Samskritha kavikalill seerandhavaraaga sollapadubhavar naalvar, avarai patri indha sorthodar ullathu
"Dhandi naha pada la laliththyam, Bharavey artha gouravam, Upamaa Kaalidaasasya, Maaghe sandhithi tryo gunaha!"
Meaning,
Dhandi is for the beaty of his phrases/sentences (Padams) Bharavi for the meaningful word (artham) Kaalidasaa for his similes and in Maagha all the 3 qualities come together.
"avanthi sundari katha" is definitely traceable. I just finished reading Ma.Raajamanikanaar's "pallavar varalaaru", he quotes this work as a primary literature and tries to deduce some historical facts from it. Pallavar varalaaru is a 'saiva siththaandha nool padhippu kazaga veLiyeedu'. My thoughts on the books will be published in the varalaaru.com issue that is all set to launch tonight.
Yes I have read the novel, perhaps one of the better efforts of Sandilyan.
Some years back I and my friend were thinking of collabarating on a fiction based on Pallava history called "Ugrodhayam" with the time period from the lose of Ugrodhayam gem by Paramesvara I referred to in "Raja Thilagam" till Nandivarma II Pallavamalla's recapturing it from the E.Gangas.
We started with a TPP - THird person point of view style, wherein a old soldier who was with Parameswara and now is fighting for Nandivarma is the narrator. Udhayachandran is the main protogonist.
The main plot was around Pallavamalla's ascension to the throne from a collateral branch of the dynasty. This episode is a clouded part in Pallava history, so a fiction can be spun without impunging on epigraphic evidence.
But life changed paths and the project got aborted. Maybe one day I will try again.
The Tamils perhaps possesed some historic gems ( another one is illustrated in Mannan Mahal of Sandilyan during the Rajendra Chola period) where they are all gone?
Possible. but I think Mannan Magal one would be fictional, while Ugrodhayam has some evidences. I think I have come across a "Sen kathir Malai" in another historical fiction - Vishwaksenan/Sandilyan
I am sure Pandyas would have had some pearls of the best water.
Kohinoor must have been mined in Golconda and that must have been in the days of Deccan Sultanates, so would not have figured in Tamizh history
of course I forgot the "Rathina Haram" of Pandiyas, "Vengaiyin Maindan" revolves around Chozha's efforts to retrieve the Pandyan crown and the Aaram from Ilangai.
I dont think "Sen Kathir Maalai" mentioned in Mannan Magal is a fiction. I remember there was poem quoted by Sandilyan in Mannan Magal which says that Rajendra got it from Chera King after defeating him.