Stirring up the Hornet's Nest - 2

Finally I prevailed over my laziness to continue my Blog on SS…
With a lot being said in my previous blog, I’ve decided to hit the bull’s eye right away

Why is Sivakami less impressive?
She is an ace Bharathanatyam dancer in the pallava kingdom. She is the most beautiful women. She is adored by the people of her country for her ability to tie them up with her Abhinayams. More than everything, she is the lady love of prince Narasimhavarman alias Mamallan. As per kalki, she is the primary reason behind the battle of Badami. With all that being said, she is obviously the heroine of the story as the title indicates.

Yet, to me, she is not impressive. She is very unstable. Probably that’s the way the character has to be… to trigger all those events that followed up. She is not so wise. Short tempered.. Emotionally wobbling… At no point in the novel she has completely trusted the prince of the land.
She feels insecure throughout the story. It’s an understandable behavior during the initial stages of the story as she is too young but even during the climax of the story she is precarious. By then she should have got matured.
I never felt empathetic towards this character during my journey across the pages. The romance between her and Mamallan is another disaster. It wasn’t cute anywhere. Yes! A romance portrayed without trust is definitely a disaster.

Narasimhavarman - A sore loser?

For people who don’t know what kind of a person Narasimhavarman is, there wouldn’t be a problem in accepting his characterization. Projected as a short tempered, less decisive, ruthless, stupid romantic hero who is even ready to let go his country and it’s people for a woman, the character fails to captivate me. Especially when he yells @ Paranjothi in the climax I hated the characterization to the core.

Now let me tell you who the real Narasimhavarman is….One of the greatest warrior that Bharat has ever seen. One of those 6 notable kings who never lost on the battle field. The ruler who got rid of religious savages called Kabalihaas in thamizhagam.
Being a great architect, he is a sculptor himself. The architectural epitomes on the shore of Mamallapuram still echo this ruler's name. Above all, he is a great war strategist and administrator. A smart, alluring, caring ruler he is. Adored as the greatest emperor of Pallava dynasty, his era is referred to as the golden age of Pallava Rule. The Mei Kirthis written during his period and later reveal all these.

But I should sincerely thank Kalki for projecting King Mahendravarman as such, without ruining his glory for the sake of a love saga.

Amidst imperfect characterization, the narration never induces a feel that the lovers should unite. It failed to create the anxiety and curiousness amongst readers in this regard.

There are logical questions too…
Why would Sivakami believe in Naganandhi till the climax? After all she knew from the Chakravarthi himself that he attempted to kill Mamallan, her love interest. She also understood that the deceptive Buddhist monk is in love with her and he does anything to win her hand. (indulging in cruel acts throughout)
Probably Sivakami didn’t believe in Mahendra as he was against her love for Mamallan. Also she had a soft corner for Naganandhi as he saved her father when they were caught by the Chalukyan soldiers. Fine! Didn’t she believe in the most trusted and eminent spy Gundodharan too?
Even before the climax, Naganandhi tells her that he would return as a king from Ajanta to marry her. Her reaction here is hilarious. Projected as a bold girl who saved innocent women from Pulikesi, a daring girl who sang and danced for a song written criticizing the Chakravarthi, in his very presence, she didn’t even react to the word of the monk when he proposed her despite knowing her affair with Mamallan.

Probably she is now numb and dejected. After all it’s nine years since she had been in the royal Vathabi prison. Yet not convincing.

Why didn’t Naganadhi reveal that Mamallan is already married? It gives him a chance to induce hatred towards Mamallan in Sivakami’s heart. Later he could’ve won her heart displaying his loyalty.
Probably he thought it would trigger Sivakami to pursue life menacing acts. Again not so convincing. The all powerful Budhist monk can easily safeguard Sivakami from such acts.
The climax was so dramatic with the unnecessary deaths of the royal chariot rider Kannabiran and royal spy Gundodharan.

Also throughout the story Kalki couldn’t maintain the suspense as it was with PS. On the very introduction of VajraBahu the readers could easily predict that he is none other than the Chakravarthi himself. There are many more such instances. And again the revelation of Vajrabahu as Chakravarthi comes at an insignificant point.

Vathabi thaganam, which for me was the most expected part of the novel, the climax, Kalki couldn’t create the magical feel. Probabaly not much research went into the warfare and strategy when he wrote it. I should definitely give it to Sandilyan in this regard. He was just amazing in explaining the nuances of wars, arts, architecture and romance.

To conclude:
For those who have read Ponniyin selvan before SS, it would be a rank below. Undoubtedly SS remains one of the greatest novels of 20th century just for the effort, innovation and the narrative style. If you don’t get too much into history and accept Sivakami as a normal girl bounded and driven by feminine emotions, the story can be appreciated. Also shed all your respect for Mamallan. Look at him as Sivakami’s lover and Sivakami's lover only :-) You can digest the novel peacefully.

After all I’ve fallen in love for more than 1000 times now with Ms. Nandhini :-)
I don’t even want to befriend Sivakami ;-)

Kalki definitely is one of those great writers of all time. But for him SS is definitely not the Magnum opus.

Probably for Kalki too, it’s just another book! :-)

But I recommend literary lovers to go through this novel and form their own perceptions. It’s definitely one of it’s kind and can be completely enjoyed for the narrative and style and few historical facts. All you have to do is shed your prejudice on Mamallan as a colossal emperor and Sivakami as Ms. Perfect beautiful before taking it up for a study. Enjoy reading SS!

Stirring up the Hornet's nest - Kalki's Sivakamiyin Sabatham reviewed

It was 12:30 AM Tuesday night, when I finally made up my mind to go through Kalki’s so called Magnum opus Sivakamiyin Sabatham (SS). It’s tough to shed your prejudice on something when you actually get into it, especially when the person is highly opinionated. Trust me, with years of reading and my acquaintances with various authors and their books, I’ve practiced to give up my dogmatic approach towards books when I take them up for a study.

I’ve asked myself a question more than 100 times so far!

Why did it take so long for me to grab and apprehend a great (?) work which is 40 years elder to me! Something that has spanned across 3 generations now but still remains the heart throb of Thamizh literary lovers. Something that my grandpa, grandma and dad have read more than 50 times.

The answer is, the climax of the story is disconsolate :-)

I decided not talk anything more on SS until I complete the novel.

Being first of it’s kind, Kalkiyin SS is a “Puthinam” that has a story built against true historical incidents. I’ve heard that it created waves when it was published as a serial in Thamizh weekly “Kalki” for the first time in 1944. From there on till date, it has been published for more than 10 times now in the same weekly owing to Vaasagar’s request and needless to say that it’s reception is overwhelming even today. It’s 50 years now! Mr. Kalki has become Amarar Kalki wherein his works stay young like “markandeyars” and induces the same quantum (in fact more) of excitement and enthusiasm in readers when they read them.

Kalki’s Modus operandi is amazing. He takes us across various locations, various characters, various happenings here and there where everything ends in a secret knot. He further takes us down while we succumb to his style of writing, to our surprise the knot will be fastened at an unexpected juncture revealing the hidden truth. After a point we get addicted to his style of writing that we can never put the book down and the desire to know the secret behind the knots desperate us. I still wonder how people held their breath for a week before the next episode can be read, when it was first published.

SS was no exception to his style of writing. It took me on and on and on for 3 days and this Saturday morning 4 AM I was done. To my disappointment, I realized that it didn’t captivate me to an extent the other puthinams of Kalki or other authors did. When I told this to my omniscient friends, they were surprised.
Wait.. Let me explain!

SS revolves around the incidents that happened during 7th century AD, in the southern and south central part of Bharath (it wasn’t India then). It has one of Bharath’s greatest kings Narasimhavarman I as the hero of the plot.

The History:
Pulikesi was then the greatest Chalukyan ruler who even defeated the colossal Harshavardhana. Harsha ruled the northern part of Bharath from Kamboja. No wonder that his expedition to Kanchi was successful during the reign of Pallava ruler Mahendravarman I, father of Narasimhavarman I. Mahendra was very wise, highly qualified and a benevolent despot. Though Pulikesi’s expedition was successful and he besieged Kanchipuram (the capital of Pallavas), Kanchi never fell, as Mahendra was amazing in his war strategy and planning. A frustrated Pulikesi and his soldiers on their way back home, set fire to hundreds of villages in pallava kingdom, killed warriors and civilians, raped and kidnapped women, disabled elderly ones, artists and craftsmen.
When Mahendra tried to fight this, he was mortally wounded in a battle at Manimangalam. Narasimhavarman I was crowned the ruler of Kanchi then in 632 AD. He prepared himself for 9 long years to fight the mighty Pulikesi and in 642 AD, he marched with an ocean of battalion towards Vathapi. He and his notable general Paranjothi, annihilated pulikesi’s army, killed him and set vathapi ablaze.

The plot:
Kalki introduced Sivakami as Narasimhavarman’s love interest. She was quoted an incredible dancer and the only daughter of a poor sculptor in Pallava kingdom. Pulikesi on his way back to Vathapi, kidnaps Sivakami. She takes a wow after reaching vathapi, that she will not step out of the Chalukyan capital, until Narasimha comes with his army to destruct pulikesi and his capital and liberate her. And king Narasimha does it finally.

The involvement of Pulikesi's twin brother Naganandhi, the deceptive Budhist monk in the proceedings makes him the villain. Both Sivakami and Naganandhi are fictional characters bought into life by Kalki and they never existed in history.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have my reasons to be disappointed. For people who envisage Kalki as the best writer of 20th century it might be difficult to digest. After all we have Sandilyan, Aghilan, Balakumaran, Sujatha and so many quickly lining up to be addressed that way. For me SS was just another book.
This blog is growing bigger … after all it’s not easy to fight a history that has created history. :-)

I shall continue writing my views and rationale in my next blog session…

முதல் ப்ரதி

பொழுதினை கழித்திட இணையதளம் தேடி!

பழியாய் மற்றவர் குணங்களைச் சாடி

பதிவாய் தந்திட இவ்விடம் நாடி

படையாய் வந்தோர் ஆயிரம் கோடி!

பஞ்சம் பிழைக்கத் திரைகடல் ஓடி

பதிப்போர் குழுவில் புதிதாய் கூடி

பாமகள் பதங்களில் அணிமலர் சூடி

பணிந்தேத் தொழுவேன் பண்ணிசைப் பாடி!