Historical Novels and History

Thamizh Varalaaru

Can we know history by just reading historical novels??

If we read “Ponniyin Selvan”, undoubtedly the best historical novel, can we know about the Chozha history?

Or if you read “Kadal Pura”, you are going to know everything about Kulothungan… who destroyed the entire territory of Kalinga. If you know a little more about this novel, this is supposed to be a prequel to “Kalingathu Bharani”, a masterpiece of Tamizh Literature. The hero of “Kadal Pura” is “Karunaakara Pallavan” who is portrayed just as his name suggests in this novel. But if you read “Kalingathu Bharani”, where Karunaakara Pallavan destroys Kalinga under the orders of Kulothungan, he is portrayed as something just short of a merciless creature. At this point, the author of the novel “Kadal Pura” must be given due credit, just because of his treatment of the character. You can really enjoy the irony if you read them both. But which is true??

Did Vandhiyadhevan exist at all in history??

Actually this is debatable even today. Just login to this yahoo group “ponniyinselvan” and you will get surprising results with proper arguments.

If alone Kalki had not written in his “mudivurai”, that in an inscription of Tanjore, there is a writing which calls Kundhavai as Vanthiyadhevan’s wife, I would have never even thought that such a character really existed. Actually, this is a great attempt by Kalki, to give maximum importance to a character that he really believed to exist.

But in most of the novels of Chandilyan, he plays safe, by choosing imaginary characters as heroes (but for Kadal Pura, which is debatably (Yavana Rani) his best). These imaginary characters lead the well known king’s army from the front. Though from one point of view this appears to be clever, from an other point it seems to be “there is no other go than this”.

Most of his novels have miracles – why MOST, I would say ALL!!

Readers might say this is a too much “hero-worship” and such stuff.

But if you attempt at reading the original history, miracles would have indeed happened.

For example, let me consider the case of Rajamuthirai. This story deals with the feuds between the cheras and the chozhas. You read the novel, and then you would just come up with a remark, “What is all this hero worship and stuff?” for the hero’s deeds would just be out of your bounds of imagination. The way he conquers a fort and sets up a scene as if he was captured is really what I call hero-worship. Then he invites a bigger army into the fort that was under his control and defeats that army also. Well… you might also end up saying that all this looks artificial.

Now, let me move on to a different topic, from Historical Novels to the real History. Chandilyan himself clearly gives references from various historical writings where in that particular fort was captured by the Chozhas, with a meagre army of about 4000 people fighting against an army of 10000 people in a huge fort. Well, would not you call this a miracle …? I definitely would, assuming that the historians are not wrong. The author just uses his hero as a weapon to convey this fact. Though he admits that his hero is a fictional character, for the miracle to have taken place, there should have really been leaders of that calibre. What matters is just the name…

Even consider the best historical novel ever written … Ponniyin Selvan… Consider this character Azhwarkkadiyaan Nambi alias Thirumalai. I really don’t think such a character existed, so I think it should have been for Kalki. Kalki gives proofs for the existence of Anirudhdhar, by indicating some inscriptions discovered about 120 years ago. But most of us know how great both these characters are. The latter knows everything going on in the Chozha Kingdom. So is this spy called Thirumalai.

There is one particular in which Vandhiyadhevan murmurs, “Naan panjathukku ottran polum. Avan parambarai ottran polum”

(If you are unable to figure out facts and fiction separately from this novel, then it is not all your inefficiency. It is just the greatness of this author. This would really be impossible unless you are a historian.)

Thirumalai might not have been a spy at all in reality. Anirudhdhar might have been the laziest person ever born in this world in reality. How am I supposed to believe whatever Kalki has written?

What I am trying to say is there really should have been such characters in history for miracles have happened in history. Just their names might have been different… might have been Shankar or even Narayan.

In Sivagaamiyin Sabatham, Kalki makes special reference to the origin of the pallavas, wherein he describes the dispute among the historians. In such cases of disputes, it is always interesting to know all the arguments. It may even happen that we might not be able to arrive at strong conclusions. Yet there will be a satisfaction at heart. As far as these pallavas are concerned I think Kalki strongly disagrees with the Europeans who consider that Pallavas are of non-Indian origin and I actually go with Kalki, just because I can’t imagine the other side of it. A few historians even suggest that they might even be an offshoot of the pretty famous Chozha kings. But it is pretty clear that thamizh was not the main language during their reign.

We must just appreciate these historical authors who try to “cook-up” a story from a few known facts, and make reading an interesting process besides telling us what might have really happened in the past.

May be, when Raja raja was crowned king, a person from 2100 might have attended the function. If that were the case, then by 2100 time travel would really become possible and all intricacies can be explained…