Comments on: The History behind Ponniyin Selvan

By: Radhika

Radhika — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:20:30 +0000

Just finished reading the English translation of Ponniyin Selvam, First Flood. Enjoyed it very much and looking forward to reading the next volumes. Also inspired to brush up mt Tamil and read them in the original!!
All your comments were very useful especially the one posted on Feb 5th 2006.
Thank-you all.
R.

By: gopalan

gopalan — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:36:14 +0000

in point of fact, the readings of the chola inscriptions and also the copper plates show the following:
1. Crown Prince Aditta Karikala was murdered.
2. Instead of Arulmozhi (Rajaraja I), who was technically the next in the line, his uncle-once-removed (Maduranthaka) Uttama Chola ascended the throne.
3. the conspirators responsible were not punished immediately.
4. Arulmozhi became the ruler after the death of Uttama Chola; and
5. He punished some of the conspirators belatedly. At least one was mentioned to be a brahmin, so he was only tonsured and his property seized.
a fairly reasonable deduction would be that Uttama Chola was involved in the murder of Aditta Karikala, hence he took no steps to punish the guilty, and Arulmozhi had to belatedly take vengeance for his brother’s murder.
Kalki, being an excellent story teller of the romantic school, polished these crude facts into literary gems, like walter scot did with the scottish history.
incidentally, i enjoyed the visit to your blog. thank you

By: cuthbert

cuthbert — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 23:51:45 +0000

beautiful online information center. greatest work… thanks

By: Kingsley Joseph

Kingsley Joseph — Fri, 05 May 2006 06:28:41 +0000

In one scene in Ponniyin Selvan, kalki describe the performance of a play. At the end of a play, the audience exclaims “naavalo naaval” which he says was the customary cheer of the time. I wonder where he found that information?

PS: Can we please keep the sanskritization to a minimum (Gandaradhitya – Kandaraathiththa)? I know it probably wasn’t intentional, but hey

By: Sathiyan

Sathiyan — Thu, 04 May 2006 08:51:27 +0000

Good work.
Keep it up.
Cheers!!
Sathiyan S

By: premalatha

premalatha — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 08:54:59 +0000

Hi Palmleaf,

I got it from an used-books site. I thik you can order it directly, but am not sure about that though.

By: palmleaf

palmleaf — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 20:29:18 +0000

P@L, Most history books talk only about Kings and their conquests. A. L. Basham’s The Wonder that was India, talks a lot more about common people and their daily life.

By: palmleaf

palmleaf — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 20:28:12 +0000

premalatha, What is the name of the publication? Can I order it from ASI directly?

By: P@L

P@L — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 17:09:46 +0000

What’s more interesting, in my opinion, is to get an account of a layman or a middle-class in different periods of Indian history, including that of South India. As I had earlier mentioned, I have never come across any account that discusses this. Most of the history is about those in power, namely the kings and their exploits. This only gives a skewed picture of Indian history. For instance, when we say that India was a rich country, does that mean the wealth was concentrated among few individuals or uniformly distributed? What was the standard of living of an average family?? When we say India had an advanced scientific community, how much of this was evenly distributed among the societal classes? I think the answer to all this is that most of what we consider as a pan-Indian phenomena of the past were perhaps not so pan-.

By: premalatha

premalatha — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:50:06 +0000

first time here. very good effort. I will have to read all your posts first.

I have ASI publication of Chola inscriptions. If you want any information in particular, I can send you.