The story so far...
During 10th Century BC, Southern India was ruled by the mighty Cholas who had vanquished the Pandyas, Cheras and the Pallavas. The Chola Kingdom was then ruled by Chakravarthy Paranthakan II who was also known as Sundara Chola. The story is set at a time when the King was fatally ill and paralyzed. The Kingdom was in turmoil as the people resented the rising power of liege lords, Pazhuvetaryars who held the most important positions in the royal court.
A young soldier, named Vandiya Devan travels from Kanchipuram bearing messages from the Crown Prince Aditya Karikalan to his father and his sister Princess Kundavai. On route to Thanjavur, he stays at Kadambur Palace, his friend Kandan Maran's home. There, he discovers that powerful liege lords of the Chola Kingdom, Pazhuvetarayars, Sambuveyars are involved in a plot to deny the throne to the crown Prince. Instead, they wish to crown Prince Madhuranthakan, who is Sundara Chola's first cousin. He also learns about the younger Pazhuvur Queen Nandini Devi who is married to Periya Pazhuvetrayar, an old man of 60 years.
He meets Azhwarkadiyan, a Veera Vaishnavan who follows him around for a while and tries to accompany him to Kadambur Palace. Azhwarkadiyan later tells him that he and Nandini grew up in the same household as brother and sister and her sorry fate when she tries to save the Pandya King who is later beheaded in her presence. He tells him that she is later taken away by Periya Pazhuvetrayar and was married to him forcibly.
Vandiya Devan in the meanwhile, is on his way to Thanjavur when he stops at Kudhanthai to meet an astrologer. There he meets Princess Kundavai and loses his heart to her. When he neared Thanjavur, he sees a veiled palanquin with a Palm emblem ensign on the curtains and thinking that it was Prince Madhuranthakan inside, he tries to stop it. Instead to his surprise he meets Nandini Devi who gives him her emblem ring and asks him to come and meet him.
Vandiya Devan comes to Thanjavur and befriends a flower boy outside the fort named, Senthan Amutham. Next morning, he enters the fort using Nandini Devi's ring and meets the King. He successfully hands over the message that Aditya Karikalan had sent him and also tries to warn him about the plot that Pazhuvur Lords were hatching. But his attempt is foiled by Chinna Pazhuvetrayar who sets his guards on him. Vandiya Devan successfully escapes them and hides himself in the garden of Nandini Devi.
He meets Nandini Devi in the garden where she tries to seduce him with her hypnotic beauty unsuccessfully. Later, he escapes from her garden through an underground passage where he finds his friend Kandan Maran grievously wounded. He saves his life and escapes from Thanjavur with the help of Senthan Amuthan.
In the meanwhile, we learn that Nandini is involved with a gang of murderers who were once the bodyguards of the slain Pandya King. As a part of this group, she has been supplying them with information and money to destroy the seed of the Chola Kingdom and to assassinate Prince Aditya Karikalan who had beheaded their king. Azhwarkadiyan, the spy learns about this gang and narrowly escapes from being captured by them.
Vandiya Devan in the meanwhile reaches Pazhaiarai to meet Princess Kundavai. He is surprised to see that she is same woman that he had met at the astrologer's house. When Kundavai learns about the plot against her brothers, she immediately bids him to give a message to Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar who was in Elangai and to bring him back to Pazhaiarai. Vandiya Devan leaves for Kodi Karai with the Pazhaiarai's physician's son purportedly on a royal errand to get medicinal herbs for her father's illness.
At Kodi Karai, Vandiya Devan meets Poonguzhali, a boat girl who saves him from the murderous soldiers of Pazhuvetrayar and takes him to Elangai.
In Kanchipuram, Prince Aditya Karikalan is furious when he learns that the Pazhuvur lords had branded his messenger as a spy. We learn that his maternal grandfather Thirukovallur Malaimaan had learned about the plot that the Pazhuvur lords were hatching. He counsels Aditya Karikalan to be patient and wants his brother Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar to come back home. They decide to send Parthibendra Pallavan, Karikalan's close friend and confidante to Elangai to bring back Arul Mozhi Varmar.
Before he left, Parthibendran learns about the secret grief that has been gnawing Aditya Karikalan's heart. He learns that the crown prince was in love with Nandini Devi right from his childhood. When Dowager queen Sembiyanmadevi learned about this, she sent away Nandini to Pandya Kingdom. But they meet again unexpectedly when Kariklan is waging a war against the Pandya King. Defeated and wounded Pandya King is tended by Nandini in her hut, but when Karikalan learns about this, he kicks her aside and beheads him. Nandini who tells the Prince that she had fallen in love with the Pandya King swears vengeance against him and marries Periya Pazhuvetrayar as a means to gain power. Karikalan feels tortured and betrayed by her actions but despite his bravado he fears her seductive power.
Prince Kundavai who was disturbed by the news that Vandiya Devan had given her about the capital, travels with her companion, Princess Vanathi to see her father. At the capital, she meets Nandini Devi and the Pazhuvur lords who come to welcome her inside the fort. One night, when the queen and the others are away visiting a temple, Princess Vanathi sees the King moaning in his chambers and sees him crying hysterically at a figure that resembled Nandini Devi. Next morning, the King calls his daughter and confesses about his past to her.
When Sundara Chola was a young prince, he led the Chola forces into a battle in Elangai and had lost. Embittered by his failure, he stays back in one of the many islands that are near the mainland. There, he meets fisher girl who saves his life from a deadly bear. Deaf and mute, Mandakini falls in love with him and he too reciprocates her innocent love until one day, soldiers find him and take him back to his Kingdom. There he learns that his uncle was dead and he was next in line to inherit the throne. He sees Mandakini on his coronation day in the crowd and asks his friend Anirudha Brahmarayar to follow her. Next he learns that she had committed suicide by throwing herself down from Kodiya Karai lighthouse. The King tells his daughter that he saw her ghost at different occasions in his life and most recently in that very room where she asks him to give up the crown to his first cousin Madhuranthakan. Disturbed by her father's grief, Kundavai asks her mother never to leave him alone.
In meanwhile, Vandiya Devan comes to Elangai with the help of the brave boat girl, Poonguzhali. In Elangai he walks through the mainland and reaches Maandotham where he is kept under guard by the Commander's soldiers. He meets Azhwarkadiyan here again and together they set out to meet Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar who was traveling near Anuradhapuram. On the way, they meet Parthibendra Pallavan who had come searching for the Prince and along with him are two members of the gang who are conspiring with Nandini to assassinate the Prince. Vandiya Devan and Azhwarkadiyan meet the Prince and give their respective messages. A fast friendship is formed between Vandiya Devan and the Prince who asks him to stay with him always. Vandiya Devan and Azhwarkadiyan also witness the Maha Sangam of Buddha offering the throne of Elangai to the Prince, who refuses the offer. Later when they are walking by, they see a woman on the road who calls them by sign and they narrowly escape from being buried in the rubble of a mansion that almost falls on them.
The Prince tells his friends about the woman and calls her Kaveri Amman because she saved him from drowning in the river when he was young. He further tells them that ever since he had come to Elangai, she had saved him from many dangers and mishaps. Kaveri Amman bids them to follow her and takes them away from the palace where they were staying. In a mandapam she reveals her past life to the Prince through drawings. She tells him about the Prince that she met when she was young and her love for him. She tries to commit suicide when she learns that the Prince had left her for good but a fisherman saves her life and takes her to a temple. At the temple, she meets a queen who learns that she is pregnant. The queen who is pregnant too, takes her along with her and she gives birth to twin children in the palace. The queen asks her to give one of her children to her and the woman leaves both her children there and leaves the place.
The Prince leaves Anuradhapuram along with Vandiya Devan and Azhwarkadiyan and meets the commander Kodumballur Periya Vellar and Parthibendra Pallavan. Pallavan gives him his brother's message and urges him to come along with him to Kanchipuram. The Commander in the meanwhile reveals that the Pazhuvur lords have sent two ships with soldiers to Elangai to arrest the Prince.
During 10th Century BC, Southern India was ruled by the mighty Cholas who had vanquished the Pandyas, Cheras and the Pallavas. The Chola Kingdom was then ruled by Chakravarthy Paranthakan II who was also known as Sundara Chola. The story is set at a time when the King was fatally ill and paralyzed. The Kingdom was in turmoil as the people resented the rising power of liege lords, Pazhuvetaryars who held the most important positions in the royal court.
A young soldier, named Vandiya Devan travels from Kanchipuram bearing messages from the Crown Prince Aditya Karikalan to his father and his sister Princess Kundavai. On route to Thanjavur, he stays at Kadambur Palace, his friend Kandan Maran's home. There, he discovers that powerful liege lords of the Chola Kingdom, Pazhuvetarayars, Sambuveyars are involved in a plot to deny the throne to the crown Prince. Instead, they wish to crown Prince Madhuranthakan, who is Sundara Chola's first cousin. He also learns about the younger Pazhuvur Queen Nandini Devi who is married to Periya Pazhuvetrayar, an old man of 60 years.
He meets Azhwarkadiyan, a Veera Vaishnavan who follows him around for a while and tries to accompany him to Kadambur Palace. Azhwarkadiyan later tells him that he and Nandini grew up in the same household as brother and sister and her sorry fate when she tries to save the Pandya King who is later beheaded in her presence. He tells him that she is later taken away by Periya Pazhuvetrayar and was married to him forcibly.
Vandiya Devan in the meanwhile, is on his way to Thanjavur when he stops at Kudhanthai to meet an astrologer. There he meets Princess Kundavai and loses his heart to her. When he neared Thanjavur, he sees a veiled palanquin with a Palm emblem ensign on the curtains and thinking that it was Prince Madhuranthakan inside, he tries to stop it. Instead to his surprise he meets Nandini Devi who gives him her emblem ring and asks him to come and meet him.
Vandiya Devan comes to Thanjavur and befriends a flower boy outside the fort named, Senthan Amutham. Next morning, he enters the fort using Nandini Devi's ring and meets the King. He successfully hands over the message that Aditya Karikalan had sent him and also tries to warn him about the plot that Pazhuvur Lords were hatching. But his attempt is foiled by Chinna Pazhuvetrayar who sets his guards on him. Vandiya Devan successfully escapes them and hides himself in the garden of Nandini Devi.
He meets Nandini Devi in the garden where she tries to seduce him with her hypnotic beauty unsuccessfully. Later, he escapes from her garden through an underground passage where he finds his friend Kandan Maran grievously wounded. He saves his life and escapes from Thanjavur with the help of Senthan Amuthan.
In the meanwhile, we learn that Nandini is involved with a gang of murderers who were once the bodyguards of the slain Pandya King. As a part of this group, she has been supplying them with information and money to destroy the seed of the Chola Kingdom and to assassinate Prince Aditya Karikalan who had beheaded their king. Azhwarkadiyan, the spy learns about this gang and narrowly escapes from being captured by them.
Vandiya Devan in the meanwhile reaches Pazhaiarai to meet Princess Kundavai. He is surprised to see that she is same woman that he had met at the astrologer's house. When Kundavai learns about the plot against her brothers, she immediately bids him to give a message to Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar who was in Elangai and to bring him back to Pazhaiarai. Vandiya Devan leaves for Kodi Karai with the Pazhaiarai's physician's son purportedly on a royal errand to get medicinal herbs for her father's illness.
At Kodi Karai, Vandiya Devan meets Poonguzhali, a boat girl who saves him from the murderous soldiers of Pazhuvetrayar and takes him to Elangai.
In Kanchipuram, Prince Aditya Karikalan is furious when he learns that the Pazhuvur lords had branded his messenger as a spy. We learn that his maternal grandfather Thirukovallur Malaimaan had learned about the plot that the Pazhuvur lords were hatching. He counsels Aditya Karikalan to be patient and wants his brother Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar to come back home. They decide to send Parthibendra Pallavan, Karikalan's close friend and confidante to Elangai to bring back Arul Mozhi Varmar.
Before he left, Parthibendran learns about the secret grief that has been gnawing Aditya Karikalan's heart. He learns that the crown prince was in love with Nandini Devi right from his childhood. When Dowager queen Sembiyanmadevi learned about this, she sent away Nandini to Pandya Kingdom. But they meet again unexpectedly when Kariklan is waging a war against the Pandya King. Defeated and wounded Pandya King is tended by Nandini in her hut, but when Karikalan learns about this, he kicks her aside and beheads him. Nandini who tells the Prince that she had fallen in love with the Pandya King swears vengeance against him and marries Periya Pazhuvetrayar as a means to gain power. Karikalan feels tortured and betrayed by her actions but despite his bravado he fears her seductive power.
Prince Kundavai who was disturbed by the news that Vandiya Devan had given her about the capital, travels with her companion, Princess Vanathi to see her father. At the capital, she meets Nandini Devi and the Pazhuvur lords who come to welcome her inside the fort. One night, when the queen and the others are away visiting a temple, Princess Vanathi sees the King moaning in his chambers and sees him crying hysterically at a figure that resembled Nandini Devi. Next morning, the King calls his daughter and confesses about his past to her.
When Sundara Chola was a young prince, he led the Chola forces into a battle in Elangai and had lost. Embittered by his failure, he stays back in one of the many islands that are near the mainland. There, he meets fisher girl who saves his life from a deadly bear. Deaf and mute, Mandakini falls in love with him and he too reciprocates her innocent love until one day, soldiers find him and take him back to his Kingdom. There he learns that his uncle was dead and he was next in line to inherit the throne. He sees Mandakini on his coronation day in the crowd and asks his friend Anirudha Brahmarayar to follow her. Next he learns that she had committed suicide by throwing herself down from Kodiya Karai lighthouse. The King tells his daughter that he saw her ghost at different occasions in his life and most recently in that very room where she asks him to give up the crown to his first cousin Madhuranthakan. Disturbed by her father's grief, Kundavai asks her mother never to leave him alone.
In meanwhile, Vandiya Devan comes to Elangai with the help of the brave boat girl, Poonguzhali. In Elangai he walks through the mainland and reaches Maandotham where he is kept under guard by the Commander's soldiers. He meets Azhwarkadiyan here again and together they set out to meet Prince Arul Mozhi Varmar who was traveling near Anuradhapuram. On the way, they meet Parthibendra Pallavan who had come searching for the Prince and along with him are two members of the gang who are conspiring with Nandini to assassinate the Prince. Vandiya Devan and Azhwarkadiyan meet the Prince and give their respective messages. A fast friendship is formed between Vandiya Devan and the Prince who asks him to stay with him always. Vandiya Devan and Azhwarkadiyan also witness the Maha Sangam of Buddha offering the throne of Elangai to the Prince, who refuses the offer. Later when they are walking by, they see a woman on the road who calls them by sign and they narrowly escape from being buried in the rubble of a mansion that almost falls on them.
The Prince tells his friends about the woman and calls her Kaveri Amman because she saved him from drowning in the river when he was young. He further tells them that ever since he had come to Elangai, she had saved him from many dangers and mishaps. Kaveri Amman bids them to follow her and takes them away from the palace where they were staying. In a mandapam she reveals her past life to the Prince through drawings. She tells him about the Prince that she met when she was young and her love for him. She tries to commit suicide when she learns that the Prince had left her for good but a fisherman saves her life and takes her to a temple. At the temple, she meets a queen who learns that she is pregnant. The queen who is pregnant too, takes her along with her and she gives birth to twin children in the palace. The queen asks her to give one of her children to her and the woman leaves both her children there and leaves the place.
The Prince leaves Anuradhapuram along with Vandiya Devan and Azhwarkadiyan and meets the commander Kodumballur Periya Vellar and Parthibendra Pallavan. Pallavan gives him his brother's message and urges him to come along with him to Kanchipuram. The Commander in the meanwhile reveals that the Pazhuvur lords have sent two ships with soldiers to Elangai to arrest the Prince.
No comments:
Post a Comment