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    Swords and Shadows
    Swords and Shadows
    Swords and Shadows
    Ebook94 pages3 hours

    Swords and Shadows

    By Pavithra Srinivasan

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    About this ebook

    Pavithra Srinivasan is a writer, journalist, artist, translator and editor – not necessarily in that order. She is fascinated with History, and writes children's fiction for adults. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and she is currently a historical-fiction columnist for Young World, The Hindu’s supplement for children. Her column is named Yester Tales. She’s also an organic farmer and lives in her farm, a tiny village in the Thiruvannamalai District where taps are still seen as luxury items. She writes about her farming adventures in The New Indian Express, under the column How I Met My Farm. She was movie and music critic for rediff.com, and is entertainment journalist with film magazines such as Southscope, Ritz and Inbox1305. She also wrote extensively for Chennai’s lifestyle magazine, Eves Touch, and worked as Fiction Editor with Katha India, a publishing house devoted to translations, where she edited full-length translations of authors such Jeyakanthan, Sundara Ramasamy, Damodar Mauzo, Imayam and others (one of which made it to the long-list of Crossword Awards).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPustaka Digital Media
    Release dateJul 5, 2016
    ISBN6580110701345
    Swords and Shadows

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      Book preview

      Swords and Shadows - Pavithra Srinivasan

      http://www.pustaka.co.in

      Swords and Shadows

      Author :

      Pavithra Srinivasan

      For more books

      http://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/pavithra-srinivasan

      Digital/Electronic Copyright © by Pustaka Digital Media Pvt. Ltd.

      All other copyright © by Author.

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      Prologue

      12th century. Thamizhagam

      The Imperial Chozhas have ruled, for generations. Their borders now extend well beyond Thamizh lands, and large tracts of South India acknowledge them as overlords. Raja Raja the Great and Rajendra the Great were hailed as warrior kings who re-wrote history. The Chozhas have gone through their fair share of upheavals: attempts to overthrow their king; disease; death; wars – and have survived. There seems no end to their rule; no diminishing their glory.

      But another kind of danger threatens this ancient clan: power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And who better to demonstrate the truth of this than kings and princes, accustomed to power and authority? Will one who sits upon the Chozha throne relinquish his claim? And will one who has every right to ascend the throne be able to overthrow his foe?

      And what if these enemies – two men on opposite sides – happen to be cousins?

      A country without a king. A coronation without a ruler. Assassination attempts and intrigues galore; cliff-hangers and surprise-twists. Read on to enter ancient Tamil Nadu and enjoy a tale of thrilling historical adventure!

      Index

      About Pavithra Srinivasan

      The King’s Witness

      1. Twilight Falls

      2. Behold - A Prince!

      3. Crown, Sceptre and Whispers

      4. Escape

      5. The Mirror Has Two Faces

      6. Secret Meetings

      7. Uneasy Discoveries

      8. Flickers of Light

      9. Revelations

      10. Here comes the dawn …

      11. Conversations on a Madhil

      12. At the end of all things …

      13. Behold – The Emperor!

      Glossary

      About Pavithra Srinivasan

      Pavithra Srinivasan is a writer, journalist, artist, translator and editor – not necessarily in that order. She is fascinated with History, and writes children's fiction for adults. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and she is currently a historical-fiction columnist for Young World, The Hindu’s supplement for children. Her column is named Yester Tales. She’s also an organic farmer and lives in her farm, a tiny village in the Thiruvannamalai District where taps are still seen as luxury items. She writes about her farming adventures in The New Indian Express, under the column How I Met My Farm. She was movie and music critic for rediff.com, and is entertainment journalist with film magazines such as Southscope, Ritz and Inbox1305. She also wrote extensively for Chennai’s lifestyle magazine, Eves Touch, and worked as Fiction Editor with Katha India, a publishing house devoted to translations, where she edited full-length translations of authors such Jeyakanthan, Sundara Ramasamy, Damodar Mauzo, Imayam and others (one of which made it to the long-list of Crossword Awards).

      She’s had a column in Culturama magazine, called Passage to India, where she wrote historical fiction for an adult audience. She’s written more than a hundred features/stories/interviews for The Hindu, The New Indian Express, The Times of India, Deccan Chronicle, Chandamama, Gokulam, Prodigy and other magazines.

      She has to her credit a collection of historical short-stories for young adults, Little-Known Tales from Well-Known Times: Back to the BCs, (Helios Books, 2012) and the translation of Kalki’s epic historicals, Sivakamiyin Sabadham (Helios Books, 2012, Tranquebar Press, 2015) and Ponniyin Selvan, (Tranquebar Press, 2014)  She has translated Jeffrey Archer’s short-story collection into Tamil, Mudivil oru Thiruppam (Westland, 2009) as also Amish Tripathi’s acclaimed Shiva Trilogy  (Westland, 2014, 2015). Her Tamil translation of Amish’s Scion of Ikshvaku is soon to be published. One of her stories is a part of the collection, My Mom is My Hero, (Adams Media, 2010) edited by Susan Reynolds.

      Pavithra is also a miniaturist – in other words, an artist who draws miniatures. She produces accurate representations of historic landmarks; her work on Chennai was featured in The Hindu:

      http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/tales-of-chennai-in-words-and-miniatures/article6761045.ece

      She’s also into zentangles, and crystal-work.

      The King’s Witness

      ~ Pavithra Srinivasan

      Once upon a time there lived a prince who was, to all intents and purposes, one of those unfortunates meant to be just that – a prince. This might not seem a lowly position to a commoner but amongst members of royalty, perceptions were different. This prince might aspire, perhaps, to the position of a glorified official in the royal hierarchy but nothing else. The son of the Emperor’s sister could see conceivably no other career option. Besides, the Emperor in question had two sons himself; children who were one and two years old – healthy, intelligent and completely capable of taking up the mantle of the next generation.

      Imagine his surprise then, when, at a tender age, he was suddenly chosen over numerous other (and far more eligible) contenders to the throne, crowned Emperor with barely any notice and given a grandiloquent title to boot! His job it would be, his uncle informed him, to keep the entire Empire safe; to be its sole guardian and eventually hand it over to his young cousin, when he came of age. In another 14 years, give or take a few months.

      Not many people had faith in the Emperor’s seemingly random impulse but the prince, given the title Edhirili Perumal – He Who Hath No Enemies – actually carried out his promise:

      He ruled wisely and well;

      When the time came, he handed over the crown to his young cousin, fresh out of exile;

      Co-ruled with the new ruler for two years, after which the youngster was declared the Chozha Emperor, circa 1180 AD.

      The Prince in question was Emperor Rajadhi Raja II; the cousin who received the Empire from his guardian was Kulothunga III – the last great Chozha Emperor. They were scions of the Imperial Chozha dynasty which boasted such greats as Emperor Raja Raja the 1st, and Rajendra the 1st. Greatness ran in their veins but not just that which comes with winning wars and administering empires; rather, nobility that graces only the truest of men.

      The tale mentioned above, of one Emperor bequeathing an empire to another – a genuine, bonafide historical occurrence – has been inscribed in painstaking detail in uneven ancient Thamizh script, on the walls of the crumbling Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple of a tiny village called Pallavarayanpettai. 

      My fascination with this temple began a few years ago. Obsessed as I was with Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan, I leant naturally towards Thamizh history and also, to other kings, and authors. Circa 2002-2003, I began to tour the historical sites mentioned in Ponniyin Selvan, and made friends with similar interests. A fellow PS enthusiast handed me a torn and tattered copy of the

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