Ponniyin Selvan (The Son of Ponni) is a 2400-page 20th-century Tamil historical novel written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Written in five volumes, this narrates the story of Arulmozhivarman (later crowned as Rajaraja Chola I), one of the kings of the Chola Dynasty during the 10th and 11th centuries. Kalki finished the novel after nearly three and a half years of writing and he visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information for the novel. Ponniyin Selvan was the sobriquet given to Arulmozhi varman. Ponni was another name for the Kaveri and Arulmozhi was the darling of the Kaveri as in Ponniyin Selvan to all his people. The original title of Arulmozhithevan was Raja Raja Cholan. He was the second son of the Parantaka Chola II alias Sundara Chola and Queen Vaanamaadevi. Raja Raja Cholan had an elder sister, Kundavai and an elder brother, Aditya Karikalan. He had a high regard for his sister, who spent her later life in Thanjavur with her younger brother, and named his first daughter after her. Who later, inspired by his sister, built the world-renowned Brihadeeswarar Temple known as Periya Kovil. Kalki's other sources were stone inscriptions, copper-plates and other books. There is a stone tablet in the great temple of Thanjavur which has the following inscription: "The revered elder sister of Raja Raja Chozhan, the consort of Vallavaraiyan Vandhiyathevan, Azwar Paranthakar Kundavaiyar." The book History of Later Cholas has a five-line reference to Vandiyathevan, a Bana prince, a real historical character, who is the hero of this novel. The names of the conspirators also came from a stone inscription.
About the Author: Ramaswamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy (9 September 1899 - 5 December 1954), better known by his pen name Kalki, was a Tamil writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist. He was named after "Kalki avatar," the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. His writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews. In 1923 he joined as a sub-editor at Navasakthi, a Tamil periodical edited by Tamil scholar and freedom fighter Thiru. V. Kalyanasundaram, popularly known as "Thiru Vi. Ka." Krishnamurthy's first book was published in 1927. Leaving Navasakthi in 1928, Krishnamurthy stayed with C. Rajagopalachari at the Gandhi Ashram in Tiruchengode in Salem district and helped him edit Vimochanam, a Tamil journal devoted to propagating prohibition. In 1931, he was again imprisoned for six months. Next year Krishnamurthy joined Ananda Vikatan, a humour weekly edited and published by S. S. Vasan. Krishnamurthy's witty, incisive comments on politics, literature, music and other forms of art were looked forward to with unceasing interest by readers. He wrote under the pen names of "Kalki," "Ra. Ki," "Tamil Theni," "Karnatakam" and so on. Vikatan published many of his short stories and novels (as serials). In 1941, he left Ananda Vikatan, and rejoined the freedom struggle and courted arrest. Upon his release after three months he and Sadasivam started the magazine Kalki. He was its editor until his death on 5 December 1954. The success that Krishnamurthy attained in the realm of historical fiction is phenomenal. At a time when the literacy level was low and when the English-educated Tamils looked down on writings in Tamil, Kalki's circulation touched 71,000 copies - the largest for any weekly in the county then - when it serialised his historical novels. Semmalar, the monthly organ of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association, brought out a special number to commemorate Kalki's birth centenary. Kalki wrote the script and some lyrics for Meera, an M.S. Subbulakshmi starrer. Kalki's contribution to the cause of Tamil music is also noteworthy. He spearheaded a movement that wanted Carnatic musicians to include more Tamil songs in their concerts and composed a number of songs. His Tamil translation of Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, was published as Satya Sothanai.