Monday, February 8, 2010

Ponniyin Selvan - A Masterpiece


Few days back when I was in my friends house in Koramangala I noticed this book "Ponniyin Selvan" lying somewhere in a table. The novel belongs to Santy which he has brought from Chennai. Since no one was reading it I decided to give a try and started read the first few pages immediately, the first impression was good as any other novel. I always have this habit of losing interest after reading few chapters of any novel but surprisingly it didn't happen to me with this novel. I don't know what magic the author (Thiru. Kalki R Krishnamoorthy) has done with this novel, I was reading it without any boredom in any of the chapters.

The novel runs around 1000 AD when the Chola dynasty started growing big everyday and how they overcome internal politics and external threat from Pandyas. All the characters in this novel are true and the high level story-line is also true. The author talks about Chola culture, their majesty, traditions, kings, people, literature and country so beautifully that no one would decide to stop reading it. As I started reading this novel, my hunger to know about Cholas and their history increased which forced me to visit this wiki page often. Last week when I visited Thanjavur Temple, I really felt the temple so close to my heart because of this novel and it made me to dedicate this photo that I took for this novel.


I am just done with one part of this novel and I have 4 more to go.

If you interested in reading it online, the full novel is available here.

You can also download the PDF version from here (for free, no piracy).

13 comments:

Vijay said...

I have started reading the upanishads. It is awesome too. I will come to this in some time soon. I am more eager after A.O.

Sankar said...

There are a lot of nice tamil varalaru stories. Kalki, Sandilyan are two famous authors. Yavana Rani, Kadal Pura are some of the other popular ones.

Arun Raghavendar said...

@Vijay, If I am not wrong, Upanishads are more of a spiritual read. Taking more about Bramhan, Karma, Oneness, etc.. Not sure how you are getting the explanations for it. Any links that can explain it with proper explanation?? I am interested too.

@Sankar, Yep, heard of them. Next in my queue is Balakumaran's Udayar, Udayar is like Part-2 of Ponniyin Selvan dealing more with how Rajaraja Cholan built the Great Tanjore Temple.

Arun Raghavendar said...

I should have typed 'Udaiyaar' not 'Udayar'.. Thanks @Sankar for this tweet.. :) http://twitter.com/psankar/status/7899838656

DK said...

Hey, I too want to read it, but in English :(. Do u have an english version?

Arun Raghavendar said...

Yes I have links for the first two volumes

Volume 1A
Volume 1B
Volume 2A
Volume 2B

I cann't find the remaining volumes online in English. Maybe you can start with this, if you find it interesting it is worth buying a hard copy.

Srihari said...

Guys,

one engish version for me ...:-)

I would love to read and learn the history.

santosh said...

Go ahead and read it buddy. There are lots of twists in that story waiting for you. :)

Arun Raghavendar said...

@Srihari,
Use the links in my previous comments for the english version of the first 2 Volumes..

@Santy,
Ya.. 2nd Volume in progress..
Did you finish this novel or still reading?

santosh said...

I am done with ponniyin selvan. Planning to start with udaiyar next. When i go to chennai next time i should get it..

Bangalore waste.. For a thirukural book i struggled to buy here and finally abi bought from chennai when she came to see vijesh to b'lore

Arun Raghavendar said...

Landmark/Higginbotham la kudava ila??

Sankar said...

You can get any book available with Landmark chennai in Bangalore. You just have to phone and tell them and they will give you a call once the book arrives (2-3 days max). I have got dozens of Tamil books in Landmark bangalore thru' this way.

DK said...

Poniyin Selvan in English , full colection: http://www.thehindushopping.com/the-ponniyin-selvan-collection-kalki-krishnamurthy/books/PONSELCOLL.htm

Just Rs 1170.