When Vikraman had been in Senbaga Island, he had thought often about
his homeland and the people there. The people he used to think of the most were
Queen Arulmozhi, the sage, Ponnan, Valli and the Kanchi girl. Occasionally, he
used to think of Marappan as well. He used to feel a sense of overwhelming
revulsion upon the thought.
On the day he attempted to raise the tiger flag in the Chirappalli
hill, it had been proven that Marappan had betrayed him. Marappan had promised to
lend full support to the effort but had not turned up on the day. When
Vikraman was taken as a prisoner to Kanchi, he had learnt from the chatter
among the Pallava soldiers that it had been Marappan who had revealed his plans
to General Achutha Varman. He felt that it was a matter of shame that someone
like Marappan was born in the Chozha royal family.
It is easy to understand his emotions when such a person had
materialized in front of him.
Marappan saw the look on Vikraman’s face, and asked, “Why do you
look alarmed? I heard some talk of robbers. Did you, by any chance, think I was
a robber too?”. He laughed derisively again.
Vikraman had recovered his poise by then. “I don’t know what
robbers look like here. I am not from this country. However, I have heard that
there is no such thing as thievery under Emperor Narasimha Varman’s rule. So,
you can’t possibly be a robber”.
“You are cocky for a foreigner. Where are you from? What is your
name and why are you here?”, asked Marappan.
“If you must know, my name is Devasenan. I came here to trade in
precious gems”.
“Oh, you came here to sell gems. Why should a gem merchant drag
sculptors aside one a time for secret conversations? Do you know what
punishment our emperor hands out to people who try to steal our sculptors?”
“I don’t know sir. I already told you I’m not from here. May I
know who you are to subject me to such inquisition?”
Marappan laughed out aloud. “You don’t know who I am? Very well, I
will tell you. I am the brother of the famous king Parthiban who died in the
Vennar battlefield. I am currently the commander of the Chozha army!”
Marappan looked intensely into the trader’s face for a reaction.
He did not see any. He resumed, “If you have not heard of me, you should have
at least heard of the greatest, bravest, bestest warrior Parthiba Chozha. Or
are you from such a remote place that you have not heard of him either?!”
The gem merchant seemed to pause to think. He looked up at
Marappan and said, “Of course I have heard of the glory of King Parthiban. His
son is now the king of our country, Senbaga Island. I am King Vikraman’s
subject. So, you better not say anything derogatory or mocking about King
Parthiban in my presence”.
Marappan seemed a bit taken aback. He recovered quickly and said,
“A man of such fierce loyalty to his king! It is my fortune that I met you. I
am going to find it hard to leave your presence. What did you say your name
is?”
“Devasenan.”
“Devasenan – what an elegant name! It is a fallacy to say, ‘what
is in a name!’. It is worth buying gems from you just for your name. Is that
why princess Kundavi invited you to the palace? To buy gems from you?”
“Princess Kundavi?”, asked the merchant, with genuine surprise.
“The lady who just went in the palanquin.”
“Isn’t she Madhavi, the princess’ friend?”
“Oh is that who she claimed to be? A daughter worthy of her
father! It is now clear that you are either an outlander, or an outcast!”
Marappan muttered something to himself. Then he looked intensely
at the merchant and asked, “You said you are King Vikraman’s subject. Does your
king know the misfortune that befell his mother?”
This question had the impact Marappan wanted. There was an
immediate change in the merchant’s face. Alarmed, he cried, “What happened to
Queen Arulmozhi?”
Marappan had a triumphant smile on his face.
They heard jubilant voices from behind them. “Long live the
conqueror of Vatapi! Victory to the Emperor!” Excited voices were saying, “The
Emperor is on his way”.
Parthban Kanavu: The Tamil version of the novel is in the public domain. Copyright for the translation is reserved by the translator..
Art by Sujatha, unless otherwise credited.
Dear Mr. Anand,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to bring to your attention a potential small typo in the merchant's response to Marappan's questions the name is spelled "Kudavi" instead of "Kundavi".
Since I'm here, I also want to thank you for making this wonderful translation available. I'm reading it side-by-side with the original in order to improve my Tamil, and it has been a great experience so far. [If I'm being honest the story is gripping enough that I'm now much further along in English than Tamil :) ]
Sincerely,
Anon
Dear Anon, thank you for pointing it out. I'll fix the error. And thank you for the kind words. I'm glad that find the translation useful.
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