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 49 – An Astonishing Tale

Princess Kundavai took the olai that Vandiya Devan gave and read her brother’s message. Her creased forehead cleared and her face bloomed, when she read the contents of the message.

She looked up at Vandiya Devan and asked, “Now that you have given this message to me, what do you intend to do next?”

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Chapter 43 - Pazhaiarai

Now that our hero is on his way to Pazhaiarai, braving hoards of soldiers who are out to catch him, let us go ahead and pay a visit to this city.

Let us take a glimpse at this old city from the banks of Arasalaru. What a beautiful city is this? The unparalleled beauty of this city cannot be described in words. Bountiful with flowing gentle rivers, swaying greens, scented flowers, graceful palaces and holy temples, this city issues a welcome invitation to all.

The old city of Pazhaiarai had many small villages within its borders making this erstwhile capital, an important landmark in Chola history. With four Shiva temples in four directions, the city also housed the families of Chola soldiers in four distinct streets. Amidst them, stood a whole host of palaces for kings, queens, princes and princesses built right from the time of Vijayalaya Chola.

The grandeur and the charm of the city today is so exhilarating that it makes one wonder, how it must have looked years ago when Sundara Chola was residing here. Reduced to a sleepy town today, Pazhaiarai was once the epitome of culture and religion.

Ever since Sundara Chola shifted his capital to Thanjavur, Pazhaiarai’s importance had reduced. There were no new visitors, emissaries from other countries, delegates from neighbouring kingdoms, travelling mendicants, important officials, poets, artists, artisans stopped coming here to pay their respects. Instead, they made their way to the new capital.

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Chapter 42 – Is this your friendship?

Vandiya Devan’s first impulse was to save Kandan Maran’s life but he had to take care of this murderous guard first. He sprang forward and held the guard by his throat from behind and wrestled his arm, making him drop the fire log. The fire log fell down burning low, while the guard struggled to release himself from Vandiya Devan’s steely hold. Vandiya Devan held the guard tightly and then banged his head on the wall whereupon he fell on the ground with a thud. Vandiya Devan immediately took the fire log and went near the unconscious guard (who looked as if he was dead). Not sure whether he was dead or not, Vandiya Devan secured his arms with his upper cloth quickly.

Next he ran to his friend who was lying half way across the doorway with the guard’s knife stuck on his back and his spear lay near him. Vandiya Devan stepped outside and dragged him outside the door and took his spear in hand. The doorway to the underground passage closed automatically. Hoisting his friend on his shoulders, he turned around to see where they had emerged. A rushing stream was passing was very near him and the ground was wet and muddy. A few steps more, they would have fallen into the gushing kauveri river that ran along the fort.

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