PONNIYIN SELVAN- NOVEL BY KALKI KRISHNAMURTHY
BOOK NAME: Ponniyin Selvan
AUTHOR: Kalki Krishnamurthy
PUBLISHED ON: 16 May 1954
GENRE: Novel, Historic Fiction
ABOUT KALKI KRISHNAMURTHY
Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy was Tamil writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian Independance activist. He founded a magazine, which was named Kalki and he adopted the name as his pen name as well. He wrote 'Ponniyin Selvan' as a series in his magazine Kalki which later got published as Novel book containing five volumes. 'Ponniyin Selvan' is just one among his works.
DISCLAIMER: The content in the blog is completely adapted from Kalki Krishnamurthy's 'Ponniyin Selvan'. I am summarizing and concisely writing the story to encourage people read the book to get an idea about Indian history. Therefore, ownership of the content belongs to author Kalki Krishnamurthy All content provided in the blog is for information purposes only. Images used in this blog are purely for demonstrational purpose only.
PONNIYIN SELVAN
Kaveri river is also known as 'Ponni' in ancient texts. Hence Ponniyin Selvan means 'Son of River Kaveri'(as per Tamil language). 'Raja Raja Chola 1', the emperor of vast and humungous 'Chola Empire' was known to be 'Ponniyin Selvan' who conquered lands and seas. But there's a debate that the actual Ponniyin Selvan is 'Vallavarayan Vandiyadevan' who was the commander in Raja Raja Chola's army.
But who were the 'Cholas'? What was all about the 'Chola Empire'? How were they originated and how did they rule? Finally, how were they expelled from the reign? To know all these, keep reading.
Here, we will see the history about Golden Empire. Not like the fiction you saw in movie, but the real one that is taught to the students in classrooms.
The 'Chola' dynasty was the pivotal political power in South India from the 9th century to 14th century. They are also known as 'Chozha' Dynasty. Initially, they ruled only the areas around 'Kaveri' river in Tamil Nadu. But later, their empire spread to different places. For example, their sphere of influence included Kerala, Karnataka, Bengal, Gang shores and even foreign centuries such as Srilanka, Indonesia and Maldives. That was totally an irrepressible control.
The rule of 'Cholas' can be classified to four different periods- 'Early Cholas', 'Sangam Cholas', 'Imperial cholas', and 'Later Cholas'.
We don't know much about 'Early cholas' since we hardly have any evidence about them. But there are some reference about them in the 'Sangam Literature'. But most of them are just fictious stories. The 'cholas' believed that they were the successors of the common ancestor, 'Karikan'. Even though they believed so, they were under the feudatories of 'Pandyas' and 'Pallavas' before the 9th century. Dividing Tamil Nadu into two- the 'Northern' part was ruled by the 'Pallava' dynasty with 'Kanchipuram' as their capital. While the southern region was ruled by the 'Pandya' Dynasty with Madura as their capital.
Before 9th century, Northern part of the River Kaveri which was under the 'Pallava' Dynasty was ruled by a family called 'Mutharaiyar'. This family enjoyed special rights and powers from the king. It was such a powerful family. But, then occured a battle between the kingdoms of the two regions- The 'Pandya-Pallava battle'. Meanwhile 'Vijayalaya Chola' captured the place that was under the 'Mutharaiya' family. In addition there's a battle between two emperors. Vijaya Chola captured more places and established a chola empire. Which means the official Imperial Chola Empire in the late 9th century was established by Vijayalaya Chola.
As per the chola's belief, they were left without any power for nearly three centuries. The rule of Chola dynasty thereafter is so famous. As we all know that it was monarchy, king was the supreme ruler, they were following the culture of paternal order in order maintain the hierarchy. The regime was regulated by the royal decrees. There were ministers, officers and hence had a kind of central governance. Apart from that an officer named 'Olainayakam' passed the royal decree to other officers and as per that the regime was regulated. Another speciality of Chola dynasty was that the villages had local self-administration. The administration of the Chola dynasty was carried out by dividing it into 4 parts- Mandalams, Valanadus, Nadus and Kottam. Inspite of this, there were two village assemblies- Ur (village assembly having normal landowners), sabha (assembly with only Brahmins).
As per the paternal order, the emperors kept on changing. We can see Vijayalaya Chola's son Aditya 1, his son Parantaka 1, Parantaka's son Arinjaya Chola and Arinjaya's son Parantaka 11 were crowned as kings. By the time of Parantaka 11's reign, pandyas regained many of the territories lost to cholas thereby leading to the shrink of Chola Empire.
However, Parantaka 11 attacked Madurai, the capital of Pandya Dynasty, defeated Veera Pandya and incorporated the territory into his empire. Parantaka 11 assumed the title of 'Maduraikonda Parantaka' with his victory over Madurai. Raja Raja Chola was the son of Maduraikonda Parantaka. His birth name was 'Arulmozhi Varman'(name meaning: soft speaking man).
Once while crossing the River Kaveri he spilled into the river. Everyone thought he was dead but he escaped miraculously. This is how he came to be known as Ponniyin Selvan(means son of River Kaveri).
After the death of Parantaka 11, his son Raja Raja Chola 1 rose to power.. The famous 'Brihadeswara temple' at Tanjore was built during his reign. Also it was only in Tamil Nadu the Chola Dynasty existed at that time. Rajaraja Chola expanded the borders of the empire to Kerala, Sri Lank, Maldives, and Lakshadweep. Rajendra Deva Cholam1 is the son of Ponniyin Selvan or Rajaraja Chola 1. He was crowned as the next ruler of Chola Empire. The son was equally capable as father where his father captured many areas of Sri lanka, Maldives, and Lakshadweep. The son captured many other areas excluding these and added these to his empire. In addition to this, he also conducted expeditions in North India. While passing through Ganga shores realized that the area was ruled by Pala Dynasty. He even defeated Pala Dynasty and brought the holy water of Ganga and purified the water tank of the temple situated in his capital city. He later got the title 'Gangaikondachola'. Due to the happening of such events, even now this place is known as 'Gangaikondacholapuram'.
The king Arulmozhivarman was also known as Raja Raja Chola for his successful military conquests across the seas and the incorporation of the acquired territories into his empire. His son, Rajendra Chola on the other hand effortlessly conquered the remaining parts. He even invaded the North India including Bengal. Even now, Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola are regarded as the most powerful rulers of the Chola Dynasty. They were also the patrons of temple building,art, and architecture. Thus they built many temples during their reign. The temples were nit just centres of worship but also centres of social, economic and cultural exchanges.
The sculpture developed during their reign are still popular. The finishing and details of the of the statues are just mindblowing.
The design of the Nataraja statues that are still used in Indian homes are their contribution. Nataraja statues were first unearthed in relation to Chola empire. They gave much prominence to sculpturing activity. It was during the reign of Raja Raja Chola and Rajendra Chola that a stable government, an effective system of administration and a strong navy was established. 'Vallavaraiyan Vandhidevan' was the commander of the army of Rajaraja Chola and Rajendra Chola. Vallavaraiyan also got married to the sister of Rajaraja Chola. Thus, at many situations Vallavaraiyan was presented as Ponniyin Selvan. But it wasn't that difficult for the downfall of such a majestic empire. The main reason for the decline was the attitude of the later rulers after the death of Rajendra Chola. Corruption, debates, power struggle and inefficiency of the rulers weakened the empire. The chola Empire faced continuous attacks from Chalukyan and Pandyan rulers. Consequently, they had to give up many areas of their territories in return.
In 1279 CE, Chola empirewas wrapped up with the defeat of 'Rajendra Chola 111' at the hands of 'Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan'. We know that the frail ruler is incapable of ruling a vast empire that spreads across the seas. As marked in history, the Chola Empire came to an end in 1279 CE.
THIS IS THE REAL HISTORY OF CHOLA EMPIRE.
Author Kalki Krishnamurthy has written a novel titled 'Ponniyin Selvan' which is a novel somewhat based on real incidents but not a history text. However, when we go behind the history of cholas, we will get the incidents mentioned in the Novel so is the movie. But don't misinterpret it to be real history. So, I have tried to sum up real history from the available reference and evidence.
HOPE THIS HELPS!!!!!
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