Veerapandian Magal

Bridging The Chasm

What if her wedding with Pazhuvettarayar went ahead according to his plan? Shivers ran up and down Nandini's spine. Aditha! You idiot! Where the hell are you when i so desperately need you? Melting at the one thousand royal cuties falling all over you with their eyes because of your success and stature? Pangs of jealousy hit her. Act, Nandini! Now! She ran to the writing table and wrote a letter to Aditha, pouring her heart out to him. Pazhuvettaraya! I will make sure Aditha posts your battalion in one of the islands near the Malacca strait where you can propose to as many komodo dragons as you desire.

A little later she told Malarvizhi that she was going to Pazhayarai temple to worship Perumal for good luck and asked her to convey the same to Pazhutuvettarayar if he enquired about her. "Do not disturb him though, as he is busy with the coronation. He will understand." She summoned one of Pazhuvettarayar's charioteers using his ring and proceeded to Pazhayarai.

The entire chola royal household had already gathered in Sundara Chozhar's palace in Thanjai for Aditha's coronation and a large number of the general public too headed to Thanjai to participate in the festivities. So Nandini was quite sure she would go unnoticed in Pazhayarai. She alighted from the chariot and headed straight to the Krishna temple. Kanna! It has been so long since i have seen you, my Lord. It feels like i have come full circle and I am back at your feet again. Help me Perumale! Bring my Aditha back to me. I am making a last ditch effort, please make it fruitful. And she sang Andal's  Mari Malai Muzhainjil, poured oil to the lamps and lit them, gathered flowers from the nandavanam for Krishna and sought his choicest blessings. 

 Her old house was locked and she sat on the steps of the temple tank and thought of the times when Aditha used to be there by her side and tears formed in her eyes. "Nandini!". She heard Thirumalai calling her and rushed to hug her foster brother. This was the time he usually came to the temple tank to perform his Maadhyanikam when he was in town. "Anna! How are you?", she asked through fresh tears. "I am well Nandini. Where did you get lost? Amma, Appa, Akka, Karikalar and myself feared that you were gone for good. I am extremely grateful to the lord to be able to see you again." He was crying too. He told her about the burning of their parents' house in Madurai and their fear about her being dead. "I am sorry, Anna. It is a long, terrible story." And she recounted everything to him. Even Thirumalai was shaken to his core by what Nandini told him. "Anna! Let this be a secret between us until Karikalar decides the course of action. Can you do me a favour and deliver this letter to him as soon as you can? I cannot access him despite being so near to him." "Don't worry Nandini! I will go to Karikalar's coronation tomorrow and I will hand over your letter to him then" he promised. Nandini gave her letter to Thirumalai and took leave of her brother to go to Thanjai.

Karikalan went through the traditional rituals of coronation as Crown Prince that were in practice in his ancient and glorious Chola lineage. He adorned the ancestral manimagudam, received the title of Kopparakesari as his father's co-regent and the rights to make his own stone inscriptions with devotion. "Veerapandiyan thalai konda parakesarivarman vazhga", the crowd cheered the Crown Prince. After Karikalan had taken the blessings of his family, purohits, ministers, military officials and other elders, Thirumalai approached him. He congratulated the prince and said, "I have a letter for you from my sister Nandini, Ilavarase. And it is rather urgent." He handed over the olai as stealthily as he could and took leave of the Crown Prince.

Aditha's face lit up and his smile was back in its place. He slipped out to the side room and started reading Nandini's letter. "Aditha Karikalare! This is a distress call from a woman called Nandini, who loves you with all her heart. I have never stopped loving you since the day i first saw you. And my love for you has tormented me enough, so please give me solace. I cannot bear to be separated from you anymore and long to be held in your strong arms and to rest my face on your chest while you say sweet words of love in my ears. I am faced with the predicament of being forcibly married to Periya Pazhuvettarayar very very soon and if you do not rescue me, i will be damned. And forgive me for begging you to leave Veerapandian alive. I will wait for you at the Krishna temple in Pazhayarai on the evening of your coronation day like Rukmini awaited Krishna's arrival." Karikalan kissed the letter and secured it in his angavasthram. He rushed through the greetings from one and all who had gathered, took the blessings of the ladies of the harem, went on a chariot drive through the main streets of the city to take the residents' blessings and hurried through the feast. Aditha then disappeared from the palace and drove his chariot towards Pazhayarai.