Vallavarayan Vandhiyathevan was a real personality who existed in Chola regime under Rajaraja and before. His origins and clan are subjects of great debate.
his connectivity with Vaanar Kulam. Sadasiva Pandarathar suggests that he might have belonged to eastern chalukyas - again without offering much evidence to support his claim.
Dr.Poovannan's research has some interesting insights on this. He has clearly quoted how Kalki had a very strong belief that Vandhiyathevan belonged to Vanar clan and he was even prepare to go against some of the well known historians of his times - in this. The question is: What made Kalki to believe so strongly that VThevan was indeed a vaanan ??
Again, Vandhiyathevan does not speak about his father mother or family throughout the story, and none of us think about this at all! Once he speaks about his early childhood - but nowhere does he mention about his father etc. and how he is connected to vaanar kulam. The truth is that there is no historic evidence to support this. But Kalki should have had his own ideas behind this faith..what it was ? We might never know !!
Probably Kalki based his ideas on the fact that he was a king of region around Vallam and this was ruled by Vanars earlier. It is quite possible that Vandhiyathevan was one of the small regional leader who accepted chola supremacy and had close links with them like many other regional leaders of his time.
One interesting thing to note is that - in chola dynasty since Aditya chola - it has been a trend to strengthen their ties through marital alliances. Right from Aditya, Parantha and Sundara we see kings marrying many daughters - sometimes from potential would-be enemy empires and forge solid relationship with them.
And in case of VDevan , we see that he married Kundavai - perhaps the most powerful princess of her times. It's worthwhile to ponder whether this had any gains to chola empire. In this light, it makes sense to view VDevan as a east chalukyan price - because - later, we see Rajaraja forging very strong relationship with them by giving his daughter to Vimaladitya - who is of chalukyan origin. (This resulted in a completely different set of chola-chalukya clan - from the time of Kulothungan I).
It is evident that Rajaraja would not have experimented this marriage unless he had a strong faith in their relationship. This could have been due to VDevan.
But things that contradict this idea are that VDevan never went to Chalukyan kingdom - he peacefully reigned few regions under Rajaraja and was one of the leading generals of the army. Thus, we see that the arguement lacks enough strength to be accepted as a fact.
So much about VDevan's origins!! So, who this guy was - we might not know - but we do know something about WHAT HE DID. So, what did he do ?
TVS Pandarathar - who has written a noteworthy treasie on Later cholas talks about VDevan as one of the generals of Rajendra! He does not find a place with Rajaraja - other than the Tanjore big temple inscription in which he is referred to as the husband of Kundavai (This is of importance - I'll come back to this later).
We find many of the generals of Rajaraja working for Rajendra as well. This might mean that - * Either Rajaraja did'nt live up very long - he may not have seen his eighties etc. (Can any one of you tell me the age of Rajaraja when he passed away ?) OR * All these generals were not as old as Rajaraja and lived upto Rajendra's regime as well.
Thus, we find that Rajaraja and VDevan may not be of comparable age - as portrayed in PS. But Kalki should have had his own thoughts in this - he has certainly read Pandarathar much more than me, after all !
Also, I've not come across any material connecting VDevan with Aditya - there are enough evidences for Parthibendra to be connected with him - but not VDevan. Again this makes us suspect that this could be a well knit imagination of Kalki.
Coming to Kundavai and her relationsip with VDevan historically - we find - to our surprise - that something close to what has been portrayed in PS might have happened! Because - * Kundavai was certainly a well known princess of her time and there might have been many ideas from influencial quarters about her. * Kundavai certainly did'nt move out of Tanjore - fittingly capitalized by Kalki (she says to Vanathi that she will never leave Chozha Nadu - even after marriage) * She probably spent more time growing up sons of Rajaraja than with her husband. (Any historic evidence to this ??) * We are not sure whether VDevan - Kundavi had any issues - and if so, was he/she recognized in Chola empire ?
We find that VDeven ruled a region callen Bramadesam and around - living with his wives and Kundavi spent most of her time in Tanjore. Does this imply anything? Was his reference in Tanjore temple inscription as "a husband of Kundavi..." tells us something about the power Kundavi wielded in the empire above him? Considering the fact that he was given due respect and positions for several generations - can we take it that he was quite happy about his positioning in chola dynasty ?
As we read more and more of history - I'm afraid to say that the Young - adventurous - naughty - attractive fellow portrayed in PS was but Kalki's brainchild - Vallavaraiyan Vandhiyathevan just being a name borrowed from the pages of history to attach credibility to the character he created.
The real Vandhiyathevan - if he ever comes back - will be surprised to find how he has become a cult figure : thanks to the pen of a mighty author called Kalki R.Krishnamoorthy.
The VDevan character which Kalki created, the first thing that should be held in mind is that - initially he was not intended to be a hero. Kalki wanted to sideline him - just like Paranjyothi of Sivakamiyin sabatham - after making use of him to introduce the characters and places. But it so happened that the character grew steadily on his own might - and in spite of the elaborate introductions - Arulmozhi failed to capture the hearts of people as much as VDevan did.
In fact - in certain portions where VDevan is not featured for several chapters - we notice his absence so vividly that during his reappearance Kalki will write - " We have deserted our hero for a long time..."
This is the first occation in which Kalki recognizes him as the true hero of this story. This is a typical example for the case in which imagination triumphs over its own creator.
VDevan is closer to life than ever perfect arulmozhi. He does many mistakes;