Book 01 - Chapter 06: The Drums of War

Valli emerged from the kitchen after ensuring that the hoof-beats faded away, and returned to the courtyard. She picked up one of the swords that Marappa Bhupathi had kicked down.

She said, “Grandpa, what good does it do for you to make all these swords and shields? You let that man walk out alive after speaking ill of our king!”

The old man asked, “Valli, why are you so angry? The ex-commander said exactly what you said, that the war is pointless”.

Valli said, “I'm not against the war. I only wanted to know the reason”.  She was in tears.

“Yes Valli, I was about to complete the story when this sinner intruded. Didn’t I say the emperor of Vatapi marched south and committed several atrocities on his way back? Emperor Narasimha Varma wanted to avenge those, and was preparing for a war for a long time. After about six years, he marched north with his army. He wrote to King Parthiban, asking him to join his forces. Our king wrote back, agreeing to march with his army, but on one condition – Chozha kingdom would be free from that point on, and would not pay tribute to the Pallavas. Chozha’s Tiger flag would receive equal treatment from the Pallavas. Narasimha Pallava did not pay heed to this. He started his march north without responding to this message. Our king also stopped paying tribute to Pallavas from that point on. That is the reason for this war, Valli. Should we take a backward step? Is it acceptable that we lower the tiger flag from the Chirappalli hill and raise Pallava’s flag instead? If that happens, what would be the point of living with that indignity?”.

“I don’t know all that grandpa. I trust our king. There is a special place in hell for people who speak ill of him. I still can’t get over the fact that you let Marappan walk away after saying all that. King Parthiban is a noble king”.

“He is noble. Too noble for his own good. That is why he gave a place of honour for this ill-born Marappan”.

“What does that mean?”

“Marappa Bhupathi is not our king’s real brother. Our older king was tempted into marrying an evil woman after he turned fifty. No one liked that marriage. Marappan was born to that evil woman. The older king had decreed that Marappan would succeed our king if our king did not have an heir. Marappan had the proud title of crown prince until our prince Vikraman was born.  King Parthiban has shown him love and favor. This guy has proven ungrateful. We should have guessed. After all, his bad blood shows”.

“Grandpa, Why do you associate with him? Why did you have to read his horoscope?”

“That is all because of you Valli”.

“Because of me? A likely story!”

“I am going to tell you something I have kept from you all this while. These are dangerous times. I am not sure what will happen to our king or the Chozha kingdom. The only thing I am sure of is that Marappan will find a way to avoid going to war. You should be very careful with this guy”.

“That is a strange warning grandpa. Why should I be afraid of this ogre?”

“Just listen to me without interrupting. This guy wanted to marry you. He was quite insistent”.

“May the lightning strike him!”.

“The lightning did not strike him, it struck my family instead. From planetary positions, I foresaw that something bad was going to happen to our family. I also heard that Marappan was going to come with his thugs and abduct you. If your brothers were around, there would be bloodshed. So I sent all of you off to attend a wedding across the river. Death came in the form of a hurricane and took all your brothers. God spared you for my sake”.

The old man heaved a long sigh, and was lost in thoughts.

“So, this guy was responsible for my brothers’ deaths? I never knew!”

“After you all left by boat, this guy came with his men, as I had expected. When he saw that you were not here, he threw a fit. I used my reputation as a fortune teller to appease him. I said, “don’t yield to these minor temptations. You are destined for greater things. You are going to marry into an emperor’s family”. He has been building castles in thin air after that episode.”

Valli said, ‘Now I understand the meaning of his words. What will I do if my oarsman goes to fight the war? You have to take care of me!”. She grabbed the old man’s hands. She shivered.

The old man said, ‘Silly girl! Why are you shaking like this? Ponnan will not go to war. Our king knows the misfortune that befell us. He also knows you are all we have in the family for progeny. That’s why he forbade Ponnan from going to war”.

At that time, they heard the drumbeat. There was a loud call. “Victory is near!  The war is coming. This is the war to keep the Chozha country’s honor. All real men can join. All except invalids and the lone sons of a family should enlist. Everyone with good blood in their veins should enlist! Victory is near!”

There was a deafening drum roll. The old man and Valli went out to take a look. The drummer and the announcer were on an elephant. There were a few soldiers in the party as well.

The old man and the granddaughter were watching the procession with rapt attention until they turned the corner. The old man heaved a sigh and said, “Valli, God and Ponnan will take care of you. There is no one left in my family to aspire for the heaven of warriors. I will go to war myself”.

A bright shooting star emerged in the southern sky. It shot across the sky brightly and disappeared. Valli shivered again at the sight.

At the same time, Ponnan saw the shooting star and experienced flutters as well. He was walking along the Royal street. There were four days to go for the full moon. The waxing moon was shining brightly.  The castles and palaces of Uraiyur bathed in the moonlight, and resembled dreamland.

There appears to be a tide in the affairs of towns, just as is the case with men. These days, Tiruchirappalli is a city and Uraiyur is its suburb. Those days, Uraiyur was the capital and Chirappalli (or Tiruchirappalli) was a hamlet. The border between these towns had blurred, as there were several tradesmen and shops doing business in the streets connecting the two towns.

Ponnan wanted to reach the palace before the king descended from the Chirappalli hill. He could guess what the king would have shown the prince on their way down from the Chirappalli hill. The symbols of the Chozha dynasty’s disgrace were located there. There were some paintings depicting Parthiba Chozha’s father kneeling in front of Mahendra Pallava and offering gems and jewels as tribute. Ponnan’s blood boiled on thinking about those paintings. He had wondered how long the Chozha people could live with that indignity. An opportunity had arisen to right the wrong by going to war. ‘How could I hide at home rather than fight this righteous war?’, he thought as he sped up.

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Parthban Kanavu: The Tamil version of the novel is in the public domain. Copyright for the translation is reserved by the translator..