folks, its been a long time since we discussed ps - picking up our fav - nandhini again....she could be termed as the main villain in the plot - and being a fictitious character, why did kalki not just get her killed. instead he made her ride away in the dark ( namba tv mega serial mathiri - when the artist gets married/ leaves to another channel - they just bum them off with a foot note).
kalki starts off very much portraying her as a villee - but then credit to him, he does no damage to her image/integrity and in the end we even feel sad for her plight...
Perhaps Vijay, Kalki wanted Nandini's honey sweet forbidding presence to create a sense of drama in PS. Perhans if he had killed her - that it self would have become the climax of PS - steering the reader away from RRC and Co.
Nandini is one of characters Kalki has given a glimpse from the birth, childhood, adulthood. The changes in Nandini would be very clearly shown through the course of the novel. Even Kundavi would mention that to Pazhivettaiyar in book 5 that Nandini was forced to become evil by everyone around her in her childhood. The reason why Kalki did not kill Nandini in the end would have been explained by himself. He would have linked her death with the delay in the convicting Ravidasan gang for AK's murder.
Following discussion has gone offline by mistake. Reposting it in the group.
hi siva
kalki went with KAN's version as in the cholas ....KAN firmly belived that uttama was somehow responsible for AK assasination - refer my prev posts on exact words used by KAN - the clever use of the words - covet for uttama and desire for arulmozhi. he however did clearup sembian madevi's name from the plot
nandhini being a fictitious character, why did kalki not just get > her killed. instead he made her ride away in the dark ( namba tv mega > serial mathiri - when the artist gets married/ leaves to another > channel - they just bum them off with a foot note).
hi Vijay appadi paarthaa who really dies in the end of PS? list them out
periya paluvettaraiyar manimekalai
anybody else?
nandini did not deserve to die. kalki must have realised she was his better creation than anybody else . i guess kalki was as confused about what to do with nandini as we are about her plight. you know what punkuzhali says when she sees nandini n that saddened plight
" i shall revere her as i revere my aunt( oomai rani)" venketesh
yes, classic case was the uttama aka madurantakan aka amarabujagan - despite being mortally ( !!!) wounded by your hero ( pun intended)...he resurfaces - from a feminine leech like creature he emerges a brillant sword fighter who can match chinna pazuvettaiyar...a butterfly would feel shy at this transformation..
amarabhujangan is killed in batle by rrc. the small boy who calls nandini as amma is later killed by Rjc.
kandamaran serves the chola empire and takes his sambuvarayar kulam to great heights.
just imagine the reality scenario.
pandyas battling it out from the jungle for centuries, and wining at the end. I remember DR.Jaybees article "indomitable pandyas" a hundred women like nandini must have participated in this war. kalki was just paying a subtle tribute to them.
if you read the whole of ps there are not many charecters you can continually despise. pinakapani was one and to an extent palaiya maduranthakan was one.
but did you notice, we all hated Ak to some extent, punkuzhali was irritable to the core in some places. kalki was not writing about these charecters, he was actually living with them.
i actually hated vanathi - good for nothing girl, namba bashailla sonna sariyaana eduppu - sombu thookki. maybe thats why kundavai chose her for arulmozhi - so that she can manipulate both of them.....
Sorry again venkat, I was talking based only on ps characterisation of vanathi. Kaviri mainthan ofcourse u built her up well n ..... Oops cannot disclose...
> Probably KALKI himself wanted to write a sequal to Ponniyinselvan - so > allowed Nandhi to see through PS.
HI sps
i dont think kalki wanted to continue ps. though he left openings.
he perhaps knew he had limited time and wanted to finish amarathara. there was no other reason for him to end ps so abruptly and start a new project.
amarathara was initially written as a screenplay for a movie. kalki the super man always seemed to suffer from a complex when he compared himself with s.s vasan. wanted to beat vasan in all fields. it was a sort of race kalki set for himself. and after the beating thyagaboomi took at the press( not the box office) kalki laid down quiet. perhaps amarathara was his life's project to equal vasan. what a pity PS had to suffer because of this.
Agree with you 100%. I hated Vanathi too, such an insipid character . I don't think PS loved her ever, he married her just to please Kundavai. Appa atlast I found someone who shares my opinion abt. Vanathi! Thank you. Shobha
-Hi shobha you missed diwaker baskaran by a couple of years. check the archives for his comments on vanathi, pungkuzhali etc. vanathi he used to call as " nadaka mayil" for pungkuzhali he had the choicest of scoldings. loosu he used to say
. for he could not have > foreseen his end so quickly ! > > 5. And we do concurr on the abrupt ending of PS .. since Kalki himself > need to clarify several things after completing the series.
while researching for kalki's biography i found 2 years in his life the most interesting. 1941, and 1954.
41 he started with his resignation from vikadan on jan 1. went to jail on jan 21 and had his own magazine by august.
54 also he has achieved a lot. i wanted to spend more time going into detail about his writings in his last year for i was convinced that with his bad health and being in and out of hospital he knew his end was nearing.
but then it went out the purview of the biography i was planing. some day I shall do it. venketesh
Goodiee.. some true and nice opinions coming about.. hopeless vanathi. and my goodness,, i cant stand pungkuzhali.. i jus dont like the way she treats amudhan.. poor guy, and she married him,, all for a sake.. "chi po endha pazham pulkum" concept towards PS
the metal chess was between Nandhini and Kundavai.. i don’t how far Nadhini could have been kalki's imaginative fragment... he should have surely had some real life time instances to be script such a character..dark, enigmatic....
search our archives - we did a series comparing nandhini to cleopatra and even a bit of three musketeers etc etc
however, i differ on poonguzali - it was one of the strongest lady characters ( apart from kundavai ofcourse) of kalki. remember the beating away of the leapard with just a shark bone episode. i really liked the way she put the fear of god in our vD while showing him her lovers ( kolli vai pisasu).. strong willed and when she knew arulmozhi was out of bounds, instead of sulking and dying like manimekalai, she lived her life. it take guts to stand up to life's beatings and still coming up trumps....
lets bring in sivagami from SS and kundavi from PK as well.. how would they fare in comparison...one an eg for love failure and the other success
Hi nithya nandini must have been his imagination for kalki's imagination was larger than life. as much as we know his life had been very ordinary corresponding with the times. kannadasans words " padaipathanaal , en peyar iraivan" is so true when you see kalki's creations. even in other books of his one example heroine asking the hero " odi poyidalaama?" was a concept the tamil movie invented in the eighties. how many movies we have seen this vasanam. in kalki's kalvanin kathali the heroine kalyani asks the hero this question in the first pages. however nandini and naganandhi of ss have a lot of common. comparison with snakes.... etc venketesh
Hi Welcome to the club of Vanathi haters :) However Poonguzhali was definitely different. She was irritating at times, but she had brains & guts which she has exhibited on various occasions, her killing the tiger as Vijay has pointed out, the way she handled PS when he had fever & transported him to Choodamani Viharam etc. She was over ambitious & she had a score to settle with the Chozhas for the way they treated Oomai Rani. Shobha
yep - remember poonguzhali even managed to come over her jealousy to save vanathi in the flood - but did she do it to prove something to kundavai or .....
ommai raani - ofcourse what a character - she speaks volumes through her actions despite being....., kalki presented such a picture - you could close you eyes and imagine her racing away in the amidst rolling meadows, heavy undergrowth, dodging through trees over the beach sand at lightning speed on her persian or was it arabian beauty .....her act of saving her beloved - what is the right term the they use now....hmmm. yeah catching the bullet ( to save the president)....venkat you too used it in yours....
this is the name of an amman in a nearby devara sthalam to kalkis birth place puthamangalam( manalmedu) vandamar pungkuzhali. the other place kalki did this was abirami a second heroine of kalvanin kathali - the name of the goddess in manal medu itself. pungkuzhali was a manifestation of kalki's socialist outlook. a boat girl becomes the chola empress. when people tell me kalki followed KAN i tell them kalki gave preference to his own creativity over facts.
venketesh
was definitely different. She was irritating at times, but she had brains & guts which she has exhibited on various occasions, her killing the tiger as Vijay has pointed out, the way she handled PS when he had fever & transported him to Choodamani Viharam etc. She was over ambitious & she had a score to settle with the Chozhas for the way they treated Oomai Rani. > Shobha >
in the last hours of kalki's life he had the wish to hear a few good songs. first MS came and sang a few devotional songs. next anandhi( kalki's daughter came and sang a song from sivakamiyin sabatham. finally kalki's wish was she sing the song of pungkuzhali( that poignant song evoking all our deepest emotions. THAT was the last thing kalki heard, before he went into a sleep from which he would never awaken.
so 'kadaisi varai oru charecter avar ninaivil irunthathu endraal, athu pungkuzhali thaan.'
Our dear members Kamal - Lavanya - Pavithra - Ram - (Krupa ?) - Dr. Kalaikkovan - Dr. Nalini and myself - sitting around scatterdly near the Maamallapuram Seashore temple - on a Pournami night - (about 3 - 4 years back) could distantly hear that "Alai osi ", discussed Sivakamiyin Sabatham & Pallava details, PS and RRC details and were transcended to that ERA and deep in my heart I was murmering the above lines of Kalki - through Poonguzhali ..
Kalki used to visit the Maamallai shore temple along with Rasigamani TKC ( who is expert in enjoying and experessing finer parts of literature, arts, conversation etc.)
Dear Venkat, that is excellent information. thank you.
vanathi was the docile, ideal daughter, ideal daughter in law types. that could be the naming reason. kunthavai mathiyo pungkuzhali maathiyo marumagal maattuchunaa, maamiyaar gathi ennavaagum?( sorry if I sound like a MCP- just a joke)
how vanathi was in reality I dont know. remember she was connected with two of our greates kings, a wife of one and mother of another.
> Why did KALKI picturise VAANATHI that way, in the First Place ? > > And why Personalities like THIRUNAVUKKARASU - Leading Publisher of > Tamilnadu - who is the Pioneer in bringing out Tamil culture - > Literature - traditional value based books - tended to name his > Publishing house - after VAANATHI ?
thirunavukarasu avarkal also has a daughter called vanathi. suprabalan, leading book editor who has helped bring out more books on kalki than anybody else has named his daughter pungkuzhali. our sps calls his daughter nandini.
Kalki's greatest hobby when he shifted to chennai was to sit in the marina beach and listen to the waves.
and speaking of rasigamani TKC, along with rajaji and thiruvika were the greatest influences on kalki.
I wouldnt include sadasivam for I think kalki saw his relation ship with sadasivam as a strategic partnership. even this year ponniyin selvan must have sold 10 thousand copies in the bookfair.but do you know how many books kalki sold of his first book( sarathaiyin thanthiram i think). in his own words 4 and a half. one book was sold at half rate. kalki just could not take his genius to the masses because he was not a commercial man. sadasivam was to kalki what he had lost in vasan. vasan and sadasivam brought kalki into the limelight which still illuminates him.
venketesh
> > Our dear members Kamal - Lavanya - Pavithra - Ram - (Krupa ?) - Dr. > Kalaikkovan - Dr. Nalini and myself - sitting around scatterdly near > the Maamallapuram Seashore temple - on a Pournami night - (about 3 - > 4 years back) could distantly hear that "Alai osi ", discussed > Sivakamiyin Sabatham & Pallava details, PS and RRC details and were > transcended to that ERA and deep in my heart I was murmering the > above lines of Kalki - through Poonguzhali .. > > Kalki used to visit the Maamallai shore temple along with Rasigamani > TKC ( who is expert in enjoying and experessing finer parts of > literature, arts, conversation etc.) > > Dear Venkat, that is excellent information. thank you. > > > sps > ------------ > > --- In [email protected], "R.venketesh"
=================== how vanathi was in reality I dont know. remember she was connected > with two of our greates kings, a wife of one and mother of another. =====================
Idhu dhan Venkat podum thoondil (bait).
Now there will be heavy flow of mails from Wiki and other sources .. thanks to Vijay and other dear friends.
Great! Kadaisi varai avar ninaivil irundal yendral avar yevvalavu nunukkamaga andha characterai padaithirukirar! So frank & forthright- the way she talks even to Anirudhar without fear- Nilathil Yarkum Anjadha Nerigal konda Bharathiyin pudumaipennagave Kalki avalai padaithirukkirar. Shobha
I was just wondering what made you to hate Vanathi so much. She was timid initially, gets manipulated by Kundavai, but gets stronger towards the 5th book. I found Vanathi an adorable character.
Thought I will poke my nose Nandhini / Poonguzhali's mamiyar ...But with Shoba writing more about this ... I also join the party. Will be happy even if my point is snubbed. My observation -- In the long run, in real life is that docile (Thats not the correct word) can I use calm women achieve more in life than people like Kundhavi / Poonguzhali.
I never said queen or queen mother. But I guess she was the first wife of rrc( and a non politiccal marriage at that) vanavan madevi was certainly the mother of rajendra though he later built a palli padai for his stepmother.
Hi you may be right. aggressive women dont reach the winning post always. but then i think kalki went out of the way to make all his heroines different
primary quality of his heroines
nandini- secretiveness kundavai- ambition in a man's world vanathi docility pungkuzhali- quixotic manimekalai- innocence.
but then all of them are stubborn women if you notice. manimekalai stands up to her father. vanathi refuses to be saved from drowning by her rival, kunthavai nandini ketkavE vendaam. pungkuzhali is the limit.
intha ratela pona I think only sembian madevi will come out as the winner.
> Just taking it forward for argument sake, she was not the wife of RRC - > Arulmozhi takes the name of RRc only on his cornonation - since she > wasnt alive then - we can say she was the wife of arulmozhi......ithu > eppadi irrukku