Though I have decided that I will read mostly Marathi books this year, I decided to give this one a try because it looked like it would be interesting. In the beginning it did look like it would fulfill the promise.
Veera, the illegitimate son of Kulasekharan, the King of Madurai, is every inch what you would expect a prince to be - handsome, intelligent and brave. Whereas the King's legitimate son, Sundar, does not amount to much when it comes to the battlefield but expects to inherit the throne nonetheless. My Indian mind accepted this black-and-white portraying without a murmur though we all know that in real life people seldom are pure good or pure evil - though I have come very close to finding 1-2 people who fit the later. Anyways, the King bows down to the pressue from the Queen and sends Veera to the far-off Sri Lanka to straighten out the warring factions there. In the meantime, Veera's lady love, Sunanda (who happens to be Sundar's maternal cousin) is married off to Sundar. When Veera returns he expects to be shunted out of the race for the post of the Crown Prince but defying all odds ends up being one. In due course of time, Sundar poisons his father but Veera moves swiftly, takes over the throne and banishes Sundar.
Another story that runs parallel to that of Veera and Sundar, is that of a person who is called Ram in the early stages of life but by a cruel twist of fate ends up being an eunuch called Malik Kafoor. Destiny makes sure that the paths of these three cross eventually and when that happens none of them come up smelling like roses.
As far as I am concerned, the stories seemed just too long-winded, often leaving me wondering if there was a point to this all. From the title of the book it appears as if the whole book is about the siege but that is not so. The siege doesn't happen till the very end of the book and when it happens there is nothing dramatic about it - no clever tactics, no palace intrigues, no decisions turning the outcome of the battle. Towards the end, I had to try hard to make myself finish the book. Some of the things were left unexplained like for example the significance of the stone elephants coming to life in the Meenakshi temple.
I didn't know that all this is based on true historical events though I remembered reading about Malik Kafur somewhere in history books and the program 'Ekaant' on Epic Channel had introduced me to the Hoysala dynasty. Later search on the internet revealed that there indeed was a Pandyan king called Veera and Malik Kafur had indeed laid the siege to the city of Madurai.
I guess I would have preferred to read about this in the history books :-(
Veera, the illegitimate son of Kulasekharan, the King of Madurai, is every inch what you would expect a prince to be - handsome, intelligent and brave. Whereas the King's legitimate son, Sundar, does not amount to much when it comes to the battlefield but expects to inherit the throne nonetheless. My Indian mind accepted this black-and-white portraying without a murmur though we all know that in real life people seldom are pure good or pure evil - though I have come very close to finding 1-2 people who fit the later. Anyways, the King bows down to the pressue from the Queen and sends Veera to the far-off Sri Lanka to straighten out the warring factions there. In the meantime, Veera's lady love, Sunanda (who happens to be Sundar's maternal cousin) is married off to Sundar. When Veera returns he expects to be shunted out of the race for the post of the Crown Prince but defying all odds ends up being one. In due course of time, Sundar poisons his father but Veera moves swiftly, takes over the throne and banishes Sundar.
Another story that runs parallel to that of Veera and Sundar, is that of a person who is called Ram in the early stages of life but by a cruel twist of fate ends up being an eunuch called Malik Kafoor. Destiny makes sure that the paths of these three cross eventually and when that happens none of them come up smelling like roses.
As far as I am concerned, the stories seemed just too long-winded, often leaving me wondering if there was a point to this all. From the title of the book it appears as if the whole book is about the siege but that is not so. The siege doesn't happen till the very end of the book and when it happens there is nothing dramatic about it - no clever tactics, no palace intrigues, no decisions turning the outcome of the battle. Towards the end, I had to try hard to make myself finish the book. Some of the things were left unexplained like for example the significance of the stone elephants coming to life in the Meenakshi temple.
I didn't know that all this is based on true historical events though I remembered reading about Malik Kafur somewhere in history books and the program 'Ekaant' on Epic Channel had introduced me to the Hoysala dynasty. Later search on the internet revealed that there indeed was a Pandyan king called Veera and Malik Kafur had indeed laid the siege to the city of Madurai.
I guess I would have preferred to read about this in the history books :-(
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