Chapter Text
Sendhan Amudhan rowed the boat through the channel as Poonguzhali sat in it, her heart and mind a turmoil of feelings. The past days she had called out to all the Gods she knew. Her mind had performed a thousand circumambulations to the Kodikarai Kuzhagar; if only he could save her Prince, she had promised the deity a thousand more when she returns to the temple yards. She had even pleaded unrelentingly with the Buddha statues that gazed compassionately from the Chaithyam at the Chudamani Viharam - did they not have a special affection for the Prince? Had he not been entrusted to them? Did they not have a duty of care to return him with good health and splendour to… not, Poonguzhali - what claim could she posit? - but to the brokenhearted Chozha people who believed their Arulmozhi Varman, their Ponniyin Selvan, to be devoured by Samudra Rajan!
As if her father would do such a thing, she tossed her head in disdain.
But it seemed the Heavens had listened. The Acharya at Chudamani Viharam had sent the message through Amudhan that the Prince was recovered. His sister, the Ilaya Piratti Kundavai, and the Kodumbalur Princess Vanathi were even now at the Nandi Mandapam, awaiting the Prince. Oh, why had she prayed! To what effect, if it was only to abet these two princesses who were going to whisk him away!
“Should I pray for the preservation of what won’t be mine?” She voiced some of her inner turmoil.
Her cousin did not need a second to respond, “Love only bothers with preserving, not possessing. Besides, does not a flower look best and give more joy when thriving on the shrub than plucked and dead in our hands?”
“Adada, what double standards, and this from the tongue of a temple flower boy...”
“Love that can be possessed by the Lord is, of course, the best,” Amudhan smiled.
And they saw him. Prince Arulmozhivarman, the Ponniyin Selvan. He strode towards them, majestic, like an elephant. He was supported by the Acharya but his gait was steady. Her parched eyes sought his, there, a moment of eye contact! Pleasure coursed through Poonguzhali. Her heart beat faster, her stomach a tumult of feelings.
…
Arulmozhi Varman also saw the girl. But there she went, averting her eyes. What was it about her? He had had hours to himself as he recouped within the walls of the viharam. His mind had not been at ease, thoughts of his father and sister, the conspiracies he had heard of from his dear friend Vanthiyathevan, his aspirations to build and serve and travel - but not rule -... they had all passed over his mind. But as she came to his mind’s fore in the course of these waves, he would find automatic pause, as if there was more cheer and comfort to have his thoughts swirl around her, a whirlpool really of zest and joy, than to have them flow with Duty again.
He continued to look at her, then turned to Amudhan. He owed a debt of gratitude to this man too. He expressed his pleasure at seeing them again, urged them to narrate what happened since he lost consciousness, and to tell him, “who is awaiting me at Nandi mandapam?”
But subconsciously, Arulmozhi also realized that after the initial welcome, Poonguzhali was no longer looking at him. In fact, she looked anywhere but at him. She had done this before too, he realized, shying away from him, but her face would be bright then, and some instinct had told Arulmozhi that her glance he may not have, but her attention he did, and her joy was his making.
He was not a vain man - and definitely not one encouraged to make his own choices in some matters - but in that moment, observing Poonguzhali’s disinterest, he wondered if he had imagined those hours between them when he was as certain of her unconditional affection, as he was of his sister’s acumen, his sword’s skill, and Oomai Rani’s protection.
“The Ilayi Piratti and the Kodumbalur Princess have come from Anaimangalam, ayya.”
His sister was here; he had guessed it but what happiness to hear this confirmation! Her companion? Aha, was this behind Samudra Kumari’s distance? Smart girl; for he was clearly not at will to further any notions that she… or for that matter, he, may like.
But he still gave expression to his feelings, “why has the Ilaya Piratti brought that girl who faints at the slightest reason?”
“Ayya, the women of Tamil Nadu are afflicted by a strange fever; one that prompts them to exchange worship of our Lord Shiva to that of Lord Buddha.”
This Sendhan also has a sense of humour, Arulmozhi thought amused, no doubt there was an oblique reference to his convalescence at the Buddhist monastery. “Who are these women?” he asked Sendhan, but looked at Poonguzhali.
“One is the Kodumbalur Princess. And here, this one too.” He tilted his head at Poonguzhali, who flushed.
Arulmozhi was surprised that Sendhan’s words and Poonguzhali’s reaction brought relief. Was he reassured that his Samudra Kumari did not seem to have banished him? His Samudra Kumari, chi! But was it not the name he conferred? No one else called her that, he reasoned.
He knew his regal countenance covered his momentary confusion. Instead he teased, “that’s just two women, Amudha, no great loss to our Saiva religion. I know many places in Eezham that would welcome women ascetics. I can take them there myself.”
…
As Sendhan Amudham rowed them back to the Chudamani Viharam, Arulmozhi ruminated over what he learnt from speaking with his sister at Nandi mandapam. The dangers facing the Chozha empire were not inconsiderable, enemies within, enemies outside and enemies who pretended to be friends. So, Nandini was also his sister! He distantly remembered something of their childhood days, of his brother Aditha Karikalan’s infatuation - or was it love, who was to judge? - for Nandini.
The Ilaya Piratti was so sensible, so enterprising, one could trust the ruling of the kingdom to her even! Look how she sent Vanthiyathevan to protect their brother, or even in the stray comments she made in their conversation. Arulmozhi marvelled at how deftly she had also conveyed to him that Sendhan Amudhan had lost his heart to his beautiful cousin. With Akka, there were no stray comments, every word had purpose! Hmm. Sendhan and Poonguzhali. They would be a well-matched couple, and also steer Arulmozhi in Vanathi’s direction as Ilaya Piratti intended.
The Kodumbalur Princess was a pretty, gentle girl. He still remembered their encounter when she had mistaken him for a mathoot. He knew she liked him, but could not know for certain whether her liking stemmed from ambition for the throne or love for him alone. But even if it was the latter, was she who he wanted? For a life companion, did he not want someone who was gutsy yet tender, for a fellow voyager did he not want her both intelligent and emotional, passionate and compassionate… For a lover, did he not want her tempestuous yet gentle, both fire and water.
Poonguzhali’s visage came unbidden to his mind. Was it her that prompted him to express to Akka that he wanted to marry a girl who would help him realize his dreams? He unlatched his mind’s eye from Poonguzhali to focus on who was before him.
“What are you thinking about, Samudra Kumari?” he asked the subdued girl.
“I was thinking of my aunt.”
“She is often in my thoughts too. What do you think she is doing now?” He ached to rush to his father, to tell him about step-mother, the Oomai Rani, to unite them after so many years.
“I wonder about what she is thinking. I wonder at her capacity to love. How she can transform any hurt she faces into even more love… With her it does not fester into poisonous anger. How to love without possession?”
The Prince had not been privy to Poonguzhali’s conversation with Sendhan. He did not know that she was still shaken after her rash act of cruelty to a bull had put Vanathi in danger. He had not realized that his dramatic rescue of Vanathi, she saw as retribution for her actions.
Instead he thought that his sister and the Kodumbalur Princess would have shown Samudra Kumari the duties that lay before him, the life he was meant for as a Prince of the empire, where marrying for love was a transgression. Arulmozhi found disturbing parallels immediately. His father and Oomai Rani, Karikalan and Nandini. One had saved his life, the other could destroy his dynasty. Would he and Poonguzhali join that list? What could it lead to?
No, he could control his heart even if it were endlessly fascinated by what was in front of it. So what if during his bouts of fever, she had come as a celestial being, a devakumari, leading him through his dreams… Poonguzhali looked him in the eye then, and in their resigned dreams he drowned, until the boat gently clashed at the edges of the channel and it was time to head back to the Chudamani viharam.