Friday, July 01, 2005
Ponniyin Selvan
I was thinking about writing about this Kaaviyam for quite some time and finally...I have seen Ponniyin Selvan being read by various people from my school days but unfortunately I got the interest to pick it up very late. Then only I understood the reason why PS has captured millions of readers and still is.
Even though the novel is Ponniyin Selvan, the hero is Vandhiya Thevan. As you move into chapters, this character would broaden out in your mind and occupies till the end. This happens the same for all the characters thats present in PS. Thats were the geniousness of Kalki comes into play.
Pic: kalki
His novel covers almost the complete span of characters in the Chola empire at that time. .The main characters are Vandhiyathevan, Kundhavai, Ponniyin Selvan, Karikaalan, Nandhini, Pazhuvaettarayar, Poonguzhali, Manimegalai. The story explains Vandhiyathevan's life with Karikaalan, Kundhavai and Ponniyin Selvan. Kalki succeeds in making you an audience for all those events happening and you eventually feel that you are one among the crowd standing in one of those roads inside the palaces in Thanjavur(Don't blame if you dont get the same feel that I got). Hailing from the same place and seen those places, I was able to visualise those events almost to perfection. There were a couple of places that I was not able to place because we dont have the same names around today.
In the end there are a couple of questions for which Kalki leaves us to answer ourselves. He has explained in a note that he has here and there included his own script. I bought a paperbook edition some time back since the pdf's and html's didnt give me a proper satisfaction. Even though I have read it twice before, i still feel the freshness and doesnt bore me a little.
// posted by JVC @ Friday, July 01, 2005 
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