I am writing a mail after a long time. As usual I am not talking about the topics that are currently being discussed.Couple of books are getting released and there are mail threads congratulating the authors. I also join the list in congratulating the authors.
Today morning I had a small discussion with a friend of mine and he gave me a different perspective to the whole Silappadhikaram
What is Titanic and What is Silappadhikaram?
Rose and James are from different society. They fall in love, paint naked ,make love while travelling in Titanic, which was making its first voyage. This is the Romance part of the cinema and all fictitious. The real story is a ship called Titanic sank when it made its first voyage, because it met with an accident. That is history. Similarly - Kovalan, Kannagi and Madhavi story is the romance part of Silappadhikaram. All probably they are fictitious characters. But the history is that Madurai was burnt to ashes. But why and by whom?
My question is not answered? Did the following characters exist - Kovalan / Kannagi or are they imagination of Elango Adigal? Did Kannagi really burnt Madurai to Ashes?
The wild imagination that was discussed between me and my friend is as follows - The trader community to which Kovalan belonged to had more wealth than the madurai treasury. By virtue of their money power they were becoming more powerful than King himself. To cut them to size the Pandya ruler .... Fill in the Blanks ....
Dear udanX In any story there is portion of imagination It is poetic liberty However there should be some base for writing any story. In Ramayanam after victory at Sri lanka Rama and his colleagues were stated to be returned by Airplane, Is it possible on those days to have airplane on those days? Very difficult to imagine. But taking a lady from a man may be possible and the punishment given to him may be true Similary in silapathiharam also it is possible that a man at tender age might have cheated and killed too. Remaining things may be poetic liberty. Regarding wealth of kovalan, please see the details of income richest Americans, and Arab oil walas it may exceed the income of the their state. Can any body tell the imagination of Kalki in PS YoursDr L KailasamAuthor Manimakudam, Malarcholai Mangai, Muthusippi, Kayal
As I lango himself says - The story is on 3 princilpes,
1. The King must have a good legal system or otherwise it will lead to his own end. 2. Paththini 3. Past deeds will come back ( oozh/fate)
After Burning of Madurai - The Madurapuri Deivam (Meenakshi?) comes before Kannagi and pacifies her. It tells her the story of a learned brahmin - Varthigan- of Thiruththangal and the injustice done to him. In one way it shows that the Pandyan Judicial system was based on quick closure based on some unverified facts. ( Compare that with Chozhs)
Scholars say that Silappdikaaram is about a story of pre Seran Senguttuvan, Gajabahu and Sthavahana Satakarni period - written in 5th C. I dont have any personal reasearch on the dating and just quoted the views expressed by scholars.
Really a thought provoking question. Though I don't have any idea about history, I was reminded of a scene in the old Thamizh movie "Poombuhar". In it, it is picturized that after the death of Pandiyan, while everyone was busy attending to the king and the queen, Kannaki herself burns the palace with a torch there and thus no one notices her until the fire starts getting large. May be true? Or why not a fire accident, which was accepted as a punishment of God for the injustice that happened?
Actually what happened / History Recorded / Historical Novels / Movies based on History may have something in common but all the versions will not be in sync.
If I start quoting examples that will drag us into a different debate which I will reserve for another day. My point is I will not buy what ever has been portrayed in a historical movie - Poombuhar. What actually happened and what was recorded matters in this discussion.