the end can never justify the means. Kalaignar’s portrayal is worthy of the historical personage that has endeared himself to the Tamils over a long period of time.
Kalaignar’s mastery of the history of the Roman Empire from the days of its founding, his knowledge of Roman culture and civilization, and his depiction of the pomp and splendour of the Roman court, are all equally astounding. The Roman scenes in the novel alluding to poets like Virgil and Ovid, heroes like Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and tyrants like Nero and Queens like Cleopatra bear testimony to the quality of the research he has done.
There are several scenes in the novel which are socially realistic, historically authentic and psychologically profound. The open confrontation between the Buddhists and the Jains in Tamilnadu is a case in point. We come across an august gathering of Jains and Buddhists, ministers, captains, poets, ambassadors, spies, secretaries, princes and princesses. The complaint of the Jains is that they were attacked by the Buddhists in Pacumalai. But the Buddhists claim that it was only because the Jain saint Kanakanandhi was not prepared to release a lady who had taken refuge in the monastery. Chezhian’s speech on the occasion reflects Kalaignar’s considered judgment on the religions and the religious fanatics who have wrought havoc with the Tamil society. It is pointed out that it is the Dravidian religion which should reign supreme and not Hinduism or Buddhism or Janisim which have done more harm than good.
This is the typical way in which Kalaignar promotes the cause of Tamil culture, and privileges Dravidian tenets over those of any religion or political party, be the setting of the fiction historical or social.
“reconstructs a personage, a series of events, a movement or the spirit of a past age and pays the debt of serious scholarship to the facts of the age being recreated.” It was Sir Walter Scott who established the form in 1814 in Waverley though many writers before him had combined fiction and history. Alexander Dumas, Victor Hugo, Tolstoi, and James Fennimore Cooper are among his celebrated successors. Though the novels of all these were translated into Tamil in the twentieth century and were known to a small section of the Tamil reading public, it was Scott’s Waverley novels in the original which exerted a tremendous impact on the leading writers of the middle decades of the twentieth century during and after India’s victorious struggle for freedom. A considerable percentage of the early novels written in various regional languages understandably happened to be historical novels which aimed at transporting the Indian youth back to the country’s glorious past. In Tamilnadu, it was Kalki’s novels, written under the direct influence of Scott, which took the Tamil world by storm.
A typical Waverley novel deals with an age when two cultures, one dying and the other being born, are in conflict with each other. In this work, actual historical personages jostle with fictional ones who also participate in actual historical events and, therefore, give expression to the impact which the historical events had upon the common people who lived during the bygone age. The extent to which actual historical events must make their presence, the extent to which actual men and women from history must be allowed, the time which must have elapsed between the events of the story and its writing are among the controversial issues that continue to be raised by historical novelists and critics. But there is no point in insisting upon any hard and fast rules relating to these because everything ultimately depends upon the success of the writer, who, if he happens to be a genius, may overcome the odds and achieve the sublime even by violating rules and going against conventions. However, there is unanimous agreement over the responsibility of the historical novelist to give as far as possible a truthful picture of the age he has chosen to present and over the fact that the historical novel is centered in a social context. But there have been numerous deviations from the ‘formula’. We do have what may be called ‘costume romances’ in which history becomes a mere background for a series of adventurous or sexual exploits and not an integral part. Also, there are ‘novels of character’ in which the historical setting and the age are not given so much of importance as the representation of a group of characters.
It goes without saying that a historical novel is all the more meaningful when its milieu is understood. Fenimore Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans, Scott’s Ivanhoe, Charles Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities, and Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath will naturally be better understood by readers who are acquainted with, respectively, the American frontier experience, Anglo-Norman Britain, the French Revolution and the American Depression because these novels are primarily about these historical matters to which the characters have to play only a subordinate role.
One may recall here the way a traditional Marxist like the Hungarian Georg Lukacs read the nineteenth century novel. Known for his belief in the reflection theory, Lukacs underscored literature’s reflection of the social reality surrounding it, not a simple reflection of realistic details but a profound one of the essence of a society. Lukacs favored ‘socialist realism’ or ‘critical realism’ as a mode and the nineteenth-century novel as a historical genre on the assumption that the best art both reflects and refracts history as a whole and holds up a large mirror to social changes. In his view, novelists like Dickens and Tolstoy, possessing social and historical visions, afforded what Lukacs called a ‘world-historical’ sense of the various classes and sections of society in dynamic tension, caught as they are in the ebb and flow of social conflict and historical change. Characters in their novels are significant not only as individuals but as types because of their capacity to express the pressures which their social roles thrust upon them. Lukacs could appreciate even historical fictions for the social- economic conditions and class conflicts they portray.
While reading the historical novels of Karunanidhi, it is good to keep in mind that the genre has travelled a long way from Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities. It has evolved into a complex and prestigious one in the second half of the twentieth century. Historical novels such as H.F.M. Prescott’s The Man on a Donkey and Thomas Flanagan’s The Year of the French, the new historicist rereadings of Shakespeare’s history plays and the post-modernist views about historiography indicate the degree of sophistication that the historical material may be subjected to by a master craftsman. That the historical novel Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize for 2009 also witnesses to the eminence attained by the genre.
The salient features of a highly evolved historical novel are identified by Greenblatt. Besides the setting in an era different from the present of the novelist, the interest in significant historical events, and the representations of identifiable, documented historical personages, which are extremely important, the historical figures should be not merely “background material or incidental presences but the dominant characters, thoroughly reimagined and animated. They are at the centre of our attention and their actions in the world seem to carry the burden of a vast, unfolding historical process that is most fully realized in small contigent, local gestures. These gestures are ordinarily hidden from official chronicles, but they are the special purview of the historical novelist.” It is not the big events, the coronations, the big battles or the pomp and processions that matter. But as Hilary Mantel herself says,
This is how the world changes; a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman’s sigh as she passes and leaves on the air trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close on the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh.
It is such subtle touches that animate a historical novel and they abound in Karunanidhi’s Romapurip Pantiyan, Tenpantic Cinkam, Ponnar Cankar, and Payum Puli Pantaraka Vanniyan.
The historical novel, “an act of conjuring,” must provide “a powerful hallucination of presence, the vivid sensation of lived life.” The dead should be brought back to life and made to speak:
“I am not a stick figure in a textbook, I was once alive, emotionally complex, beset with fears and daydreams, just as you are now. I will hide nothing from you. I will reveal to you what it actually felt like to experience in the flesh certain historical forces that are fixed in certain frozen formulaic phrases: the Italian Renaissance, the English Reformation, the Irish uprising. And I will do so in a way that will make you feel, in the midst of a sober conversation about court politics, the touch of the real: “Try one of these sugared almonds.”
Tenpandic cinkam
In Tenpandic Cinkam, a historical novel set about two hundred years ago in the southernmost parts of Tamilnadu, a large amount of well-researched historical material is judiciously used by Kalaignar to make the fiction come alive. Located in time immediately after the treacherous capture of the first formidable freedom fighter of Tamilnadu Virapantiya Kattapomman by the British, the novel rewrites the history of the period with its passionate tone of patriotism. Narrating the story of the political and personal saga of two states - Pattamankalam and Pakaneri – in mortal opposition with each other and commonly against the growing powers the British imperialists, the novel depicts some of the heroes of the Tevar community, who refused to be cowed down even though the odds were against them. It is one more chapter in the tragic history of the merciless annihilation of the natives of many former British colonies because of the power of the gunpowder.
As usual, Kalaignar has done his homework conscientiously before embarking upon this historical novel. As he himself says, “Na.mu.Venkatacami, who is known to the Tamils as Nattarappa, penned the history of the kallars. Details taken from there, along with local legends that were heard of in the days gone by, have been brought together to show how Pakaneri natu and Pattamankalam natu in the Civakanka region of Ramanathapuram clashed with each other in enmity, spilling each other’s blood.”
Another source that has been of immense use to Kalaignar is, as acknowledged by him, Rajayyan’s South Indian Rebellion, from where he could get some valuable historical details.
Kallanatu, a rugged region of thorny shrubs, situated between Maturai and Tiruchirappalli, served as the meeting ground of the three parallel rebel organizations of Tirunelveli, Ramnad and Dindukkal. The Kallars, who were the inhabitants of this hilly territory, were not only gallant fighters but the inverterate enemies of the company for generations. Large sections of them had already sent their support to Marutu and associates of Kattabomman. Gopala Nayak, more than the other leaders, effectively prevailed upon them and gained their alliance. He sent Ellappa Mudali on missions to Kallanatu. On the twenty fifth of February, Kaliani Tevar and Perumal Swami Pillai, the deputies of Kallanatu, visited Kallanatu and gave their consent to join the league.
All the historical details required to follow the story and to understand certain topical allusions are provided by the author wherever they are relevant.
It was customary to call a cluster of towns a natu, several natus together a kottam, several kottams a mantalam or alternately several natus a valanatu and several valanatus a mantalam. Just as kaca natu, konur natu, Tenmai natu, Kannantankutinatu, uratta natu, Paik natu, papa natu, Ampu natu, Valla natu, Varappur natu, Micenkili natu, and Melaittuvakuti natu were renowned in the Cola country, the Kallar kingdoms of the pantiya region have been listed by Civakankai Comacuntaranar and Kallal Manivacakac Caranalaya Atikal who has published his research.
Many towns together would comprise a natu and a chief whose valour was renowned would be recognized as its Ampalakkarar with all the people of those regions submitting to his command. Although, at times, the term ‘Ampalakkarar’ was used to denote a community, it was really the chief of the Kallar natu as the people meant by it. The Ampalakkarar of several natus would also meet to discuss and solve problems. In the regions under their sway, they were given honorific titles and the consecrated silk cloth that was draped on the deity at the temple, was tied around the Ampalakkarar’s head as a mark of respect.
Apart from historical sources, the author taps literary works, legends and folklore also.
Pattamankalam has been described in the Tiruvilaiyatal Puranam as “attamacitti aruliya Pattamankai” or the sacred place where the eight occult powers were bestowed upon a devotee by the divine mother. The Ampalakkarar of Pattamankalam was entitled to receive the consecrated headgear during the chariot procession and other festivals at the Tirukkottiyur temple. The Ampalakkarar of Pakaneri was entitled to all signs of honour and rights at the Civan and Amman temples in their natu. The position of Ampalakkarar was not earned overnight by money or anyother such means. It came down as an inheritance generation after generation. If it so happened that the Ampalakkarar did not have an heir, then another who was found to be worthy of being the chief, would be selected from the community by the people.
Although the Ampalakkarar who received the taxes from their citizens and strengthened the security of their towns – wielding power only next to those that ruled the southern kingdoms – were of the three groups, the Kallar, Maravar and Akampatiyar, they all belonged to one community.
In the first section of the novel itself, a highly sensitive and delicate question needing very careful and tactful treatment is raised by the author himself. Any reader going through the novel may wonder how Kalaignar, a rationalist of the Self-respect movement of Periyar hell-bent on the abolition of the accursed caste system, has chosen to write a novel valorizing the hero of a particular caste. Kalaignar draws the reader’s attention to the following plea made by Venkatacami Nattar in his history of the Kallars:
Although the various communities in Tamilnatu are now split into several groups, that all are the children of Mother Tamil and so of one community is a truth that must be realized with feelings of love and harmony. Let none be slighted as being inferior to another.
Kalaignar assures the reader that he won’t be lagging behind Nattar in the attempt to strive for this communal harmony.
None need doubt that the narrative of Tenpantic Cinkam, its events and characters shall reflect this aspiration. Harmony! How and by whom was it wrecked? How did enmity raise its ugly head? How did the rage for vengeance grow?. Adding the sheen of imaginative fabulation to real events, I now begin to answer these questions.
The hero of the novel, Valukku Veli, the lion of Southern Panti, is the very image of heroism, uprightness and honour. The opening chapter begins with a description of his physical features.
An upright gait. Eyes that looked straight ahead. Above the lips, like a pair of unsheathed swords, the moustache. A commanding look in which it was yet possible to detect a touch of tenderness. A high and slanted headgear like a crown. On the ears a pair of gold rings. Upon the broad chest, strings of precious gems. On legs that were like pillars of iron and on the upper arms that were as if wrought of steel, stiff bands of gold. All these signs of excellence can be seen in Valukku Veli, the lion of the southern Pantiya land, who continues to reveal himself even today in a statue in the village of Kattippattu.
Some of the heroes and heroines of the novel are subtly distinguished from one another. Cuntarampal and her sister Vativampal, two performing artistes, are equally beautiful but differ in character.
Cuntarampal was perhaps twenty years of age. Vativampal was two or three years younger to her… She was like a figure carved out of ivory. Her sister, of gold.
As the story develops, we realize that these two sisters constitute the fair maid-dark lady archetype made memorable by writers like Hawthorne and D.H. Lawrence.
Vellai Aiyar is another archetypal character though endowed with some individual traits. He may not be considered a major character but he does play an important role in the novel.
Vellai Aiyar was known as Maturai Vellai Aiyar to all in Tenpanti region. He wore a coat and a full suit in the western tradition and as a sign of his adherence to western habits, and as a sign of his loyalty to the older tradition, a turban and sacred ash smeared liberally on his forehead. Such was the appearance of this gentleman. As the British sway spread slowly, those that opposed became Kattabommans, while those who were ready to lend their support became Ettappans. As the Tamil regions lay submerged in the dust of slavery, looking ahead into the future as if in political divination, Maturai Venkataramana Aiyar assumed the pseudonym of Vellai Aiyar, learnt the art of tiding over the floods of time and putting it to practice, began to succeed in it. With the name ‘Vellai’ suggesting support to white power conjoined with ‘Aiyar’ seeming to preserve the age-old traditions, he became Vellai Aiyar. However, he was no poisonous creature.
Colonel Durai is portrayed as a typical wily English army chief who came to conquer by hook or by crook and who could easily outwit the Tamil chieftains, stupidly self-centred and hopelessly divided. Vellai Aiyar’s description of Colonel Durai’s conduct is quite in character:
He rinses his mouth with whisky when he wakes up in the morning. He takes brandy in lieu of his morning coffee. Before his noon meal, whenever he is thirsty he gulps down a couple of bottles of beer. When he wakes up from his siesta, he must have a glass brimming with wine by his bed. Throughout the night, he needs both rum and a celestial damsel like Rambha. This in brief is Colonel Durai.
His first appearance itself indicates what fair and foul means he is going to employ to scare the life out of the chieftains. In the paintings upon the wall of the tent in which he meets the chieftains two scenes are depicted:
A tamarind tree. Beneath it a three-legged foot stool. In the blank space between the legs of the stool the word ‘kayattaru!’; upon the stool was Kattabomman. Around his neck the noose! Another painting was hung beside the first. On a throne was seated Ettappan. The scene depicted an English official crowning him. What was the teaching these paintings imparted? “If you submit to the English your rule shall last. If not, your soul shall depart.”
As foreseen and foreshadowed, Colonel Durai’s victory is complete at the end. The Marutu Pandiyas are captured by the English. Kalaiyar Kovil is seized by the whites. Umaitturai, Kopala Nayakkar and the others of the freedom troops are all arrested. Valukku Veli falls into the death-pit in Kattippattu dug by Urankappuli and is killed.
The novel may be considered an alternative history of the time in as much as it is characterized by what Lukacs calls socialist realism and gives prominence to the suppressed classes of Tamil society.
While introducing the two dancing women, Kalaiganar writes,
Are there not those that would, in haste, look upon women who were performing artistes, as saleable commodities? What did it matter what way of life one adopted? Who can stop women whose hearts went leaping beyond the traditions and customs of domestic life and the imprisonment of marital life? The truth is that the world of performing art is such that it makes its women readily available. That is all. Says the kural, “Of what avail is watch and ward? Honour is woman’s safest guard.” Women cannot be imprisoned and their honour, guarded. Chastity, which is their virtue, alone can guard them.
Cuntarampal aspired to live by the truth of this kural and also guide her sister to do so. That is how she succeeded in living as an equal to the landowners who were high up in the social scale.
Cuntarampal of the much maligned dancing community, till the end, proves to be honest, cultured and steadfast in her love for Valukku Veli.
The Tamil society’s love for gods and goddesses, temples, rituals and festivals is not ignored by Kalaignar even though he happens to abhor its irrational beliefs. The second chapter itself is devoted to a realistic description of the celebration of the Sprout Festival in the two villages.
The sprouts of nine kinds of grain in earthen pots arranged in one row after another were like the fingers that stirred, when maidens held their palms still and close together. In all the houses of Pakaneri and Pattamankalam, bee-eyed beauties reveled in the celebrations of the Sprout Festival with the music that the many bangles on their forearms made as an accompaniment. Holding tiny, exquisite pots with the sprouts in their hands, they sang benedictory songs on Valukku Veli at Pakaneri.
Payum Puli Pandaraka Vanniyan
The novel called Payum Puli Pantaraka Vanniyan describes the life of a Lankan martyr who fought against the Portuguese and the British in Lanka during the sixteenth century. In his preface to the novel, Kalaignar writes about the choice of subjects for his novels.
From wheresoever valour, prudence and sacrifice may shine, I have always been enthusiastic to make an epic of the same.
Particularly, when the valour, prudence and sacrifice happen to be the assests of the Tamils, I have always been particular that they should not be lost in the annals of time, uncared for.
The Tamil and the Sinhala kingdoms in Lanka were captured one after the other by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English. But Vanniyan’s kingdom as well as the kanti kingdom were mighty enough to withstand the British onslaught for a longtime. Vanniyan’s territory extended between the yalppanam Paravai sea on the north and Aruvi river on the south; Trinkomalai on the east and Mannar District on the west. It is said that Van Dreburg, an English lieutenant, who defeatd Pantaraka Vanniyan on 31 October 1803, installed a stone inscription to perpetuate the glory of his victory.
Though no satisfactory record of the history of the Vanni region survives, the details provided by G.K.Rajasuriyar will help us understand and appreciate Kalaignar’s use of the historical backdrop. The chequered history of the Vanni during the ancient kings of Ceylon and the period of foreign occupation could be better understood in the words of Tennent.
After the withdrawal of the Sinhalese sovereigns from their northern capitals in the fourteenth century, and abandonment of their deserted country to the Malabars, the latter disorganized and distracted in turn by the ruin they themselves had made, were broken up into small principalities under semi-independent chiefs, and of these the Vanni was one of the last that survived the general decay.
Be that as it may, the wilds of the Vanni were never tamed by either the Tamil or Sinhalege kings. It was a buffer-state to both these kingdoms from time immemorial and it was referred to as the “Adankappattu”, the rebellious state. The Vanni was colonized by Tamil Colonists from Southern India by the kings of Jaffnapattinam. They consisted of all castes from vellalars. During times of war, whether caused by internal dissension or external threats, the kings of Jaffna found the Vanni as a safe heaven of refuge. They hid their crown jewels in the wilds of the Vanni when there were any signs of war….
With the capture of the kingdom by the Portuguese, the Vanni was under their control and “Parangicheddiculam” of the Vanni may have been the fort of the Portuguese. With the arrival of the Dutch on the scene they were only able to exact yearly tribute of 42 elephants. About the year 1782 the continued conflicts came to an end when the Dutch once and for all defeated the Vanniyars. Every foreign power found the Vanniyars a formidable foe and this could be explained in the words of Lewi:
‘It is characteristic of the spirit of this people that the Dutch met nowhere a more determined resistance than from one of the native princesses, the Vannichi Maria Sembatte, whom they were obliged to carry away as prisoner, and to detain in captivity in the fort of Colombo’.
The Vanniyars thence commenced to live a wild and marauding life and carried on a predatory warfare against the Dutch in Mannar and Trincomalee and even penetrated to the Jaffna Peninsula. The Dutch had to build forts along the river to keep them at bay. Even with the advent of the British, Pandara Vanniyan started a revolt to expel them from his district with the assistance of the Kandyans. He attacked the government house in Mullaitevu and drove out the garrison which was under the command of one Captain Drieberg and seized the fort. The victory of the Vanniyars was shortlived. Three detachments from Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee were despatched and the Vanniyars were defeated in the Mannar district. Although Pandara Vanniyan was active again, his grandiose scheme to rule the Vanni faded away.
Given his amazing inventiveness and story-telling skill, Kalaignar is able to draw from history and legends a wide spectrum of events and characters and weaves them into a fascinating tale. As Ramani observes, the finest stroke of genius is to be found in the link that he establishes between the protagonist Pantarakan of Sri Lanka and the mainland Tamil freedom fighter Virapantiya Kattapomman, envisioning thereby a larger picture of the freedom movement launched by the Tamil heroes. The novel thus becomes a historical-fictional account of the contribution of the Tamils to the freedom movement and to the formation of the modern multiethnic Sri Lanka.
Presenting the last few years in Vanniyar’s life, Kalaignar includes all the important historical personages and brings in a few of his own creations. “With minor characters like Cankili, Tanikai, Marttani, Van Dreberg, Edward Madge, General MCDowell and others whose roles in the novel make them not only realistic but also functionally indispensable, the plot weaves its way through interesting episodes that bring out elements of heroism, valour, patriotism, romance, affection, deception, perversion, indulgence, connivance, betrayal, military expediency, poetic justice, pity, frustration, affection, resolve and many such kaleidoscopic twists of the drama of human psychology each consistently developed in accordance with the delineation of the characters who make their inimitable presence in the novel”.
Pantaraka Vanniyan consisting of a series of dramatically exciting scenes is more a dramatic epic than a historical romance. A master playwright, Kalaignar knows how to arouse the reader’s curiosity in episode after episode. Before Pantaraka Vanniyan makes his appearance, he is introduced indirectly to the reader in one of the early chapters in a conversation between Cuntaralinkam and an elderly person who is later known to be the grandfather of Kuruvicci Nacciyar, another major character.
“Sire! I happened to come across a few villages on the way. I am here in this village now. Everywhere I could see festive decorations. But I could find none anywhere. Why?”.
“Oh… The Visaka festival ends today. There will be such festivities at the Kannaki temple at Varrappalai. All people of this region will be there in the temple. Only the old and decrepit like me remain at home. The décor you find everywhere is to mark the Visaka festival. And, this year it is something special, you see! Kurivicci Nacciyar herself conducts the festivities. It is wonderful indeed. Poor that I am, I could not attend the festivities”.
“Sire, Who is that Kuruvicci Nacciyar?”
“You see, my dear! Pantaraka Vanniyan is a young man. There is no one to equal him in his resolve. Ever since he became the king, he had always been in the war field. His life has become one long struggle. His relatives had been all out to get him married. Do you know what condition he laid for his marriage?
“Really? What could such a condition be?”
“I don’t want to settle down to marriage until the British are chased away from this land and freedom is ensured. Whoever is the lady who would like to get married to me shall join hands with me right from now in my fight against the British imperialism.” This is the strict condition he has laid.
When the elderly person said this, Cuntaralinkam’s heart started beating fast. He was impatient to know more. And the elderly person continued.
“Kurivicci Nacciyar is the lady who has come forward. Pantaraka Vanniyan has accepted her as his love declaring that he would marry her once his mission had been accomplished. Kuruvicci Nacciyar acknowledges her gratitude to the deity Kannaki for Pantaraka Vanniyan’s acceptance of her as his love. That is why she is conducting the festivities. It is widely said that the king may be one of the participants in the festivities”.
Kalaignar does not mind alluding to the characters and episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharata and even of some of the Puranas since they have become archetypes well-known to the common people and can also serve his purpose.
The friendship between Vikramaraja Singhe and Pantaraka Vanniyan is compared by the former with the proverbial intimacy between Duryodhanan and Karnan.
“My minister,” said Vikramaraja Singhe in an unmistakable manner, “Have you heard of an incident described in the Mahabharata? Duryodhanan and Karnan were bosom friends. One day when Duryodhanan was away from his house, his wife Banumathi and Karnan were playing dice. She was about to lose the game. Karnan was playing the game with great confidence. Just then Duryodhanan came back. Banumathi saw the approaching husband. She stood up in respect to him. Karnan had not noticed Duryodhanan. He thought that Banumathi was trying to avoid losing the game, leaving half way. He tried to drag her back to her seat. He held the girdle of pearls around her waist. The pearls fell in all directions. Just then Duryodhanan accost them both. Karnan was terribly upset lest Duryodhanan should misread the situation. Duryodhanan knew that Karnan had no dot of blemish in his heart. He collected the pearls and said, “Shall I make a chain of it again?” So pure was his heart. My minister! I am like unto that Duryodhanan in friendship. Pantaraka Vanniyan is my Karnan. But your daughter cannot be compared with that virtuous lady Banumathi.
Though here it is a straightforward comparison, its implications being open and clear, there are occasions when a mythological allusion may become a double-edged weapon in the hands of Kalaignar.
Psychological realism is not wanting in the portrayal of major as well as minor charactrers. The four characters Vikramaraja Singhe, Piyacili, Pilimatalavai and Pantaraka Vanniyan, after a terrible incident in which all the four were involved, are found together trying to behave as if what had happened the previous night had not happened at all though each was in a troubled state of mind. But their thoughts are revealed by the author in a sardonic manner.
“I have had to marry this woman of all those in the world. Such a creature is she! She considers all acts of sin as the stepping stones to heaven. She has decided once and for all that love, desire, affection are but lip-services to enslave men. My God! I don’t know how many such shining snakes of women have you created. She calls me her god but is waiting for the right moment to wring my neck. She says that she cannot live without me… Is it possible to forgive her? But what else could I do ?
She happens to be my queen.”
The king of Kanti was wailing thus.
“What if I am so beautiful? My beauty has not succeeded in enticing this Pantaraka Vanniyan. The beauty of the art of love is there in my eyes… my father’s desire is for the kingdom. My desire is for lying on the wonderful body of this charming man at least for a moment, forgetting the whole world. That made me prepared to execute my father’s plan. I stand defeated. There are ever so many who make a poem of my beauty. How many are there sending me letters describing the beauty of parts! When I see them and when I read them, I am proud of myself. But that pride has been dented last night.”
That was how Piyacili was wailing.
“I planned to change the political map of this region with her help. Who else is there who could earn me my victory but she? I know that there are so many young men who would like to touch her feet. They secretly touch her slippers when they could not touch her feet… But it is my misfortune that this Pantaraka Vanniyan did not surrender himself to her beauty. Though I am sad that my plan did not succeed, I could not help but appreciate this man of perfect valour beyond the reach of lust.”
That was how Pilimatalavai was wailing.
“Treachery in the form of a woman. Conspiracy in the form of a minister. Friendship in the form of the king of Kanti. I expected that she would become the wife deserving his love, a virtuous woman, at least after getting married to him. But she roams as a queen of lascivious nights. She seems to have learnt the art of living a life of wayward lust… it is my good fortune that any friend has abundant faith in me. Our friendship has remained intact. This nation also has survived a misfortune.”
Pantaraka Vanniyan heaved a sigh as he thought so.
This is an instance of skilful catching of a character in a moment of revelation for which great playwrights use what are known as soliloquies. One may be virtuous or villainous but one cannot hide oneself to one’s own heart.
There is a successful fusion of lust, pathos, humour and irony in a dexterously composed dramatic scene in which a king is cajoled into putting his signature on a few blank sheets of paper by an unscrupulous voluptuary.
“Darling! I am drunk you see. I wanted to see if I can affix my signature.” She scribbled her signature a few times.
“Ha, is it such a big game? I can affix my signature well, you see!”
“No, you can’t. you just cannot. You have taken more wine than I.” She hung on his back and made him more passionate.
He took it as a challenge. “Give me the pen. I will put my signature a million times.”
“You cannot, dear. In the state in which you are, you can only scribble and cannot affix your signature.” Piyacili said.
“Let us see!” he snatched the pen from her.
He kept the sheets on a stand near the lamp and said, “See yourself! My signature.”
He held the pen in his hand.
Piyacili smiled in success. “See, here! And here!”
He put his signature wherever she pointed out and asked her if he had been steady enough to affix his signature. His words were lost in his kisses.
One of the most remarkable strokes of artistic genius evident in Pantaraka Vanniyan is the handling of the historical personage Veerapandiya Kattabomman by the author. Though his name is evoked a number of times throughout the novel, he makes his appearance in only one scene and that happens to be the scene of his being hanged to death. The author knows that being the most celebrated hero of the time he could not be avoided completely and that if he appears in many scenes he would become the most dominant character easily outshining all the other major figures. But the single scene depicting him becomes one of the most memorable ones of the novel.
Major Bannerman was arrogant when he spoke. “Do you know why you have been brought here?”
Kattabomman roared like a lion: “Don’t I know even that? My friend the king of Putukkottai competed with the king of Ettayapuram, Ettappar and won the prize for betrayal. That is why I stand here.”
“That is not the reason,” said Bannerman thumping on the table.
“There are other reasons too. If there is a race that had undone itself because of lack of understanding, that race can only be the Tamil race in the whole world. There is no necessity for any enemy to keep them as under. They stand asunder all by themselves because of bitterness, jealousy and rivalry. The Tamil race is at the summit of all these. That is the reason for Veerapandiyan to stand on the stand of the accused in front of you and the Tamil chieftains having assembled to witness the proceedings… Here are persons clad in silk and bejeweled with the most precious stones in the world. They have traded themselves for power and position and lie prostrate in front of you as slaves. Let them understand what you mean. The classical Tamil literature speaks of valour, honour, love, fame and benevolence. Are they just pieces of literature? Oh, no! They are symbols of a culture. They are pearls of history. They are precious jewels of tradition. These have prostituted their valour… The Tamil race has always lived with its head held high. Will that race bend in abjectness when beset with treachery? Will that race be tempted by your tricks ?... I am not bothered about the verdict. I have only one regret. My history would have been more honourable if I had died on the battlefield at the portals of my palace. Bereft of such a fortunate death, I am going to die at the end of a rope. Hey, you who wash the feet of foes and make a victual of the same! You should be happy now. I wish you all the best. Have a nice life! Let me take leave.”
Kattabomman, the pride of the Tamil race, is assigned a final speech worthy of his heroism, valour and love for his mothertongue and motherland. He becomes the author’s mouthpiece when he stresses the message to the Tamil community the world over that their disunity is the rootcause of their downfall.
Again, it is Kalaignar’s voice which speaks at the end of the novel when a minor character, turning a new life, appeals to the villain:
The Sinhalese and the Tamils are the sons of the soil. My desire is that these two races should live in amity getting their share of equal rights here.
Ponnar Sankar
Ponnar Sankar, a historial novel centering round the historical-legendary characters, Ponnar, Sankar, Nalla Thangal and Kunrudaiyan, all the four now elevated to the status of archetypes, has the exquisite charm of a folk-poem. Besides research articles and books, folk songs and tales and hearsay, a lot of field-study has been undertaken to gather materials for this enchanting work. Brinda Beck’s Annanmar Kathai, Ponnalagar Enum Kallalagar Ammanai, Varaguna Perungudikoottam Ponnar-Sankar Varalatru Nool, Annanmar Swamy Kathai and a recorded version of Annanmar Varalatru Kathai are some of the major sources acknowledged by the author himself. He assures the reader that the events having taken place three or four hundred years eariler, the imaginary serial based on the history of Ponnar-Sankar will be an attempt to create a superstructure that will coalesce with the foundation. The researchers concede that the books published on this historical episode, the notes on the palm leaf manuscripts, and the copper plate documents are full of contradicting details.
Regarding the time when the historical events of this novel took place and the social set-up that is pictured here, the author writes,
There was a time when the three crowned Tamil kings, Chera, Chola and Pandiya had extended their rule over a large area. Later they became chieftains of small areas but retained their ancestral names – Chera, Chola and Pandiya. The events of the present history took place in this era. A few kings bearing the name ‘Cholan’ and a few more the names ‘Cheran’ and ‘Pandiyan’ ruled over fragments of the erstwhile larger kingdoms. That era also disappeared slowly and the era in which the British, the Portuguese and the Dutch began to bring our land under their control as a market emerged. This history of valour happens like a silver lining before the foreigners stepped in – in the dark era of Tamilnadu when local chieftains ruled over very small areas and were losing even them mostly. There is evidence to say that the hatred that arose between one clan and another among the people of the Kongu region who lived as Velala Gounder, Vettuva Gounder, Mudaliyar, Chettiar, Vanniyar and Sambuvar is the starting point of this brave history. Contrary to that, only the jealousy among the agnates of the Velala citizenry is the thread that runs through this history. If it had been the history of a clash between the Velalas and the Vettuvas, would it have been possible for people of both these clans which existed then and also exist now to find a place on either side? The enmity that arose among the agnates of a great Velala family runs through not one or two, but three generations, takes various forms and ends as a moving historical epic.
But then Kalaignar is not going to miss an opportunity to propagate his rationalist principles. He bemoans the fact that in Tamilnadu reputed for various admirable qualities like glorious antiquity, literary richness, abundance of art, valour, concern for the protection of honour, the great evil, ‘absence of unity’ continues to be an incurable disease from the Sangam period. And he expresses his great wish that the serialized novel must get rid of this evil and provide a chance to see a healthy and prosperous Tamilnadu at least in the future. Another grievance of the author is also stated in the preface though in an oblique manner. Mentioning that temples have been built for Ponnar, Sankar, and Arukkani in the Kongu region and that in addition to these three, Veerabahu Sambuvan is also worshipped, he thoughtfully adds that from ancient times it has been a practice to extol the virtues of those who differ from ordinary people and perform extraordinary deeds by comparing them with gods. He does not want to sound harsh or contemptuous though he may not approve of the practice. He, therefore, contends that when Valluvar says, “God is nonpareil,” “God is a sage of immense virtue,” he wants to stress that one should aspire to attain all the qualities ascribed to god, “and that anyone who lives following that code of virtue will deserve to be respected on a par with God. Kalaignar’s assessment is that Ponnar and Sankar known as “Annanmar Samy” were only revered like divine beings.
The novel, quite characteristically, opens with the portrayal of an idyllic scene followed by the introduction of three major characters.
That village known as Arichampatti and also as Maniankurichi wore the look of a grand festival. All around there were agricultural lands made fertile by the overflowing Cauvery, fields full of crops gently swaying their heads and groves full of towering coconut trees with a large number of bunches on the top. The richness of the soil was in no way less than the abundance of water … outside, on the way to the village, unmindful of having been cut, banana trees hugged bamboo trees and played with the wind with their broad and long leaves. At several places in the middle of the streets beautiful domes made of coloured papers in a variety of designs had been hung.
Nelliangodan, whose later name ‘Kunrudaiyan’ became a byword for innocence, imbecility and credulity, shows his true colours in the very first appearance:
At that time a bearded man with unkempt rough hair and clad in worn-out dress which appeared to have been soaked in a gutter approached the stage to receive food grains. He was so emaciated that he was not able to walk even. But he was neither old nor sick. With pity in her eyes, Thamarai looked at that man who appeared to have eaten nothing for several days…
Perumayi Ammal asked him, “What do you want – rice, or some millet?” The indigent young man sang in lightning speed a reply nobody would have expected.
Auntie, I didn’t come to get maize or millet
Auntie, I did come as your daughter’s husband
To tie the sacred thali around her neck.
On hearing this audaciously astonishing reply, Perumayi Ammal felt as if she had stepped into fire. Before she could get at him and ask furiously, “What did you say?” the man removed his beard and made - up unkempt hair, laughed at them innocuously and sang.
You used to make fun of me
And called me silly Masachamy
How is it, this Masagoundan’s grand venture?
Not minding the presence of her mother, her friends and the crowd of the people around her, Thamarai Nachi shouted ‘atthan’ and embraced him. On the back of that young man who just then experienced a pleasure he had never felt all his life felt stinging whiplashes. “Appa! Leave him.” Thamarai cried and tried to stop her father.
More and more instances of Nelliangodan’s naivety and Thamarai’s intense love for him are brought to the fore as the novel moves on.
Folk songs and folk tales add extraordinary charm to the one long folk tale the novel is. A boatman tells the story of karagam floating festival.
Sankar said, “Ayya! Begin the story of Karagam floating festival!”
The boatman nodded his head and said,
“Here and now!” and started singing a devotional song about the greatness of Lord Ganesh.
Oh! Vinayaga, the first one
The son of three-eyed Shiva
You the powerful one
The son of great Parvathi
The elephant-faced one
The son of the Protector!
Sankar pulled the boatman to his side and said, “you boatman, if you begin with singing songs in praise of Lord Ganesh it may go on upto dawn. Tell the story of the festival briefly.”
“Is it so? All right …. I’ll tell. Listen to me. In Kailas there is a mountain called Nagamalai. There was a cobra there. As it had no issue it undertook a penance to appease Lord Siva. It was a five-headed snake. Siva took pity on it and told Parvathi. “Go to that snake and take birth as its baby!” And Parvathi was born as a daughter to that snake.
Since it is a tragic tale of Ponnar, Sankar and their sister, the second half of the novel is filled with heart-rending scenes. When misfortunes come in a battalion, Arukkani Thangam’s sorrow, despondency and anger know no bounds.
Like rumbling volcanoes that clash against one another and pump out lava all over, there was wrath and fury in the mind of Arukkani Thangam!
She looked intently at the dead body of her friend. She bent down and kissed her on the forehead. Tears rolled down from her eyes and fell on the face of her friend like flower buds!
She ran into the palace. Even the fire that consumed those virtuous lamps was cooling down as if it mourned for them! She stood outside the palace facing the burnt down area where her sisters – in – law used to live. Prayed and fell prostrate on the ground! She then stood up majestically – now there was no sorrow on her face, no tears in her eyes – and drew the sword from its sheath. The softness typical of femininity took leave and manliness occupied that most delicate flower – like face! With her sword held high she started walking from the Valanadu fort! Her friends walked behind her with swords in their hands! She walked as if a deluge took the shape of a woman!
She walked in a manner that made everybody wonder if women could turn into tremors! She walked as an example of breeze turning into apocalyptic fire! She walked, walked, kept on walking!.
Finally, it is Ponnar who gives expression to Kalaignar’s message to the entire Tamil community in choice words and measured phrases.
The Vettuva clan which has hunting as its profession and the Velala clan which has agriculture as its profession and the other clans which pursue other professions are all one clan, the Tamil clan! Not only my clan, but people of all clans got training in Rockiannan’s barracks.
Kalaignar’s passionate devotion to and his close knowledge of the Tamil classics, especially Purananuru, Tirukkural, Cilappatikaram and Kalingattupparani are evident throughout.
In that poem (Kalingattupparani) there is a description of soldiers lying in the battlefield with spears stuck up in their throats. They are trying to pull them out with their hands. The poet says that it appeared as if they were blowing on their bugles. Such scenes in Veerapur battlefield also!
In fact, the last few chapters of the novel, full of war scenes and heroic deeds, constitute a veritable Purananuru in prose.
Romapurippandiyan
For Romapurippandiyan, Kalaignar chooses as his protagonist Karikalan, the most renowned of the Tamil kings, who is believed to have lived from 60 B.C. to A.D. 10 and during whose reign a Pandya king sent an ambassador to King Augustus of the Roman Empire. The author has diligently collected all the literary and historical evidence available to portray a society when Tamil culture was at its zenith. The historian Warmington in his essay “The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India” asseverates that the Greek and Roman trade with India must have taken place before the second century A.D. The trade between Tamilnadu and Rome is attested beyond a shadow of a doubt in Sangam poetry. The Arecamedu excavations near Puducherry, the former French colony, point to an old Roman settlement, conclusively proving that the yavana settlements mentioned in Patirruppattu and Cilappatikaram are not a figment of the Tamil imagination. “The Roman bottle found there could be dated because of the initials of its manufacturer, so well known to students of Roman history, and this will take us to the first century of the Christian era” (T. P. Meenakshisundaran, A History of Tamil Literature, 14).
The Ionians had their settlements in Tamilnadu called Yavanar irukkai like the one discovered at Arecamedu. In Cilappatikaram, it is said:
To the sworded yavana soldiers strong skilled in guarding the gate of the ramparts rising high.
It is also reported by some historians that the deadly weapons on the fortress of Maturai were similar to the ones Archimedes invented.
Augustus Caesar was at the helm of the Roman Empire from 39 B.C. to A.D. 14. This was the time of Karikalan’s reign in Tamilnadu and Kalaignar comes to the valid conclusion that the Pandya king who sent a Tamil ambassador to Rome might have been Pandiyan Peruvazhuti, a contemporary of the formidable Chola king. The fifty eighth poem of Purananuru is by Kavirippumpattinattuk Karikkannanar “who sings Cholan Kurappallit tunciya perun Tirumavalavan and Pantiyan Velliampalattut tunciya Peruvazhuti when they were together.”
You are ruler over the Kaviri River with its cool waters!
And that man is a bull born of the great lineage of the Pandyas and because his ancestors have now all vanished, he is the support that never weakens of his ancient clan with its noble reputation, as a root might hang down from a banyan tree and sustain an overarching limb that offers dense shade so that, without flowering, fruit still burgeons, though its main trunk has died… could there be anything sweeter, since you two lords are as you are! Listen to me as I go on! May your glory grow and may it last long! May your aid, each to each, the one supporting the other, be reciprocal! And if neither the one nor the other proves false to your alliance, then men will have spoken the truth when they say that you will win this wide and flourishing world circled around by the sea with its roaring waves!
In the fifth-sixth poem of Purananuru, addressed to Pantiyan Ilavantikaippallit tunciya Nanmaran, Nakkirar mentions the Roman trade.
May you live on, with a sweet life, giving away precious ornaments to all those who come to you in need and never running out of them, while every day you take your pleasure as women wearing their shining bangles bring you the cool and fragrant wine carried here in their excellent ships by the Greeks and the women pour it for you out of pitchers made of gold that have been fashioned with high artistry, O Maran, you whose sword is raised on high, like the sun with its rays of heat driving away the darkness that has filled in the spaces of the beautiful sky, like the moon that spreads out its cool rays in the west, may you live long and as firmly established as they are together with the world!
The two South Indian harbours mentioned by Ptolemy must have been Kavirippumpattiman and Puducherry, which had a flourishing trade with Rome by sending pearls, muslin and pepper and getting horses, jars of wine, glassware and gold in return.
The ambience of the Tamilnadu of Karikalan’s time is recaptured by Kalaignar through Sangam poems, especially those of Karikkannanar, Nakkirar, Katiyalur Uruttirankannanar and Ilamperuvaluti. Ilamperuvaluti who is generously given the throne by Chezhiyan at the end of the novel, praises the latter and Kalaignar aptly uses the Purananuru song attributed to the Pandya king for this purpose.
This world exists because men exist who even if they were to win the divine drink of the gods would not drink it by themselves only thinking of its sweetness, men without hate, without slackness in action though they may have fears like the fears of other men, who would even give their lives for fame but would not accept fame with dishonour were it to gain them all the world, men who have no regrets, and with virtues so exalted, never exert their powerful energies for themselves but only for others. It is because they exist that we do!
The novel is as much a celebration of Tamil literature and culture as of the Tamil king Karikalan, who, like a colossus, dominates it from beginning to end excepting for a few scenes at the end, where Chezhiyan as an ambassador to Rome plays a stellar role. As a generous and benevolent ruler, as a mighty monarch, as a munificent patron of arts, as an admirer and friend of poets, as a custodian of his citizens’ rights, as a saviour of the poor and the downtrodden, Karikalan exemplifies the ideal king portrayed by Valluvar. Every crisis reveals his concern for the weak and the suppressed. Even when the whole country opposes his view, he is bent upon asserting the grandeur of Tamil culture. Even when his enemies gain the upperhand, he does not yield to pressures to save his life and belongings at the expense of self-dignity. He always stands by honesty and fair mindedness though his enemies stoop to the lowest level of conduct. To him, the end can never justify the means. Kalaignar’s portrayal is worthy of the historical personage that has endeared himself to the Tamils over a long period of time.
Kalaignar’s mastery of the history of the Roman Empire from the days of its founding, his knowledge of Roman culture and civilization, and his depiction of the pomp and splendour of the Roman court, are all equally astounding. The Roman scenes in the novel alluding to poets like Virgil and Ovid, heroes like Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and tyrants like Nero and Queens like Cleopatra bear testimony to the quality of the research he has done.
There are several scenes in the novel which are socially realistic, historically authentic and psychologically profound. The open confrontation between the Buddhists and the Jains in Tamilnadu is a case in point. We come across an august gathering of Jains and Buddhists, ministers, captains, poets, ambassadors, spies, secretaries, princes and princesses. The complaint of the Jains is that they were attacked by the Buddhists in Pacumalai. But the Buddhists claim that it was only because the Jain saint Kanakanandhi was not prepared to release a lady who had taken refuge in the monastery. Chezhian’s speech on the occasion reflects Kalaignar’s considered judgment on the religions and the religious fanatics who have wrought havoc with the Tamil society. It is pointed out that it is the Dravidian religion which should reign supreme and not Hinduism or Buddhism or Janisim which have done more harm than good.
This is the typical way in which Kalaignar promotes the cause of Tamil culture, and privileges Dravidian tenets over those of any religion or political party, be the setting of the fiction historical or social.
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