Nandhini - Fictional or not?
  • If Nandhini is a fictional character then how all that happened in ponniyin selvan wud have happened in original history?

    Veerapandiyan aabaththudavigal sabadham, Aditha karikalan maranam????

    How all these happened in history? where they totally different from what was written in ponniyin selvan??? can somebody eloborate on this??? If so then, what are all the fictional characters in Ponniyin selvan? Is vandiyathevan a true character or its again a fictional???

    Very curious topic and I am interested to know more about this.
  • Please read the last chapter of Ponniyin selvan, after Kadambur ilavarasi
    dies, Kalki answers a series of questions, in which he talks about the
    kalvettu in Peria Kovil, which talks about 'Kundhavai Pratiyar and her
    Husband Vanthiya Thevan ...'

    ~ Udankar
  • hi,

    a lot has been discussed on these in the old posts- you could do a
    key word search and dig more into the posts. However, for quick ref

    There are no archealogical evidence / pointers towards nandhini

    The big temple inscriptions talk of benevelont endowments/gifts
    given by kundavai and her husband vandiyathevan.

    TANJAVUR Brihadhiswara TEMPLE Inscriptions
    INSCRIPTIONS ON THE WALLS OF THE CENTRAL SHRINE

    No. 2 On the west wall

    This inscription is engraved in five sections, each of which
    occupies a separate face of the west wall. It consists of two
    distinct parts.

    The first part extends to about two thirds of line 7 of the first
    section and describes eleven old vessels, which were presented on
    the 310th day of the 25th year of the reign of Ko-Rajakesarivarman,
    alias Rajarajadeva, ‘to (the goddess) Umaparamesvari, who is the
    consort of our lord Adavallar,’ by the king’s elder sister,[18] who
    was the queen of Vallavaraiyar[19] Vandyadevar.


    Ak assasination is also a fact - the udayarkudi inscriptions talk of
    Ravidasan, Soman Sambavan and Parameswaran as the key consipirators
    ( note the usage thokigal - meaning someone who betrayed) as well as
    the punishment metted out to them by RRC.

    These form the core of Kalki's plot and mastery of his literary
    genius is the way in which he wound his plot around these.

    some questions do arise from these, why were the consipirators
    punished after some many years ( 15 years of Uttama rule ) - in
    Udayar, balakumaran has attempted to explain this by saying that RRC
    wanted to identify every spoke in the plot plus let them admit to
    their crime by their own words etc ....but then justice delayed is
    justice denied...something is buried deep in the recesses of
    history...

    vj
  • Hi,
    I am not sure about whether Nandhini is fictional or
    not.. Now only im hearing this type of information...
    Can anyone explain who she is really and what is the
    secret behind her, though she is a fictional
    character...

    But Vandhiyadevan is not a fictional character.. We
    have some evidance in Tanjore temple...
  • Thanks very much for lighting up my doubts.
  • nice to read yr informations. I didnt yet visited the big temple. since i m n chennai it needs me some time and i need somebody for company. before reading yr mail i thought in addition to nandini , ravidasan soman sambavan were also kalki's imaginory charecters. now only i came to know the truth. what else is there on the walls and kalvettus can u give more details on this. And what about ayanar and sivagami of SS. If they are imaginary charecters how kalki is indicating about them in "Parthiban Kanavu" itself ( because PK was written before SS).
  • hi,

    In the foreword to Ss, Kalki presents the following as being facts:

    The conversion of Mahendravarman from a Jain to a Shaivite.

    Thiunavukarasar (Appar)one of the Moovars (the most famous of 63
    Nayanmars) lived during Mahendravarman's rule.

    The siege of Kanchi by Pulakesi

    Pulakesi meeting the Pandya kings

    Narasimhavarman avenging the siege of Kanchi by attacking and
    burning down Vatapi

    Paranjothi being the commander of Narasimhavarman's army

    Paranjothi later adopting the name Siruthondar and is one of the 63
    Nayanmars

    All the rest is Kalki's prowess. Kalki got the inspiration to write
    Parthibara Kanavu and Sivakamiyin Sabadam on the seashore of
    Mahabalipuram, when he was accompanied by Rasikamani T. K. C. and
    where he saw thousands and thousands of ships and boats carrying
    warriors on one side, and other people, architects, Ayanar,
    Sivakami, Mahendravarmar and Mamallar on the other side in his
    mental vision. They left a deep and lasting impression upon his
    heart and only after finishing - possibly he drew up the plot for
    both ss and pk together but worked on them seperately

    vj
  • > All the rest is Kalki's prowess. Kalki got the inspiration to write
    > Parthibara Kanavu and Sivakamiyin Sabadam on the seashore of
    > Mahabalipuram,

    possibly he drew up the plot for
    > both ss and pk together but worked on them seperately
    >



    He reportedly wrote the entire text of parthiban kanavu when he was
    under the employ of vasan. but he kept it a secret.
    so kalki seems to have planned his quitting of ananda vikadan for
    quite some time though people make it out that it was sudden.

    venketesh




    vj
    >
    > --- In [email protected], dawood zamrooth
  • Kalki perceived the idea of SS even before any of his other novels. He
    himself said that it took 12 years for him to complete SS and only after
    finishing it he felt light at heart. But when he was in prison for a year,
    he needed some instrument to kindle the freedom spirit in the masses and
    wanted to do it immediately. Thus came Parthiban Kanavu, which has its inner
    crux as freedom struggle and he wrote the entire novel when he was in
    Prison. SS was in his heart for nearly 10 years and then only took the
    physical form.

    Given the above, which was told by Kalki himself, I am not sure how far
    Venkatesh's comment matches with this fact.
  • Hi sathish

    kalki's third term in jail lasted less than 4 months.
    jan 21 to april 12th or so in 1941.
    it was spent much in battling his asthma( rajaji lent him his thermos
    flask).
    there was no major writing in kalki's life then except for letters to
    his children who couldnt even read at that time.

    sunda the primary biographer of kalki mentions with some evidence
    that parthiban kanavu was written much earlier than oct 1941 when it
    was published but it remains a mystery why it was not serialised in
    vikadan.
    page 384 and 484 of PONNIYIN PUTHALVAR.


    the difference in publishing between parthiban kanavu and ss was only
    3 years. 1941 and 1944
  • I dont remember where I read the content which I wrote in my
    previous mail. My memory is not that good as yours Venkatesh :).

    Just picked up the SS copy i have and read the foreword by
    Kalki.Kalki has just said that he was asked to write novels by his
    friends and so started PK. It was grand success and his manager at
    Kalki magazine has to run through the whole country to get Paper to
    publish, becuase print papers were in demand those times. He says
    that he didnt get the satisfaction after completing PK and only
    after completing SS he was satisfied.

    May be what I wrote is a wrong info I read somewhere else.
  • thanks a lot venkatesh and sathish
    the info u have given are new to me. So is it sure that both
    sivakami and aayanar are kalki's imaginary charecters. But it is
    somewhat difficult to believe.Because i used to shed tears when i
    read the last pages of SS( along with mamalla chakravarthi).that is
    wonder of kalki's writings.
  • thank you sps
    regrds
    zam--- In [email protected], "Sivapathasekaran"

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