MAHADEVI SERIAL FULL

Nambi, played by Jayaram, is a relatively smaller character who has been adapted to the screen by Mani Ratnam in full faithfulness to Kalki’s description of a Veera Vaishnava wearing a naamam (Vaishnava caste mark), paunch, and a unique hairstyle. The similarities extend to secondary characters as well. Both Adithan and the Arulmozhi wear armour and jewellery as worn by Kalki’s characters, and even the hilt of Adithan’s sword has been recreated with the same detail. The detailing has extended to the armour, weaponry and even armbands of the male characters. All the characters wear the same jewellery and accessories as in the original illustrations. Both the characters resemble Manian’s originals, down to the last detail. The best example of Mani Ratnam’s attention to detail lies in the elaborate hairstyles of Princess Kundavai, played by Trisha Krishnan, and Nandini, played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan was accompanied by illustrations by the artist Manian, which served as a guide to what the characters should look like. The sky-high buildings appear to be a figment of the director’s imagination, until one remembers the descriptions of six-storeyed buildings in Tamil Sangam literature and multiple storeys recreated in Pallava architecture. It is a vast canvas with drama and treachery, manipulative women and fierce warriors, everything that goes to form an epic. He has filmed the story in the forts of Gwalior and Orchha, which may not resemble the Chola forts (now destroyed), but are essential to the story. The forests are thick and green and the land is fresh and unspoilt.

It is wonderful to see the flowing River Ponni (Kaveri), from whose waters the child Arulmozhi Varman was rescued by a deaf-mute boatwoman, a mysterious nymph. Mani Ratnam has created a beautiful visual landscape in the movie. Although the events are male-centric, three powerful women dominate the story: Nandini, who is plotting the fall of the Cholas Kundavai, sister of Aditha and Arulmozhi, who is trying to establish peace in a war-torn land and Sembiyan Mahadevi, who functions as the decision-maker from the bedside of her sick husband. He is a bodyguard and close friend of Aditha Karikalan, who sends him to his father Sundara Chola in Thanjavur, to invite him to the newly built golden palace in Kanchi. The chief protagonist is Vallavarayan Vandiyathevan, prince of the Vanaras, through whose adventures the story unfolds. The Chola princes have to out-manoeuvre the Pandyas and Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar. Meanwhile, some Chola chieftains are trying to prevent Aditha Karikalan from ascending the throne and support Sundara Chola’s foster son Madurantakan, who had been raised to become an ascetic. She marries the elderly Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar, Chola treasurer and minister of finance, in order to destroy the Cholas from within. After Adithan beheads the injured Veera Pandiyan, Nandini joins the Pandya conspirators, vows to take revenge on Adithan and destroy the Chola dynasty. Nandini and Aditha Karikalan loved each other in their childhood, goes the story, but as the association was disliked by the Queen Mother Sembiyan Mahadevi, Nandini fled Pazhayarai and lived in Madurai with Veera Pandiyan. She is a creation of Kalki’s imagination, and is described as the foster sister of Azhwarkadiyan Nambi, a Veera Vaishnava spy who works for the Cholas. The main antagonist of the story is Nandini, who grew up in a priest’s family along with the royal children in Pazhayarai, the ancient capital of the Cholas.

To avenge the death of the Pandya king Veera Pandiyan who was killed in battle by Aditha Karikalan, a group of Pandyan soldiers scheme against Adithan. His sons, Aditha Karikalan and Arulmozhi Varman (Ponniyin Selvan, later Rajaraja Chola), successfully conquer Kanchi, Lanka and some lands of the Rashtrakutas (753-982 CE). Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 belongs to the time when the Cholas, under Sundara Chola, ruled south India.

MAHADEVI SERIAL MOVIE

Mani Ratnam has now made the story into a two-part epic movie called Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1. It is probably the greatest novel ever written in the history of Tamil literature. It was later published as a five-volume epic.

MAHADEVI SERIAL SERIAL

Kalki, as he was popularly known, published the story of Emperor Rajaraja Chola (Ponniyin Selvan) as a serial in the Tamil magazine Kalki between 19. I WAS INTRODUCED TO Kalki R Krishnamurthy’s Ponniyin Selvan (“The Son of Ponni”) when its English translation by my uncle CV Karthik Narayanan was published in 1999.

Mahadevi serial