Chapter 56 – In the Anthapuram

Hundreds of years ago, King Mahendra Pallava had built small mandapams all over his kingdom and tasked royal bards to regale his citizens with stories from Mahabharatam. Thanks to the influence of Bhudhism and Jainism in these parts, many people had embraced peace and passivity in their life. Anticipating an imminent Chalukya attack, the King wanted to remind people of the glories of war and victory and he erected many small mandapams all through his kingdom to make story tellers to recite Mahabharatam and other war stories. Since then these small mandapams were called ‘Bharatha mandapam’. Even during the Chola age, Mahendra Pallava’s edict of reading the great epic of Mahabharatam continued unbroken. Every evening, people thronged to these ‘Bharatha Mandapams’ to listen to the glorious story of this war epic. Some bards even sang beautiful songs composed in the honour of the great heroes of the epic.

One of the stories that were oft repeated was that of Aravaan – the son of Arjuna and Chitrangi, the Princess of Manipur. When Arjuna was on a pilgrimage, he marries Chitrangi and has a son by her, called Aravaan. A brave warrior, Aravaan sets out to battle along with the Pandavas at the Kurushetra. On the eve of the battle, it was customary to sacrifice a young warrior to propitiate the Gods so that they grant them victory. Aravaan, offers himself as the sacrifice and willingly loses his neck for Pandavas. The story of brave Aravaan captured the imagination of many and temples were raised for this glorious warrior all over the Chola Kingdom. Next to Draupadi, who was venerated as a goddess, Aravaan was most glorified among the Cholas.

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Chapter 55 – Nandini’s Lover

“I was twelve years old, when I met Nandini for the first time. We were in Pazhaiarai then and I was playing with my sister and brother near the lake. We heard our Periya Patti Sembiyanmadevi calling us. We went to the kodi veedu and told her about how we went boating on the lake. She was not alone. There were three other people along with her and one of them was a girl who was about my age. Other two people were her parents. When we entered, they stopped talking and looked at us. I still remember her beautiful eyes, widened in surprise when she looked at us,”

Saying thus, Karikalan looked up the sky. A few clouds dotted the midnight blue stars but his thoughts were somewhere in the past. Did he perchance see the face of the twelve-year-old Nandini out there? We do not know

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Chapter 54 – The Venom of a Woman

One of the old palaces of Pallava Kings was readied for the Crown Prince and his retinue. That night, Malaimaan left the palace to hear the story of Aravan – the son of Arjuna at the Mahendra Mandapam. After a sumptuous dinner, Karikalan and Parthibendran, sat in the terrace of the palace watching the beach and the harbour. They could hear the temple bells clanging along with the continuous roar of the sea waves.

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Chapter 53 – Malaimaan’s Wrath

Parthibendran Pallava

When Karikalan heard Malaimaan’s words, he did not faint away in shock but he was shaken. Even Parthibendran fell silent and shocked. Silence reigned over the small mandapam for a while.

Karikalan looked at his grandfather and said, “Thatha! Even I heard the rumours but I thought they were baseless. Are you sure about this? Do you have proof? Does he have a claim at all? Is it possible?”

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Chapter 52 – Old Man’s Marriage

Malayaman, Aditya Karikalan and Parthibendran

On the beach, there are numerous stones dotting the landscape as the waves weaved in and out and the ancient sculptors had converted all the big stones into small mandapams.

The men alighted from the chariot and headed towards one of these small mandapams. Malaimaan and Karikalan sat on two stone benches near the mandapam, while Parthibendran stood next to them. The waves sometimes came near the mandapam and wet their feet. At a distance, a ship was seen waiting, while some soldiers were loading something in a small boat to carry to the ship.

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Chapter 51 – Mammallapuram

Mammalapuram Today

Readers! We invite you to journey with us to Mammallapuram harbour. It has been more than 300 years since Mahendra Pallava and Narasimha Pallava built stone temples near the harbour. Mammallapuram wore a weary look as the sun shone down on the harbour. Many stone palaces are in state of disrepair and what once was a busy harbour bringing in trade from different parts of the world looked deserted today. The harbour near Mammallapuram was quite deep, though during the Pallava times, ships could come close to the beach. Now, the merchant ships were stationed at a safe distance and goods were unloaded with the help of small boats.

After the decline of Pallava Kingdom, the Cholas too built many temples near the harbour from a stone quarry that was found nearby. Within the city, a huge temple for Maha Vishnu was built by Parameshwaran Pallavan, a king who patronised both Saivaites and Vaishnavaites. A holy temple that was sung by Thirumangai Azhwar, Maha Vishnu is found in a Thala Sayana form here, where he sleeps eternally on the ground. His divine verses about the temple and the harbour reveal the greatness of Pallava period, even after great kings like Mahendra Pallava and Narasimha Pallava.

 

Sthala Sayana Temple Today

One hundred years after Thirumangai Azhwar sang about this temple, the Pallava Kingdom grew weak and the sun rose on Chola Kingdom.

But nothing could erase the beautiful sculptural work of Mammallapuram or the significance of beautiful Kanchi temples. They remain as embodiments of iTamil culture and history even today.

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Chapter 50 - Paranthakar Adhurasalai

It was a glorious morning in Pazhaiarai next day. A beautifully decorated royal elephant was brought to Kundavai’s palace. Climbing through the specially built platform steps, Kundavai and Vanathi sat on the elephant’s back that had a special seat. A mahout walked next to the elephant, leading them through the streets. Hearing the clanging bells of the elephant, many came out to see the princesses riding through their streets. Happy to watch their beloved elayapirati, many women followed her behind the elephant.

The elephant led the princesses towards the Padai veedu streets where the families of the soldiers lived. Small boys who were practicing with their swords and sticks left their play and joined the crowd. On the verandahs of the houses, many pictures of Lord Muruga and his legends were drawn, while some also had pictures of famous Chola Kings. When the elephant entered the street, all residents came out of their houses to greet the princesses. Soon there was a sizeable crowd behind the elephant that shouted, ‘Long live Elayapirati!’ ‘Long live Princess Kundavai!’

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