Sunday, May 01, 2005

Kadal Pura - an epic by Sandilyan

Vanakkam !!

this site will soon come up with Kadal Pura in electronic form. Though I see many debates on the net comparing Kadal Pura of Sandilyan Vs Ponniyin Selvan of Kalki, I like Kadal Pura, since it is the story of CHOLA kings' naval might that existed 1000 years ago. As for as historcal facts and imagination is concerned, probably writing Kadal Pura would have been tougher, hence more credits to Sandilyan.
Probably Rajendra Chola was the only king in our history to have conquered foreign lands as far as present day Andaman & Nicobar, Malaysia, Java & Sumatra to establish his might though Raja Raja Chola I had portions of ceylon and Maldives conquerred. The Kulottunga I ( Anabaya Chola) is supposed to have helped the king of Swarnadwipa (java & Sumatra) to regain his righteous kingdom and has even sent envoy to China. Though Ponniyin Selvan gives lot of details about internal status of Chola Kingdom, Kadal Pura always surprises me with the twists, author's imagination, and research about ship building technology.

I am from Trichy, and consider myself a Chola (fair enough) ;) My native place Tiruvanaikoil in Trichy has the marvelous Akilandeshwari temple, which was supposedly built by Kotchengat Chola and always thrills me with its magnificent architecture.

Since Kadal Pura increased my interest in exploring the history of Cholas and Tamilnadu, this is my book of choice. I see many sites having different electronic versions of Ponniyin Selvan, and hope to bring out the electronic version of my favorite Kadal Pura.

Vazhga Valamudan,
Sriram