Dear Krishnana and all there nice discussion on who achieved what and how good they were.I think Vanthy's charectorisation was indeedd good that so many people were called Vanathy...
A girl who looses her father and mother longs or love love at first sight but he is the emperors son.... Sends him to the battle feild and holds a torch for him...Her focus is only one thing thats Arulmozhi...
Its for Arulmozhi that she almost gave her own life in the elephants trunk... Its for Arulmozhi that she vows not to become queen just to proove the fact shes not a pampered princess wanting to become empress Its for Arulmozhi that she stands up agaist her cherihed and respected Periyappa She shows her creativity in taking Arulmozhi past her Periyappa remember disguised as Yanai pagan...
Every person strives to look at life in a different way She was content to be with the Yanaipagan she met as a teenager and Nature blessed her with a greater feat >>>mothering a great warrior Rajendra
So please dont call Vanathi.......meek and docile and Stupid
Its heartening to know that there is another soul (Dr. Sri) who understands Vanathy here..
Now, I want to do a little analysis of the 'complex' characters like Kundavai et al and then measure up Vanathy against them.
Kundavai - While Kundavai is portrayed as a strong willed, intelligent women in PS, what about her emotional intelligence?. While her love with Vanthiathevan is there, you will see that it is he who professes it more in every meeting and I have a nagging feeling that she just uses it to leverage his skills for helping her brother. And her wish to remain in the Chola naadu (and be a power extraordinaire within the kingdom) is pushing her towards Vanthiathevan. 'Manipulative' is a lesser term to describe Kundavai. She is very intelligent and powerful and is not shy of using that power over people to achieve her ends. She displays very less EI and shows herself emotionally dry.
Poonguzhali - My mom's fav character. She is very emotional to be sure but also very practical. She doesn't mind professing love for Arulmozhi and then end up marrying Senthan Amuthan. Her decisions are more emotionally driven with a lot of practicality and in not fighting for Arulmozhi displays her cowardice in accepting practicality over what her heart says.
Nandhini - Do I need to defend Vanathy against her?. SHe is complex, I agree. But she is also wily and moulded in the lines of the great Roman queens who wrought destruction and infamy to the emperors. Manipulative and calculating, she is bent on revenge and a tragic love in the past which makes her bitter (poison Ivy, anyone?).
Now lets talk of our heroine (she is!), she is in her teens and its an awkward age and she is naive and starts loving Arulmozhi before knowing that he is a prince. She loves him because her heart says so and is willing to defend him in anyway possible for her. She has that innocent love which I would equate with that crush that , I think, everyone of us has experienced during the high school years. Longing to get noticed, not worrying about the practicality of the thing, thinking of nothing but the person we have the crush on etc. Of course, we grow out of it and become a kundavai, poonguzhali or nandhini in our own lives. But whatever we do after this first crush is done with a consciousness of the fact and cannot be termed completely pure. This is where Vanathy stands out as a character apart from her supposed rivals. None in PS can measure up against her. If you hate her for her purity, then I think probably you've forgotten your teen years or too old to remember them.
Although I said none, there is one who can be compared to Vanathy in PS. It is Manimegalai. Her love for Vanthiathevan is equally pure and if you notice, she is also in her teens. But, alas, she is not the herione of the story and thus got sidestepped into oblivion.
Not sure how much flak am going to take for trashing all the other characters here!!!
I too like Vanathy... especially after when, towards the end of the story, kalki describes the incident in which vanathy calls arulmozhi "yaanaippaaga".. It was here that Kalki puts up a foundation for Vanathy's Behaviour...
Anyway... from my point of view, the heroine of the story is ... well heroines are Nandhini and Kundavai ...
actually the yanai pagan scene comes in the flashback.somebody must have told kalki half way that vanathy charecter was not upto the mark. give some build up. from a obvious gold digger he made her a romantic heroine.
manimekalai wanted to marry vanthiyathevan (a simple wish- he was a nobody actually) kunthavai wanted a scion of sundara solar family on the throne. nanthini wanted to set up an independent pandya kingdom ( strong women with political motives)
pungkuzhali ( with psychological problems)wanted to marry a king vanathy ( with her frequent fainting fits )wanted to marry rrc.
pungkuzhali - harmless? a girl who killed a cheetah with the backbone of a shark? Natarajan, I agree that pungkuzhali is a lovable charecter. ( I have only her picture displayed on my writing board). but she had some psychologial problems( not madness) but that is undersandable when you find a girl living alone in the kodikarai forest with nobody to share her feelings. but then the demands she makes of everybody including senthan amudhan is sometimes atrocious.
Dhiwaker this is too much poongkuzhali had her share of problems but she was no worse than the other women of ps but dont you blame Mr. krishnamurthy for his creation of the charecter. just imagine the democratic outlook of kalki a commoner couple on the throne of karikalan. fantastic
nobody gets a better introduction than pungkuzhali in ps. when she puts vanthiyathevan in a cave for a night she tells him a cheetah resided in the cave earlier.
and when he asks her pointing to the jaw bone of a shark lying nearby " whats this?" she tells him with this I killed that cheetah" a physically strong girl which is proved by her boating trips to lanka
but somehow till the last kalki gives us an impression that it was the throne that she was after and not a man. like normal men were not enough for her. she talks about kollivaay pisaasukaL as her lovers. and then wants to marry the emperors son. and arulmozhi does not even recognize her in lanka.seems she is constantly under a delusion. and poor senthan amudhan suffers because of his love for her.
not only a confusing charecter. but a confused one too. but as you say most helpful and selfless.
unga ellorukkum poramainga, vera ethuvum illai. antha kalaththileye oru pen, evvalavu thunichaloda irunthirukka.
Her likes and dislikes were different. True she was nomadic but that doesn't classify her as a 'loosu'. Anirudhdhar kannileye viralai vittu aattinava poongkuzhali!
> nanthini wanted to set up an independent pandya kingdom (strong women with political motives)
Please spare me! Nandhini had nothing to do with a free Pandiya kingdom. All she wanted was revenge against Kundhavai and AK! In my opinion she manipulated Ravidassn and co as well as Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar to achieve her goals.
why should nanthini seek revenge now.??? ( anyway ak would have grovelled at her feet whenever she gave him an opportunity to. he himself says so.that would have been the best revenge on kunthavai too.)
why should nanthini go to the pallipadai forest to crown a heir to the pandya throne why should she steal from pazhvettaraiyar to feed the aapaththuthavikal.
there was a patriotic trait in her ever since she saw veerapandyans murder. that certainly cannot be ignored. venketesh
everybody has problems.. not in fiction ... but also in real life.. u know what my problem is....
anyway... poongkuzhali yes is loosu only..... some may call her in different terms.. but to me the right term is loosu...."paambin kaal paambu ariyum" nnu venumnaa kooda interpret pannikkalaam...
democratic outlook ellaam appuram sir.... "thyaga boomi' nnu oru kadhai ezhudhinaaru... padichirupeengannu ninaikkaren... ellaam cinematic aa irukkum.... adhai kooda democratic nnu sollallaam....
kitta thatta "mudhalvan" kadhai maadhiri dhan poonguzhali ascending the throne.... fantasy has no limits sir.....
Dear Natarajan, not that i dont like pungkuzhali. i adore her charecter ever since I read ps first. she is miles beyond vanathi or kunthavai in selflessness. but nothing wrong in analysing the charecter. some of these points were raised on the return trip of the recent yathirai, when the male members of the bus trip analysed the 5 major female charecters for a long time. of course dhiwaker did not have a good word about all the five. but the rest agreed they all had some good points.