Chapter 7 - Laughter and Anger

As soon as Vandiya Devan heard Pazhuvetar talk about the royal throne he decided to hear out everything that was happening in the meeting below.

"Who were they to discuss or determine anything about the royal throne? I must definitely learn what is happening here? Better to sit here it self. Azhvarkadiyan can go to hell. This is more important.

"By a lucky chance I have got an opportunity to know what's happening here. Why miss it?" he thought.

By this time Pazhuvetar had started speaking at the conference below.

"I have brought a very important news for all of you. That's why I asked noble Sambuvereyar to invite us all here. Maharaja Sundara Chola's health has been steadily deteriorating. I secretly asked our royal physician and he says that there is absolutely no chance of his health improving again. His days are numbered. That's why we will have to think about the future of the royal throne."

"What do the astrologers say?" asked one of the noble men.

"Why ask the astrologers? Haven't you seen the comet that has been appearing for the past few weeks? Whenever a comet appears on the sky there will be death in the royal family," said another.

"I have asked the astrologers as well and they say that the king might live for some more time. Anyway we will have to decide who should ascend the throne next," said Pazhuvetar.

"What is the use of discussing that now? Aditya Karikalan has been made the Crown Prince two years ago," said one of the noblemen.

"True. But before doing that did Sundara Chola consult any of us? We all have stood by the Chola Kingdom with loyalty and have sacrificed our sons and grandsons in the battlefield. Even now warriors from each of our clans have gone to Sri Lanka to fight for the Chola Kingdom. Don't you think we deserve the right to be consulted before Sundara Chola decides who will ascend the throne? Even King Dasaratha consulted his council of ministers before deciding to crown Rama. But our Sundara Chola didn't think it necessary to consult anyone…"

At this someone interrupted and said, "He didn't consult any of us here. But it wouldn't be right to say that he didn't consult anybody at all. He must have consulted Periyapirati Sembiyanmadevi and Illayapirati Kundavai Devi. Can Pazhuvetar refute this?"

Hearing this some people laughed.

"Great! You are all laughing! I don't know how you are able to though. This is so shameful for me that I would prefer to die. When Devaralan asked for sacrifice why didn't you sacrifice me? My clan is almost a thousand years old. I would be the perfect sacrifice," growled Pazhuvetar.
Hearing this everybody fell silent in the group.

"My lord, you must forgive our mistake. It was just a harmless joke. You are the leader of this group. You cannot desert us now. We are ready to act according to your wishes," said Sambuvereyar.

"I am sorry I lost my patience. Let me tell you one thing. About a hundred years ago King Vijayalaya captured Thanjavur and crushed the Mutharaiyar. Since then the Chola Kingdom has been steadily growing powerful. We have expanded our Kingdom upto Krishna River but the territory beyond that has not been conquered nor has Sri Lanka come within our power. Can anyone tell me the reason why they are holding out to us?" asked Pazhuvetar.

"We all know the reason. The first reason is Northern commander Aditya Karikalan and the second is our Southern Commander Arulmozhivarman," said Mazhavereyar.

"I agree with Mazhavereyar. For the past 100 years only those warriors who have had years of experience in warfare became commanders but now the Crown prince Aditya Karikalan is the Northern commander. But what do you think he is doing? He is not preparing to conquer the lands beyond Krishna river instead he is sitting in Kanchi building a Pon Maligai. Have you ever heard of a Prince building a pon maaligai for himself? Even the great King Paranthaka Chola thought it fit to build a golden roof for Lord Shiva's temple. Even he didn't build a pon maaligai for himself. In Kanchi, Pallava Chakravarthis have built many magnificent stone palaces but they are all not enough for our Crown Prince. He needs a pon maaligai to live in. He is using all the wealth that was won from the Gangapadi in building this. He didn't even send one pound of that gold to the royal treasury in Thanjavur."

"Is the pon maaligai completed?" asked one of the noble men.

"Yes, the work has been completed. That's what my spies have told me. We have also been getting message after message for Sundara Chola from his dear son asking him to come and stay in the pon maaligai," said Pazhuvetar.

"Is the Maharaja going to Kanchi?" asked one of them in worried tone.

"Don't worry nothing like that will happen when I am there. My brother is the commander of the Thanjavur Fort and no one can approach the King without his permission. No one can enter the Fort and meet the king or give messages. We have already blocked two or three messages that came for him."

This elicited cheers among the group they all shouted, "Long live Pazhuvetar."

"Wait, there is more. You have only heard of our Crown Prince's actions. Wait until you hear about Prince Arulmozhivarman's strange warfare. We all know about Yuddha Dharma and the way it was fought by our ancestors. 'If we wage a war on another country, our warriors will have to make arrangements for food in that country.' This is what we have been following. But do you know what Prince Arulmozhivarmar says? He wants us to send him food materials from Chola Kingdom. It has been almost a year since I have been sending ships loaded with food materials."
"Strange! Strange!"

"Never heard of anything like this before."

These were some of the exclamations from the noblemen.

"Do you know what reason he gives his actions? He says that he doesn't want to trouble the people of Sri Lanka by grabbing food from them. We have to fight only the royal forces of Sri Lanka and not the people of Sri Lanka. So we will have to send the food from here."

"I have never heard anything like this before. This looks as if we will have to fall at the feet of the people we have conquered," said Sambuvereyar.

"Do you know the problems that I have to face because of both these Princes? The treasury is getting depleted thanks to them and the end result is that I have to levy more tax on all of you. That's why I have been nominated as the head of the treasury. It's only my loyalty to Chola Kingdom that's not allowing me to resign my post. Otherwise I would have done that a long time ago."

"No! No! You must not do that. You cannot desert us this way. Have you tried telling all this to the King?" asked Mazhavereyar.

"Of course I have. But each time he says, 'Ask Periyapirati or Illayapirati". I think I mentioned this earlier, because of his illness the King's mind is not on the right track. He does not consult any of us before taking an important decision. He has more trust on the advice of his aunt Sembiyanmadevi and of course next comes his daughter Kundavai. He wants us to go to her for advice; we who have grown old serving this kingdom must go and ask advice from that little girl. I have never heard of women interfering in the affairs of the kingdom. How long will I have to burn in this shame? I don't know. It drives me mad. I really want to resign my post and go away."

"No! No! You cannot desert us like this," cried everybody at the same time.

"Then what is the solution? I cannot bear to be in this kingdom which has become worse than Allirajyam."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Glossary
Kanchi - KancheepuramPon Malligai - golden palace

Gangapadi - a Rashtrakuta kingdom near the River Krishna Yuddha Dharma - the ancient art of warfarePeriyapirati - a title used to address or refer to highly respected noblewomen

Allirajyam - a kingdom ruled by women