Why debate and controversy on Ponniyin Selvan is on thin ice

Mani Ratnam's PS-I, or Ponniyin Selvan: I, is the first film in a two-part franchise based on the eponymous Tamil historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy. (File image)

When film director Mani Ratnam made ‘Ponniyin Selvan I’, based on a novel written seven decades ago by R Krishnamurthy (alias Kalki), he would not have imagined that his film will be the centre of a political storm in Tamil Nadu. The film, which released in several Indian languages, cannot be termed as a historic movie, since Kalki himself described his work as fiction set in the historic background of the tenth and eleventh century CE, when emperor Raja Raja Chola ruled parts of South India and Sri Lanka.

However, a debate has erupted after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Right-wing groups started praising the movie on social media describing Raja Raja as a ‘Hindu king’ who built temples and propagated the religion in South-East Asia. They have also cited a few scenes from the film and claimed that the king followed the Vedic traditions and Sanskrit worship. This is a relatively new claim since Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders including its founder CN Annadurai and his successor M Karunanidhi have praised Chola kings as icons of Tamil culture, and symbols of Tamil pride.

The first opposition came from five-time national award-winning film director Vetrimaran, who said “Painting emperor Rajarajan as a Hindu king is an attempt to snatch away Tamil identity. We should be politically clear and protect our identities”.

Vetrimaran’s remarks drew vociferous protests from BJP leaders, with its national women’s wing President Vanathi Srinivasan asking, “Who is a Hindu, if king Raja Raja who has built the famous Siva temple at Thanjavur is not?”

DMK Organising Secretary TKS Elangovan, Congress MP Jothimani, film maker-politician Kamal Haasan and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader and MP Thol Thirumavalavan rushed to Vetrimaran’s support. Elangovan said “Emperor Rajarajan was a Saivaite king and he was not a Hindu”. Thirumavalavan said “There was no such thing as Hinduism in Tamil Nadu during the time of Rajaraja Chola, which is a millennium ago. There was only Saivate and Vaishnavaite faith which were at loggerheads with one another and there were conversions between these two religions”. Kamal Haasan added “Hinduism is a common name given by the British to all faiths in India. Rajarajan was a Saivaite by faith”.

The debate puts both the factions of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in a tight spot as for the past few years they have been supporting the BJP whenever the latter has raised a major issue in Tamil Nadu. This time the factions cannot back the national party since AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran played the role of the emperor in his 1957 film ‘Raja Rajan’ where his Tamil identity is stressed upon.

Though the controversy on the king’s identity is based on Ratnam’s film, Raja Raja cannot be debated based on ‘Ponniyin Selvan – I’. While Kalki’s novel narrates an incident to explain why Raja Raja was called ‘Ponniyin Selvan’, none of the inscriptions which gives about 40 names to the king mentions him by this name. In fact, the novel’s hero Vanthiyathevan, shown as a friend of Arunmozhi (Raja Raja’s name when he was prince), belongs to the Vanar clan, which was opposed to the Cholas.

There is only a rare mention of the Vanar clan in Tamil literature, and there is no mention of Nandini (the character portrayed by Aishwarya Rai in the film), her mother Manthahini or the spy Alwarkadiyan Nambi in history. Though there are records supporting Raja Raja, and his family: brother Aditya Karikalan, father Sundara Chola, and sister Kundavai, many incidents shown in the film are fictional in nature.

Historians such as KA Nilakanta Shastri, TV Sadasiva Pandarathar, Mayilai Seeni Venkatasamy, and Kudavayil Balasubramanian only mention that there was power struggle in the Chola empire before Raja Raja ascended the throne, and Aditya Karikala was murdered. One of the inscriptions at Udaiyarkudi (near Cuddalore, and 240 kilometres from Chennai) is an instruction by King Raja Raja to the heads of a village panchayat to seize the property of three persons (Soman, Ravidasan, and Parameswaran) involved in the murder of his elder brother Aditya Karikala. The first part of Ratnam’s movie does not delve into this aspect.

All this proves that the film Ponniyin Selvan – I cannot be used as a tool to validate perceptions or further arguments and beliefs on a king who ruled centuries ago, or the culture and religion of his kingdom. The film is a fictional representation of a slice from history — and a very thin one at it. Those seeking history should turn to the works of several eminent historians who have shed light on the time and practises of the Chola kings, including their religion and politics.