The First Three Parts - a very brief synopsis
Arulmozli Varma who was later famous in history as Rajaraja I, was Sundara Chozla’s second son. When he was a child and had gone on a pleasure trip with the family, boating on the Cauvery, he had looked down to pick a flower floating on the water and had fallen into the Cauvery. When everyone was agitated looking for the child, a woman lifted the child from the river floods, left him on the boat and vanished. Everyone felt that Mother Cauvery herself had come and rescued the child. Everyone in the palace, and country began calling him Ponni’s Beloved Prince, darling child of the Cauvery also known as Ponni.
The Prince was also very popular having captured the hearts of all the people of the Chozla kingdom. His sister, Kundavai Devi, known as the Younger Pirati or royal Princess was even more popular. She had immense affection for her brother. She absolutely believed that this younger brother would attain immense fame and honors in the future even though he had no rights to the Chozla throne. She wanted her friend, living with her and other noblewomen at Pazlayarai, Vanathi of Kodumbalur to be married to Arulmozli.
Arulmozli obeyed every wish of his sister. At her urging he had gone to the battlefront in Lanka and gained fame as a brave warrior. The men of the Chozla battalion were free with nothing to do after King Mahinda of Lanka had retreated to his Rohana Mountain fortress. The Prince undertook various projects that pleased the people of Lanka. Most importantly, he arranged to renovate the many ancient Buddhist monuments in the old, war-devastated capital Anuradhapura. Overjoyed by this, one sect of the Buddhist congregations in Lanka came forward and offered the Throne and Crown of Lanka to Arulmozli. The Prince however declined to accept.
The Prince became acquainted with a deaf-mute elderly woman who wandered the ruins and forests of Lanka, as if she was crazy, a nobody. He came to know that she was the woman who had saved him from drowning in the Cauvery when he was a child. From pictures she drew he came to understand her history, to some extent. He understood how, his father Sundara had been castaway on an island near Lanka and had lived on that island for some time. His father had fallen in love with the mute woman and lived with her on that island. Arulmozli made some conclusions about the twins born to that mute woman.
Sundara Chozla was paralyzed and lay bedridden in the palace at Tanjavur. For some time now, a comet, the Dhoomaketu was filling the late-night skies. People of the Chozla country were worried about the omen of the comet, and felt that danger threated someone in the royal family. Many believed that the last days of Sundara Chozla were nearing. The debate all over the country was who would be crowned to rule after him.
Sundara Chozla’s eldest son and the Crown Prince Aditya Karikala lived in Kanchi at that time. He was very brave. After defeating the Pandiya king and making him retreat from the battlefield, the Prince followed him to his hiding place. He chopped of the head of that Pandiyan King and brought it to Tanjavur. He went to Kanchi as a representative of Sundara Chozla and as commander of northern forces. However, the Prince had no peace in his mind. The reason for that was a girl named Nandini.
When they were children Aditya and Nandini had been playmates, friends. She had been raised in the house of a temple priest. Later her family had moved to the Pandiya country. In his last days, King Veera Pandiya had been hiding in her home. When Aditya had raised his sword to chop off Veera Pandiya’s head, Nandini intervened and begged him not to do so. Karikala ignored her pleas and killed Veera Pandiya. After that incident, Nandini’s tear laden face appeared in his dreams and when he was awake and tortured Aditya Karikala’s mind, giving him no peace.
At that time the two lords of Pazluvoor wielded much power in the Chozla empire. The Elder Lord Pazluvoor was a veteran of many battles and wore more that sixty-four wound marks on his body. He was the finance minister of the Kingdom. His rule was law in the land. His brother the younger Lord Pazluvoor was the commander of Tanjavur fort. None could meet with the Emperor without their permission.
Sometime after the death of Veera Pandiya, Nandini married Lord Pazluvoor even though he was in his late sixties. The old man was enslaved by her enchanting beauty that had a mesmerizing charisma. Many others fell prey to her allure. At Nandini’s instigation, old man Pazluvoor developed a dislike for Aditya Karikala and his siblings. He decided that after Sundara Chozla, the crown should be given to Madurandaka Deva rather than to Karikala. He garnered the support of Kadamboor Sambuvaraya and other powerful chieftains for his cause.
Madurandaka was the son of devout Gandara Aditya who was the elder uncle of Sundara Chozla. Gandara Aditya’s wife Sembiyan Madevi, was the epitome of Saiva devotion. When King Gandara Aditya died, Madurandaka was a babe in arms. His mother raised him in the path of Saiva devotion. And in his younger days, Madurandaka too had no interest in worldly affairs. After he married a daughter of the Younger Lord of Pazluvoor, and upon the encouragement by Nandini, he became interested in ruling the kingdom. After a while the interest became an obsession. The Lords of Pazluvoor and others in support, favored Madurandaka’s rights to the Throne.
There were two other Chieftain families in Chozla kingdom: Thiru-kovalur Malayaman and the Velirs of Kodumbalur who refused to acknowledge these new claims. They stood firm on the side of the children of Sundara Chozla.
Sundara Chozla understood all these undercurrents in his empire. He did not wish for the Chozla empire to be reduced to nothing after his time. He wanted to consult with his sons and come to a peaceful conclusion. He was ready to bequeath the throne to Madurandaka. But, Sembiyan Madevi, Madurandaka’s mother did not support that idea. That elderly lady tried to change Madurandaka away from wanting the kingdom.
Aditya Karikala, did not wish to go to Tanjavur which was under the control of the Lords Pazluvoor. He sent a letter to his father asking that his father should come to Kanchi and stay in the new golden palace he had built for him. A brave young man called Vandiya Devan Vallavarayan carried the letters and messages. That young man during the journey, went to Kadamboor to meet his friend Kandamaran and stayed with him for a night. He overheard the secret conspiracy planned against Aditya Karikala. In that same place he became acquainted with Azlvar-adiyan Nambi, a fanatic follower of the Vaishnava faith. Later he finds out that Nambi was a confidential spy reporting to Prime Minister Anirudda.
The Prime Minister Anbil Anirudda Brahma-raya was a childhood friend of Sundara Chozla. He knew the secrets of all the Chozla families. His dream was that the empire should grow and spread and attain great fame. He wished that Chozla warriors should conquer lands beyond the Ganges even till the old rivers of the Sindhu. He felt that the Chozlas would assist in deterring the barbaric hordes invading from beyond the north western mountains causing loss of law and order and desecration of Hindu faith in the blessed regions of the Gangetic plains. The squabbles in the kingdom would ruin his dreams. He wished to stop the internal conflicts and find an amicable solution. Though he knew the secrets of everything happening in the country, he did not reveal this knowledge to anyone.
Vandiya Devan who carried the letters to Tanjavur, met Princess Kundavai at the house of the Astrologer of Kudanthai. Even at that first meeting both he and Kundavai found that they had a liking for each other. Later there were other occasions that helped that affection grow. Carrying a letter given by Kundavai, Vandiya Devan crossed the seas to go to Lanka. He met Prince Arulmozli and gave him the letters in which Kundavai had written, ‘there is great danger to the kingdom. Come quickly.’ The Prince who held his sister in great esteem and affection was getting ready to oblige her wishes. At that same time, he had two other messages. Parthiban Pallava sent by Kanchi Karikala wanted the Prince to go with him to Kanchi. The Lords Pazluvoor had sent two armed ships with orders from the Emperor to arrest Arulmozli, (for the treason of coveting Lankas throne) and bring him to Tanjavur. Lord Pazluvoor who was angry about Kundavai did not wish for the Prince to meet her.
Prince Arulmozli wished to honor his father’s orders first. The ship carrying him was engulfed in a whirlwind in the middle of the sea. In order to rescue his friend Vandiya Devan, the Prince jumped into the stormy sea in the middle of that whirlwind. They floated in the sea holding on to a log that had fallen from one of the ships that had been shattered in the storm. A boat girl named Poonkuzlali saved them when she was plying her boat in the morning after the storm.
Even while floating in the sea, the Prince was gripped by a severe fever and shivering sickness; It was a fever that was endemic in several parts of Lanka. Poonkuzlali and her cousin Sendan Amudan carried the Prince in her boat and took him to the safety of Choodamani Buddhist Vihara in Nagai Port. Vandiya Devan went to Pazlayarai and reported all these details to Kundavai. At the same time, they came to know that Aditya Karikala had been invited to Kadamboor fort for a banquet. They also had the news that Nandini and Lord Pazluvoor too were going to Kadamboor.
Prime Minister Anirudda and Kundavai believed that if Karikala and Nandini were to meet, something untoward could happen. They wished to prevent such a meeting. Kundavai sent Vandiya Devan to Karikala: he should try his utmost to prevent the meeting, if not, he should be like a body armor and guard Prince Karikala.
Vandiya Devan finds out some details about another very mysterious and terrifying conspiracy – in the middle of the forest at Thiru-puram-biyam.
Nandini and others, including Ravidasa the Sorcerer were at that meeting. There was also a very young child in that place. They placed that child upon an old tarnished throne and swore a terrible oath. They had given a shining, sharp sword to that child and asked him to choose one among them to execute their plans of revenge. The child gave the sword to Nandini, who accepted and said she would fulfil the task herself. Ravidasa and the other men wanted to sacrifice –kill- Vandiya Devan in that forest as he knew too many of their secrets. Nandini stopped them. They tied him up and left him there in the darkness. Azlvar-adiyan who had put on a masquerade as a Kaalaa-mukha Saiva acetic came and led Vandiya Devan out of that terrifying forest.
Madurandaka went on a ride by himself, wanting to attend a convention of the frightful Kaalaa-mukhas, hoping to garner their support for is cause. His horse bolted and threw him under a tree. Prime Minister Anirudda chanced to see him under the tree when he was traveling to his home town; he helped the prince and took him home to treat him for sprains and bruises caused by the fall.
Kundavai and Vanathi went to the town of Aanai-mangalam near Nagaipattinam. They met prince Arulmozli at the Nandi Pavilion on the canal. Kundavai insisted that the young Prince should remain at the Buddhist monastery for some more time because of the restless disturbances in the country. It would also help him regain his strength after the poison fever and shivering sickness that had gripped him. Poonkuzlali in the boat heard the three of them laughing about something and was filled by a jealous rage. Sendan Amudan tried to calm her down.
Because of the news that Ponni’s Beloved Prince might have drowned at sea, the whole Chozla empire and even beyond was in turmoil.
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