Part of Series
“Sivakami! If you agree, I will leave the kingdom to its fate and stay with you. You are more important to me than the kingdom…” Momentous words uttered by Narasimha Varmar, whose political stature has grown considerably after defeating Durvineethan, King of Ganga Nadu, at the historic Battle of Pullalur. But there are more obstacles to overcome. Mahendra Pallavar, after restraining the Chalukya forces for nine months at the northern border of the Pallava kingdom, is on his way back to Kanchi and continues to oppose the unsuitable alliance. The Chalukya army is rapidly marching towards Kanchi. Naganandi Adigal along with his coterie of faithful bikshus travels across the length and breadth of South India, enlisting support for Pulikesi. The Pallavas, not to be outdone, have considerably strengthened the Kanchi Fort under the able leadership of Mamallar and the newly appointed commander of the Kanchi Fort, Paranjyothi. Expecting the Chalukyas to lay siege to the Kanchi Fort, food supplies that will sustain the citizens residing within the fort for several months have been accumulated. Kalki Krishnamurthy’s gripping narrative describes the tremendous efforts of the Pallavas to counter the Chalukya invasion and the growing intimacy between Mamallar and Sivakami in the action-packed second volume of ‘Sivakamiyin Sabadham’.
Author
Tamil language Novel Writer, Journalist, Poet & Critic late Ramaswamy Aiyer Krishnamurthy also known as ‘Kalki’. He derived his pen name from the suffixes of his wife name Kalyani and his name Krishnamurthy in Tamil form கல்யாணி and கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி as Kalki (கல்கி). His name also represents “Kalki avatar”, the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. His writings includes over 120 short stories, 10 novelettes, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews. 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. The success that Krishnamurthy attained in the realm of historical fiction is phenomenal. Sixty years ago, 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. Kalki had also the genius to classify the historical and non-historical events, historical and non-historical characters and how much the novel owes to history.
