Ponniyin Selvan- The First Floods

Kalki Krishnamurthy's magnum Opus and a timeless Tamil classic! Spanned out in five volumes, Ponniyin Selvan is centered on the life of the Chola king- Rajaraja Chola and is a fictionalized tale about the events that led to his ascension to the throne. I've had this series on my radar for a while now. I dropped all my other reads and rushed to read this after watching the movie because I am inconsistent.

Starting this series was undoubtedly a good decision. I felt like I had time-traveled to the Chola-ruled Tamil Nadu 1000 years ago. The way Kalki describes the beauty of the land, the people, their culture, valor, and customs will make any reader feel as if they were physically present and experiencing everything alongside the characters. No doubt, all of these would have been tenfold more beautiful in Tamil, but the translation never lost the spirit of the story. It retained its beauty and kept me captivated all through.

Coming to the storyline, the characters are the soul of the story. Even though the story is about Arulmozhilvarman alias Rajaraja Chola, each and every character present is significant. Kalki's imagination needs to be highlighted because, wow, the web of conspiracies he created with these complex characters, all the sub-plots, and every event interconnected brings forward the story in the most beautiful way possible. There are times when I felt the story was just meandering around with no flow whatsoever. But I had to keep in mind that establishing the plot and all the characters will need time and also the fact that the story used to be released as a weekly episode.

Coming to the characters, the women, especially Kundavai and Nandini are strong-willed and wonderfully portrayed. They are in a way the crux of the story. Regal, courageous, passionate about their goals, and morally grey at times, they were my favorite characters to read. A lot of the story unfolds from the eyes of Vandiyathevan- a character for which I have mixed feelings as of now. There are still so many wonderful characters who are shown in just glimpses and I am excited to know and read more about them in the next books.

I still need to say a lot, but the first book was just the tip of the iceberg. I know my views on some characters may change as I move forward with the story. To all the history buffs out there, read this. You will fall in love with this book just as I did.

-Vasudha