The Cloud of the Princess - Part 1 Chapter 10

More than a century earlier, on a sunny thingal morning, Mudanmandiri Kesavanar was taken by surprise when a soldier announced that King Aadhirayan wanted to meet him.

‘Lord almighty has been sick for over a year now. The vaithiyars have lost hope in what they could do and are raising their hands up towards the sky if asked about the Lord’s health condition. It has been several weeks since the King has even spoke to any of the officers, be it the Dhalapathi or Dhanamandiri. Only Maharani stays with the King all day and night. Pity that old lady. She is such a kind woman. But it seems even she has gone to the thiruvizha in Erudhur to pray for the King’s health. The King would be alone now. Both the princes Sugumaran and Eezhendiran are not in the capital. Sugumaran will return only afternoon and Eezhendiran only in the night. The brothers have already split the kingdom into two parts and it is such a painful sight to see the young princes fighting like this. Does he want me to do something to stop the princes from fighting? Oh iraivaa… Will they ever lend their ears to this old man’s words? The princes are as stubborn as their father. Once something is decided, it is decided. And until Lord Aadhirayan ruled, it was this quality in him that did all the good for the kingdom. But now it is the same quality in the twins that is causing all the trouble. It pains as if a sharp knife ran across my chest to see them dividing the kingdom into two parts. Aadhirayar built this sorgaboomi inch by inch. He gave his blood and flesh for this place to reach the stage it is in now. But now the kingdom is in the verge of a civil war. Peace in Pavazhanaadu hangs down without balance from a slender thread - which is the life of Almighty Aadhirayan. If the gods are against Pavazhanaadu and something unfortunate happens to the Lord, then nobody can stop a civil war. The streets will float in blood. Men will be killed mercilessly. Women will be widowed. Children will die of hunger. Poverty will slowly eat up the kingdom. To add fuel to the fire, the twins are equally powerful. They both have equally powerful armies. This just means more problems. If it was a one sided affair, then one of the two will climb the throne after defeating the other. But both are equally talented, equally cunning. It will be many years before the war will come to an end. And before that this beautiful land where the divine river Amudhu runs, will become a grave soaked in blood and hatred.

I need to do something about this. I have to speak to the Lord before things go out of reach. I shall meet him and beg him to call his sons and talk to them. I shall ask him in the presence of the Queen. She will be back before the moon. If the king does not listen to me, he will listen to the Queen for sure. And it must be easy to convince her. She will understand the situation both as a Queen and as a Mother. Yes. I shall do that. Let me meet the King after the queen comes back tonight’

Mudanmandhiri Kesavanar having thought for a while turned towards the soldier and said ‘I shall meet the Lord tonight. Give him the message. You may take leave now’

The Mudanmandiri turned towards the other side and started walking slowly with a hunch that age had gifted him. He walked till the door and turned back to see the soldier still standing there with a confused expression.

Mudanmandiri spoke slowly.

“What is the matter Durai? Why are you still waiting? I shall meet the Lord once the Queen comes tonight. Please convey the message to almighty. Is there something else you want to tell me?’

The soldier came a few steps towards the Mudanmandiri and spoke as if he was whispering.

“The Lord wants to meet you immediately’. He paused for a second and looked to his left and then to his right. After making sure nobody was listening to them,

he continued.

‘The Lord wants to meet you when the Maharani is not in the palace.’

Mudanmandiri had not expected it. He showed a hint of surprise in his face but that was only for a second. He recovered immediately and his face returned to its original old man’s look.

He coughed twice and spoke.

‘Oh yes! The Lord must have called me to talk about the death sentenced prisoners who need to be terminated. He never allows Maharani to hear such talks. Don’t you remember that once Maharani heard about the methods we handle to kill prisoners and fainted on the spot? Oh… She is such a pure lady with the goddess of peace staying permanently in her heart.’

The soldiers reply came without any modulation in the voice.

‘The Lord wanted me to convey you that he wanted to talk to you about something very important and it had nothing to do with the prisoners in particular.’

The Mudanmandiri coughed again. This time he was not able to control the surprise that had settled on his face.

‘This is very uncharacteristic of the Lord. He would have never given so much of detail to the soldier. But in a way it does bring out his sharp intellect. Aah haa… people say he is in his death bed and will not live long. But even now his mind is as sharp and politically bent as it was on the day he first saw Pavazhanaadu from the top of Asuragiri. How brilliant of him to have guessed that I would have thought that the meeting might concern the prisoners. It means he wants to make sure that I go and meet him today. And that too before the Queen comes back to the palace. So this means he has been patiently waiting all these days for an opportunity to talk to me when Maharani was not in palace. This should be of very high importance then. I better go and meet him immediately’

Mudanmandiri ordered the soldier to leave and after a while went to the King’s palace. The moment he entered the room where the king was lying on the bed, two soldiers closed the door behind him and left the place hurriedly. He saw the King lying on the bed in the center of the huge room with gigantic pillars in all sides that were as high as a coconut tree. But the huge room which would normally be buzzing with activity of the palace women was now as silence as death. Only the king was there in the center of the room lying on the bed. Not even the waving girls were around. This gave a shock to the Mudanmandiri.

‘The Lord should have ordered everybody out and must have been waiting for me. How foolish of me to have delayed so long’ The Mudanmandiri thought.

He walked up near the king, bowed down and said without rising up

‘Ayya… I am a sinner. I should be punished. I have made the almighty wait for me so long. I deserve death’

The king still lying on the bed smiled gently and spoke

‘Kesavanaarey… The whole country is eagerly waiting for my death. And I know I won’t live long either. Though everybody says that he/she prays for my life, nobody really wants me to live. There are only two people who want this old man who is no more of use to anybody to still live in this materialistic world. One is my Queen. And another is my reliable Mudanmandiri. And I don’t want to be unfortunate to see any of these dying before my soul departs this beautiful land. You are not a sinner Kesavanaarey… You are going to be the savior…. the god sent savior of Pavazhanaadu… please rise up and sit beside me.’

The Mudanmandiri rose up and sat near the king.

‘I am older than you my lord .My brain has become as bad as a stone with age. And I can’t really guess what you are having in your mind. With the current situation of Pavazhanaadu, with both the princes not in good terms, I don’t understand how I can be the savior of this land. But I swear on my life that I shall do anything if I can really be the savior of this land. It was forty five years back when I swore in front of Almighty arivamudhar that my life would be dedicated to the growth of Pavazhanaadu. And until seven years back, I should say I was happy with the way I had served this kingdom. But for the past seven years, I have had no idea what has happened to the princes. Some bad misunderstanding between them has split the kingdom into two parts and seven years is too long a period for them to join hands and be brothers again. But I am dying to do anything that I could to prevent things from getting out of control. I hear that Sugumaran’s men have already started fighting with Eezhendiren’s men in some parts of the Kingdom. This is no good signs at all my lord.’

Aadhirayar adjusted himself to a comfortable position and spoke

‘Kesavanarey… Do you think I am happy seeing my sons fight like this? Do you think I want them to kill each other and die? Not at all Mudanmandiri … Not at all. But there are certain things I have kept to myself all these years and have told nobody at all… not even you… not even my queen. And I think I have to tell them to somebody before I die. And the time has arrived now. Unfortunately I cannot tell them to my Queen since she may not be able to digest the animal that I have been over the years… she never will be able to fathom me as such a cruel person. And so I have no other option but to tell them all to you. Will you carefully listen to whatever I narrate?’

Mudanmandiri’s heart started to beat faster. He knew what he is about to hear are top secrets that no body other than the King himself knew of. And he could see that all of what the king will speak is not going to be pleasant at all. He adjusted his throat for a second and mentally prepared himself for what was coming.

‘My ears are always for you my lord’ he said.

Aadhirayar again adjusted his position in the bed and this time he was lying facing the ceiling. He started to speak and as he spoke his expressions changed from nostalgia to fear to sympathy to love to force at regular intervals.

‘Pavazhamozhiyaal was my Queen even before I discovered Pavazhanaadu. I loved her more than any man can love a woman. She was a part of me and I a part of her. We were not separate entities but a single life intertwined as two different bodies. But the gods were not very happy with our relationship. They denied us a child. Even after the common people moved into Pavazhanaadu and everybody was settled, there was no successor for the throne. I was too worried about this. But I had no doubts that there would be one day that the gods would bless us with a beautiful child. And my prayers did not go waste. Pavazhamozhi became pregnant after fifteen years in Pavazhanaadu. I think you might remember how I celebrated the news with all the officers including you. It was only after a few days of Pavazhamozhi becoming pregnant that I got a strange thought in my mind. And the thought was really disturbing.

Pavazhanaadu is separate from the outer world. Nobody even knew that such a place exists at all. Before coming here, we were all residing on the other side of Asuragiri before we came here. When we were there, we had constant battles with the Maadhavaa Kings. We made an intelligent decision to move all the common men to Pavazhanaadu and then start a battle with the Maadhavas from the other side of Asuragiri. We purposely lost the battle and we created an impression that all the men and women fled for their lives into the forests. Even now the Maadhavas who have conquered our previous kingdom on the other side of Asuragiri are under the impression that our Kingdom is entirely destroyed and none of us even survive. It is because of the excellent planning and execution that we were able to successfully fool the Maadhavas. I have very little doubt even today if the Maadhavas know that we have survived and built an empire on this side of Asuragiri.

But who can predict the future? Neither you nor I. And this was the disturbing thought.

If the Maadhavas somehow climb up Asuragiri say after hundred years, just think of the situation.

Pavazhanaadu will be a peace loving Kingdom. It will have no competition at all. So nobody would even learn to fight. There might be no soldiers. There might be no weapons. And that means, it will easily succumb to the Maadhavas or whoever attacks it.

This thought was intolerable for me. I immediately rushed to the palace astrologers and asked them about the child that Pavazhamozhiyaal will give birth to. They all predicted that it will be a male child. A healthy male child.

But it was not what I wanted.

I wanted twins to be born.

I desperately wanted two male children.

But it was not going to be Pavazhamozhiyaal who would grant me twins.

The astrologers said with thumping authority that I would be blessed with twins if I married Kanimozhi, Pvazhamozhi’s sister.

The gods were against me. I was torn between patriotism and love. If Pavazhamozhi gave birth to a healthy child, he would rule after me.

But I did not want that to happen. I did not want to lose Pavazhamozhi as well. My mind burst into infinite pieces. I did not know what to do.

I needed twins to be born.

Oh my god…

Patriotism took over love.

I mixed poison in Pavazhamozhi’s food on the day she gave birth to a dead child. I lost her forever. In fact I had killed her with my own hands’

Aadhirayar could not speak anymore. Tears were flowing like a river from his eyes. The Mudanmandiri who was sitting in front was seen in shock. He could not manage even a single word. His eyes were wide open and he was blankly starring at reality. The words had not sunk into his heart yet. He had not expected to hear even a single word of what he was hearing.

After a few moments of silence, Aadhirayar wiped off the tears and continued speaking.

“I married Kanimozhi. She gave birth to twins as I wanted. Both were male children.

We named them Sugumaran and Eezhendiran.

A part of my plan to save Pavazhanaadu had succeeded.

Exactly twenty years later, I had to execute the second part of my plan.

And that was to…. to create enmity between the closely knit Sugumaran and Eezhendiran.

I did this with the help of our Dhalapadiyaar. I forced him to get his daughter Nandhini married to Sugumaran. I knew Eezhendiran was in love with Nandhini and I knew only a woman could break the relationship between two close brothers.

And things from then on happened exactly as I wished. The brothers started to break up and the Kingdom was divided into two.

The army spilt into two, one on Sugumaaran’s side and one on Eezhendiran’s.

And it has been seven years since it has happened.

The hostility between the brothers has now reached a state where they don’t see each other, where they don’t send messages to each other and where they are just waiting for me to die.

And when I die, I am sure a civil war will begin in the Kingdom.

And that is the third part of my plan. “

Mudanmandiri was seen like a rock. He did not know what to talk. He had always wondered in awe about the political capabilities of Aadhirayar but this was something unexpected. To make a decision to kill Pavazhamozhi whom he loved beyond description was unimaginable. The patriotism that he has towards this sorgaboomi cannot be explained by any mortal. Tears forced itself out of the Mudnamandiri’s eyes. He spoke in a broken voice

“Ayya… I have no words to describe your love towards this place. I should say, the words you have spoken now have landed on my head as thunders from the sky. It is very difficult to believe the fact that whatever that the world thought had happened because of fate were all controlled by you. I am still in a shock. It is as if a fierce snake had spit venom into my throat. I still don’t understand your plan my Lord. Why did you crave for twins and why did you purposefully create hostility between them?”

“Kesavanaarey … As I said, if after hundred years, somebody from the other side of Asuragiri attacks Pavazhanaadu, we must be prepared to handle it. If the Kingdom does not have an army just because it has no competitors, it is bound to death. So I had no option but to divide Pavazhanaadu into two. Even if I had had two children and had given them half of Pavazhanaadu each, they would still happily rule their own lands but won’t have enmity and so will never fight. And it is very dangerous not to have competition. When your swords don’t have work for a long time, they won’t work when you really need them to. So I had to split Pavazhanaadu into two and also create enmity between the two kingdoms. To achieve this, I needed to have twins and they had to fight. So I had to commit all these sins just to save my kingdom. I will never reach heaven I know. But I shall happily see fro hell my land protected forever from strangers. “

“Ayya… Do you think you have done any good for the land by splitting it into two? I am afraid of something. Since both Sugumaran and Eezhendiran are equally talented and powerful, the war that will start soon will not end very easily. Both the brothers will fight tirelessly and the result would be death everywhere. Nobody will survive and your dream would be shattered to pieces”

Mudanmandiri saw staright into the King’s eyes. The reply from the King made the ground beneath the Mudanmandiri break into pieces.

“Ayya… Did you think that I would have not thought about that? As I said earlier, I need you to become the savior of this Kingdom. And for that to happen, you have to execute the last part of my plan. Here it is:

Immediately after my death, you might walk straight to Sugumaran and ask him to declare himself as the King and wage a war against Eezhendiran. Eezhendiran would wait to pay respects to my soul and would not expect this attack. He would be made to flee to the other side of Amudhu. And once he does that, he would consolidate his own army. He would attack Sugumaran from the other side of Amudhu but then that would not be a civil war anymore. The war would be fought in the middle, in the battleground and the common man would be safe. Since both of them have equally strong armies, I have no doubt that the war will not favour anybody. It will soon fade itself after a few years with lakhs of soldiers dying. And when everything settles down, the Kingdom will be divided into two with armies alert always and that is what I need…

Ayya… Will you do this favor for me? Will you do this favor for Pavazhanaadu? Will you be the savior of this land? Please save this sorgaboomi from destruction. You are the only one who can do it. And if you don’t do it, then all my forty years of sins will have no meaning at all. They will remain as sins and haunt me forever…. Will you do it Ayya?”

Mudanmandiri Kesavanaar was looking down at the ground and he was drenched in tears. There was silence in the room for more than a considerable period of time. After a while, he slowly lifted his head up to see the King. What he saw was the worst sight in his whole life

The King had poisoned himself and was lying dead in front of him with blood flowing out from his mouth.

The Mudanmandhiri was shocked for a second. He suddenly realized that this must have been the last step in Aadhirayar’s plan. The realization hit hard on his chest. He wanted to shout for help. He wanted to call the doctors immediately. He had hundred things running in his mind at the same time. He wanted to save the king somehow.

A distant sound of a soldier announcing someone's entry into the palace was heard feebly.

A sudden thought filled his mind.

‘I cannot save the King now. I have more important work to do’

Old Mudanmandiri Kesavanaar got up and briskly walked out of the huge room straight into Sugumaran’s palace.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 9

If not for the sudden jerk in the palakku that she was traveling, Sembaruthi might never have got up from the wonderful dream she was floating in. The hill temple incident was as fresh in her mind as a new born baby. Delicate, soft and inducing a spring of tears from the heart every time she thought of it. She loved every single moment of it and lived every moment of it whenever she thought about it. She had never expected Maithreyan to have proposed to her in such a situation. Neither did she understand what had made him propose to a girl of her background. The inner ego deep beneath her heart had kept on whispering till date that the beauty of her eyes was the fuel that had immolated Maithreyan’s passion. But her outer ego suggested that it was neither her decision nor Maithreyan's decision that united them but his almighty lord Arivamudhar’s decision that had brought them together. She had visited the hill temple at least a dozen times in a week after his proposal and every time she climbed up the hill, she would be overfilled with joy. Maithreyan had come back after two weeks and married her and had taken her to Ponvilayur. They were blessed by everybody in Maithreyan’s family, King Kunjidhapadhanaar, Queen Maargazhiyaal, ministers, poets, soldiers, palace women, and everybody she met in the first week of stay in the palace. It was a dream come true for the poor painter’s daughter. To be honest it was never a dream for her at all. It was purely god’s wish, she could sharply sense and she was just a mud toy that danced to the lord’s tune.

She woke up from the dream in a flash. The palakku was shaking abnormally and fear clutched her face. She could see all of her maids shaking to and fro and she decided to scream for help. Her expressions changed to that of a terrified female deer caught in between two male tigers and she started to sweat profusely. She sensed that the speed of the palakku had increased considerably and she had to stop it somehow.

Finally the sound blasted out of her throat as the word ‘STOP’ came out like a thunder blowing apart two clouds on either side.

The palakku came to a halt. Sembaruthi’s breath settled down slowly. She looked at her maids. Everybody had a puzzled expression. She did not understand.

She threw questions at each one of the maid’s faces “Why are you all looking at me like this? What is happening? Why did the palakku move so fast? Speak up girls… tell me what is up with you all?”

Imayaazh answered slowly.

“Akka… It was me who suggested moving the palakku a bit faster. The sun is already away from the head and it has started to get dark. We have to reach Chinnayar’s place as soon as possible. The way we were moving, we would have never reached Chinnayar’s place before it is very dark. And he might get worried about us. And Akka, don’t you remember me asking you for permission to move the palakku a bit faster? And don’t you remember nodding your approval? I think you were asleep. I should not have gone by you nodding your head. I am really sorry Akka. I won’t do the mistake again. “

Sembaruthi was ashamed at herself. She had nodded her head without her knowledge. With such an important assignment on hand that Maithreyan had given her, it was really stupid of her to get lost in thought like that. ‘ I have to be more careful. I must control my senses. I should not allow them to take over me.’ She told herself.

She turned her head towards the screen that was separating her from the sevagars, pulled it across and spoke.

“How long will it take to reach Chinnayar’s place from here?”

A male voice replied.

“We started a bit late in the morning raniyaarey and so it will be very difficult to reach Chinnayar’s place before the moon comes over the head...”

“How many of you are here now?”

“Seven sevagars rani… four to carry the palakku and three more running with torches along with us “

Sembaruthi thought for a moment.

“Ask one of the three to run to Chinnayar’s place and convey him the information that we won’t be able to come to his place. Make sure he talks as politely as possible “

“Sure rani… but then where do we stay tonight?”

“We shall go to the Durga Devi temple with lights that I can see at a distance from here.”

“Sure rani… but I am just worried about the comfort that you will get in the temple”

“That is not your problem Sevaga… we can adjust… just take us to the temple there”

“As you wish raniyaarey”

She closed the screen and turned back towards Imayaazh.

“Do you girls have any problem staying in the temple tonight?”

Nobody replied.

After a moment’s silence, one of the maids replied

“We are worried about your safety Akka”

“I don’t think Pavazhanaadu’s men would come inside a temple drunk. And I assume there must be a poosari in the temple who would take care of us. And there are the sevagars who are with us. Moreover this place seems to be like a desert. There is no town or village here. And so the chances of men roaming around after getting drunk is very low. Moreover we all have knifes with us. That should be enough to save us for the night. What do you girls say?”

The mention of knives to save themselves had made the girls look terrified. They were avoiding Sembaruthi’s eyes and were looking at each other.

At this point a shrill sound came from a distant nowhere. It had suddenly become much darker. It made Sembaruthi shiver and gave her a chance to revisit her decision of going to the temple. But something stopped her from calling off her decision. The palakku had by now picked up speed and was now moving steadily towards the Durga temple and a Sevagan had already started running towards Chief painter Chinnayar’s place to announce that the girls were not coming there. Semabaruthi and her gang of girls had just to wait and watch how the night unfolds upon them.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 8

The brain wakes up first. Then the ears do. And finally the eyes. Sembaruthi was lying in a state where her brain was partially awake and her ears were starting to hear sounds. Though she could not clearly understand the words that were being spoken around her, she was able to figure out that there were more than two males present and at least one female discussing something around her. Her brain slowly adapted to the conditions and she could hear better now. But she did not prefer to open her eyes as she was experiencing torturous head ache and opening her eyes would just increase it. She decided to stay as she was and lend her ears to the discussion that was going on around her.

“These girls are all ready to get married now. But they never understand the seriousness of our advices. They do things on their own and then suffer like this. May be the women should have never been let out. Padmanabanaar spent his whole life to make them bold and courageous but what is the use?. Kunjidhapaadhanaar is now following whatever his father had left behind. But these kings never realize the practical problems. The more we let our women stand up and talk and be bold and all that, the more the problem. Look at her mother. She has never gone to the madiyamalai temple alone in her whole life. Either I go with her or her father took her when she was young. And there was no problem at all. But look at these girls. They go there daily, and however we advice, they come back just before the madhuoli. I always knew there would be someday where she would not return before the madhuoli. But for you and the poosari, I would have lost my daughter altogether. I have no doubt that you are no one but lord arivamudhar himself in human form.”

It was a steady voice with pauses in-between to breathe air in. The flow was like that of a log in a river which stumbles over rocks occasionally.

Sembaruthi took no time to figure out that it was her father. But she was not able to guess the voice that followed. It was a young man’s voice and it sounded dynamic and powerful yet polite and sweet. The flow on contrast was like a waterfall that has no obstructions on the way.

“Ayya … This is the tenth time you have thanked me. And I don’t think I deserve it at all. Would you not have found back home a girl who shouts, faints and rolls down the rocks bruising all over her body? I did nothing big ayya … but I think I have to contradict you in one point that you have. King Kunjidhapaadhanaar is not an ordinary king. He knows the right thing to do at the right time. He has a brilliant mind that overflows with generosity and humanity. He is committed to serve the people and always looks at the practical side of solving people’s problems. Though I understand that your daughter should not have stayed in madiyamalai for so long, I don’t think it was wrong for them to go there at all. I still wonder what made your daughter climb the hill at that time of the day. And I don’t know what sort of friends she has who would not accompany her to the temple but stay back downhill and keep laughing”

A third male voice was heard now. It was also a familiar voice for Sembaruthi, but she was not able to recognize it immediately.

“Well said dhalapadhiyaar … I have also advised these girls a number of times to go home early but they never care. But then, who would care for a old poosaari who has nothing much to live for except experiencing the glory of the lord’s creation and sustenance of life forms”

The young man’s voice was heard.

“Ayya… It is very humble of you to talk like that. Don’t we all know that poosaris are our pathway to reach almighty himself? If not for you, lord arivamudhar who sits on top of madiyamalai would not get the garlands he wanted and would not get the abishegams he deserved and more importantly would not receive the prayers of all men and women who climb uphill to seek a solution for their problems.”

The poosari’s voice sounded like a overflowing can of milk.

“Dhalapadhiyaar Maithreyarey… It is a great honor those men like you are bringing to Pavazhanaadu. The god’s have granted you excellent knowledge in a young age. This old man’s only advice is to ask you to use all of them for the development of Pavazhanaadu and its people. “

At this point a female voice was heard. It was Sembaruthi’s mother.

“I hope dhalapadhiyaar and poosariaar will honor us by having food in this small home today.We shall be happy forever if the Dhalapadhiyaar could stay here for the day”

Sembaruthi’s father spoke in a quick tone with occasional coughs in between.

“Yes Yes… How foolish of me to forget that. I am really sorry for not having asked my wife to serve you anything. I hope Dhalapadhiyaar is staying here in aaraimedu today?”

Maithreyan spoke.

“Thanks a lot ayya… It would be really wonderful to have food in a home like this where the goddess of peace and beauty would want to live. But unfortunately I am not in a position to do so. I have two reasons for it. First one being that I need to be in lakshanur by tafternoon to meet the local heads there for implementing stricter laws to stop common men from alcohol addiction. I think you know that i was here this week in araimaedu for the same reason. I see a lot of people consuming alcohol even during day time and as per King Kunjidhapaadhanaar's orders, i have imprisioned over three hundred men in araimedu. The second reason i can't be here is that I don’t want to disturb you unnecessarily when you have to take care of your daughter. I suggest you to call a vaithiyar immediately, so that she recovers soon. She must in terrible pain which she might not feel immediately but start feeling in a day or two. But there is one thing i was not able to find out. And that is about the irresponsible friends your daughter has. Ayya... I would want you to ask her friends and know the truth behind why they had sent her alone uphill. I would not prefer such friends who won't be with you at times of danger.They are useless if they don't come infront of you when needed. Hope you understand it.”

At this point Sembaruthi became agitated. She knew that it was her own decision to go uphill and it had nothing to do with any of her friends. She had already tolerated him talking bad about her friends before. She could not tolerate it any more. She rose up from her bed in a flash and spoke as harshly as she could like a snake spitting venom on the prey.

“Dhalapadhiyaarey… I have been hearing what you people are discussing. It is not good to talk something before you know what you are talking about. You have no right to talk about my friends. Especially when they are not here. I wonder how Pavazhanaadu has such people in key posts . It was really disgusting to hear you talk about my friends like that. I won’t tolerate it anymore"

Sembaruthi’s father was shocked to see her talk like this and he rose up swiflty to slap her on the face. Maithreyan moved quickly to stop him from slapping by holding his raised hand. Then, he turned towards Sembaruthi and gave a gentle smile and spoke.

“Aah haa… I seriously doubted if you were really sleeping at all. Now I know that you were not. I just wanted to make sure you got up and saw the man who saved your life and brought you here. I had no other option but to talk like that so that you would get up yourself. But if you think your friends are really good and caring, tell me why they did not accompany you to the top?”

Sembaruthi was in two minds now. Something in Maithreyan seemed to be magnetic. Something that she was not able to overcome. She had not seen his eyes while shouting at him but for a second now their eyes met , a spark ignited somewhere down her heart and it proved fatal. She immediately cursed herself for having spoken like that. She knew she was laid into a trap by this handsome man in front of her. He had kindled up her emotions and made her rise from the bed. 'May be he did not have the intention of talking bad about my friends at all' she thought. 'But how did he know that i was awake? Was he watching me all along the discussion? Did some slight movement of my eyes made him find out?. He should be a brilliant observer to have found that out... Or...Or... was it just some tacit understanding of his mind and mine that made him find out?' The more she thought about him, the more she sensed that she was being pushed down some strange dark tunnel called attraction by millions of hands that seem to be popping up from everwhere around her.

Suddenly there was a unbearable sound followed by dead silence.

She came back to her hut from nowhere. She was standing alone without anybody to support. Her father had not yet put down his raised hands. She realised that Maithreyan had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer.She had to make up an something.

“That is not something I could tell you. It was something very private. Is it a rule that a innocent young girl should tell everything she knows to the Dhalapadhi of the Kingdom? I have never heard anything like that”

Maithreyan smiled again. His eyes directly looked into hers. She felt as if his hands were clutching her neck. She took her eyes off him. He spoke as slowly as possible.

“I have no doubts that the common man can have his own privacy… Even the king cannot interfere in it…let alone the Dhalapadhi. And so can you – the one who claims to be an innocent girl… But if the innocent young girl...” He gave a pause here. It seemed deliberate.

Everybody was looking at the Dhalapadhi now. The atmosphere seemed to have become static. Each one, Sembaruthi’s father, her mother, the poosari and Semabaruthi herself were expecting a different reply from him.

His reply came in a slow pace but with an authoritative voice.

“But…if the innocent young girl becomes the Dhalapadhi’s dharmapathini, then I assume she has to say it to him”

The heat of the atmosphere soared up and it seemed the hut where they were in would burn in plain air. It took heated discussions among Sembaruthi, her father, mother and occasionally the poosari before a conclusion was reached. Maithreyan was as hard as a rock and as cool as the winter cloud throughout the discussions. All throughout the chaos that was happening around him, he kept his eyes fixed on sembaruthi's eyes while still answering calmly to the questions that her parents were asking.He knew exactly how things will turn out from here and just waited patiently for them to happen.

Afterall he was in love with Sembaruthi.

It does not take years to fall in love. Love is instantaneous. It can bloom between the thorn and the rose, the fruit and the root, the beautiful and the ugly, the rich and the poor, the prince and the damsel,the princess and the poet, between any two souls that vibrate with the same frequency for the unknown.

It can bloom anywhere, anytime.

And in Maithreyans’case, it was a dark night when the most beautiful girl he would ever see rolled down from the top of the god's hill to right below his feet.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 7

Sembaruthi did not even have the flimsiest of ideas to eat the medicine that Kumudhini was talking about. She had no plans whatsoever to marry and it was a sort of surprise to herself that she had got the medicine from Kumudhini and started to climb the hill. Of course there was a reason for it. When the girls were discussing about the remarkable medicine that would show you your soul mate, Sembaruthi casually looked at the opposite side to where the discussion was happening. She saw a man walking at brisk pace in their direction but he was quite far off from them and it was not very clear who he was. But it is perfect human tendency that some unknown factor alerts the mind of forthcoming problems. It happened exactly in the same manner for Sembaruthi. The man was a little bit closer now and though only the outline of his body was visible, Sembaruthi was pretty sure this was going to end up in a problem. She was sure that it was Kangeyan, her mother’s younger brother and he was as usual drunk and was searching for her. She thought Kangeyan would never search for her at this place but fate seemed to be working against her. She did not have time to think as he was fast approaching and she had no other option but to run away from the place. ‘And there is no doubt that Kangeyan is drunk. So even if the girls are going to tell him that I am in the temple above the hill, he would never be able to reach there. Even if he starts climbing, he is sure to slip on some rock and get his head broken. Hope something good like that happens’ she thought and looked back at the group. That is when Kumudhini made the tempting offer. And Sembaruthi did not hesitate for a second to take it with both hands.

She was halfway up climbing the hill and a lot of things were going through her mind. Kangeyan was not this bad before three years. It was only after he joined the army under Sethupadhiyaar that he got addicted to drinking. He came home drinking most of the nights and shouted for no reason at all. There were no wars happening in the kingdom now and that made the army men lazier. Kangeyan slowly lost his skills of fighting and fell deep into the habit of drinking.

Sethupadhiyaar was not like any other oorarasar. He was very strict, and when he found out, was not ready to tolerate men in his own army addicted to alcohol. He took a bold decision and terminated all the men in the army who were addicted to drinking. Though he was left with very few men in the army now, he was content. ‘The wars are not happening and it is better having these useless men out than in’ was his reasoning. And Kangeyan was one among those who was culled by Sethupadhiyaar. That was some two years back and since then Kangeyan had not found any work. It was even rumored in araimedu that a secret group had formed against Sethupadhiyaar by the people who were thrown out of the army, and Kangeyan was a major element in it. But Sembaruthi never cared for the politics that was happening in the town. What she was worried about was the constant pressure that Kangeyan was applying on her parents asking them to get her married to him. Sembaruthi’s father was a painter and his earnings were meager that it was difficult to run his own family. Though he was sort of afraid of Kangeyan, he did not want to marry his daughter to him unless he found himself some work and stopped drinking. Sembaruthi would silently pray that Kangeyan never found work.

These days the problems Kangeyan was causing had grown considerably. He stopped forcing her parents to marry her to him and started to directly forcing her. Whenever he talked, it did not make sense. He was drunk most of the times and would blabber irritating words of love to her. She hated the smell of the wine that men drank and did not even want to be near Kangeyan. Her respect to him had completely dwindled over time and she just wanted to stay as away from him as possible. There were some times when he was not drunk and what he talked then made sense only as much as it made when he was drunk. His speeches were mostly related to Sethupadhiyaar and how bad a oorarasar he was. He would say

“Sembaruthi…It will not be long before the criminal Sethupadhi is ousted from the position of oorarasar. I am not telling this because he threw me out of the army. I am telling this because Eezham is silently preparing for a war against pavazhanaadu and as araimedu is on the banks of amudhu, it might very well be the first place that Eezham would attack. And when that happens, with the size of the army that Sethupadhi happens to have now, it would take only the time it takes for the swords to come out of the hilt and cut the neck to conquer araimaedu. But before Eezham attacks us, we men who were thrown out of his army will throw away Sethupadhi and become the oorarasar. Who knows, if everything happens right, even I may become the oorarasan after Sethupadhi. If I become the oorarasan, just imagine how proud your father and my sister would be to see their daughter the wife of a oorarasar. You just don’t understand that you are made by the gods for me, Sembaruthi. We will be the best couple that pavazhanaadu has ever seen and …’

Sembaruthi knew he was blabbing. She hated politics but she knew the basics. There was no way to become a oorarasar by throwing away the current one. Oorasars were appointed by the king to take care of certain number of villages and they had their own army. Though they had their armies, the money for the armies’ maintenance came from the king’s treasury. The king can anytime change the oorarasar if he found somebody was not performing his role properly. But it was an unwritten rule that oorarasar’s chose their successor themselves and the king just approved it. And this successor would be normally the current oorarasar’s son and it was as if he was the king in his land. Sethupadhiyaar had got the position from his father and it was his great great grandfather’s lineage that was ruling araimedu and the villages around for over hundred years now. There were always threats and groups against oorasars throughout pavazhanaadu’s history but none of them had been successful in throwing away a oorarasar. The king respected the oorarasar a lot and never interfered in the local administration. It was a healthy political hierarchy that pavazhanaadu had developed and what Kangeyan was talking would have sounded as stupid to a common man as it was sounding to Sembaruthi. Even if the remote possibility of Kangeyan’s group succeeding in throwing off Sethupadhiyaar from the position happens, it will not last for long as the king’s main army from ponvilayur would storm in and their number and strength would be incomparable to the little secret army that Kangeyan was blabbing about.

Sembaruthi had started avoiding Kangeyan for some months and did not want to get caught by him now. She was walking swiftly without looking back and it was becoming dark and the path was getting less visible. She had to make each step carefully and one wrong step may just be the cause of a free fall. The air had chilled considerably and her hands wrapped her body instinctively. She had considerably slowed her steps when she suddenly heard a shrill sound from a long distance. The moment she heard the sound, she turned with a jerk.

It was the ‘madhuoli’.

It meant danger.

She could indistinctly see at a distance down the hill, her friends speaking with some man and she was very sure it was Kangeyan.

Her heart beat faster. It would get really dark before she got down. And it would be the time when the drunken men took to the streets. She was afraid.

‘What a silly girl I have been. What are my options now?’ she wondered. ‘I can either go up the hill and stay in the temple the whole night and then come down in the morning. But that means my parents would be frantically searching for me. But one of those girls would surely inform them that I am safe. Or I shall run down the hill as fast as I could, somehow avoid Kangeyan and join my friends. Oh! …what is this? What is happening? Who are the other men who are nearing my friends now? They must be friends of Kangeyan-People who were thrown out of the army along with him. Oh …my god… what has happened to Kumudhini, Devaki, Thamarai and Imayaazh? Where are they leaving to without me? And how can this happen?? Are the god’s against me tonight? Why is Kangeyan climbing up? Is he not drunk? He seems to be walking steadily. I can’t go down now… I have to run as fast I could to the top and reach the temple. Let the god who sits there save me. ‘

And she turned towards the top of the hill with tremendous pace ready to start running.

She got the shock of her life.

A dark human figure was standing right in front of her almost as close as touching her.

It had a flaming torch in it's hands and the reddish glow of the flames fell on it's eyes and they were staring like burning balls at her.

She shouted in fear at the peak of her voice, fainted, slipped and started to roll down the hill.

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 6

Sembaruthi was already halfway climbing up madiyamalai and she was really moving fast. All the other girls were still at the bottom of the hill and were wondering why sembaruthi was so keen in eating the medicine that kumudhini had given her a few minutes back. The girls instead of following sembaruthi up,started a discussion among themselves.

Devaki asked the group, “What has happened to this girl? I thought she was the one who did not want to get married soon?”

Imayaazh replied, “Haven’t you heard our grandparent’s saying devaki? The girl who refuses to marry will be the first to marry.”
The group started to laugh. When the laughs faded, thamarai asked kumudhini in an excited tone “kumudhini. Please tell me.. Does the medicine really work? I don’t doubt your father’s skills, but I am wondering how such a medicine could be prepared at all?”

Before kumudhini stared to respond, imayaazh cut in – “adiyey thamarai! I think you are the one who should have taken the medicine. You seem to be the one who wants to get married as quickly as possible… take my advice for it thamarai… You don’t need medicines to find your soul mate... You just need wide eyes... Keep searching... you will surely find one jumping down into your house up from the skies”

“Aah… imayaazh now I know why the roof of your house is open… I can imagine you dreaming all night … with your eyes wide open of course” responded thamarai.

Normally imayaazh would be the one who would get the better of others in the group. Now this comment of thamarai made the girls laugh like anything. It took a while for the laugh to fade off.

Devaki spoke now. She was considered as the good girl among the five. Also was she the most intelligent. Even imayaazh would not normally comment on her. “Kumudhini… I can see what thamarai is asking. How could a medicine find you your soul mate? Did your father really prepare this? Or was it just another story that came into your mind last night?”

Kumudhini smiled gently and said “very true devaki…very true… but it is not a story that came to my mind last night. It is really a medicine prepared by my father. But it is called as ‘manamarundhu’. It has no effect when taken in. Only the one who consumes it starts to feel that she has taken a medicine and her problems would end. Most of the time the problem is in the person’s mind and this is the best method to solve it”

Imayaazh was fast to react. “adi paavi kumudhini… what made you think we have problems in our minds? “

“That was for fun, my dear imayaazh… and even I am surprised why sembaruthi took the medicine. It was purposefully aimed at you”

The girls began to laugh their heart out.

Things that happened after this instant were quick. The girls were laughing among themselves and did not watch what was happening behind. A man with red eyes was walking swiftly towards the group. It seemed as if he was targeting someone in the group and was almost running to catch her. The man was well built and the way he was approaching the girls looked as if a huge demon was preparing to ruin a small city by kicking off huts and pulling out and throwing away trees. The man was very close to the girls now and devaki was the first to notice him. She got terrified on seeing his face and shouted “ayyo… look out everybody… he is coming to attack us”

The man stopped in front of the girls who were shocked by his unexpected arrival towards them. They all started to run away from the place when they heard a voice that hit their ears like a hammer hitting a nail

“Kumudhini… wait…”

Horror jumped into kumudhini’s face and she looked at him with a terrified expression.

Before even she started speaking, a group of soldiers jumped out of a nearby bush with swords raised high and took hold of the man. Four of the soldiers grabbed him from all sides and the fifth one who looked like the leader of the group commanded the others. ‘Take him to ponvilayur.’ And the soldiers dragged him out of the place. Then he turned towards the girls and spoke ‘It is already late in the evening. Don’t you know it is unsafe to be here at this time of the evening?’

Kumudhini was still in terror. She was not able to speak anything. Devaki was keenly watching the man who was now at a distance, trying unsuccessfully to get out of the hold of the soldiers. Thamarai and imayaazh looked at each other. Finally imayaazh spoke. ‘We normally stay here in the evenings. But today it has become quite late. We did not hear the ‘madhuoli’ ring yet. So we thought we could stay here for some more time.’

Madhuoli was a kind of indication system that pavazhanaadu had developed. After sugumaaran – one of aadhirayan’s twin sons who had ruled from the west, his son asokan climbed up the throne of pavazhanaadu. And he was not as good as his father in implementing strict laws to govern the people. He was too lenient and this led to increase of crimes in the state. Only towards the end of his rule, he realized that the crime rate in the kingdom had gone up considerably and then tried to enforce laws to control them. Though he was partially successful, he could not change a few practices that had developed during his reign.

Men, both soldiers and common men, had started the habit of consuming huge amount of alcohol. They drank all the day and all the night and this affected productivity. More importantly, men who were drunk bet up their wives and children and it was pathetic to watch. As more and more men started to fall for this habit of drinking alcohol at all times of the day, women found it very difficult to even walk on the streets. Men who were only beating up their wives and children, even started to beat up unknown women on the streets. Women found it hard to survive and since the strongest political men also had fallen for this practice, they did not dare to complain the king about it. Asokan’s failure in stopping alcohol consumption continued with his son singamugan, the next king of pavazhanaadu. Mahendiran, the one that followed him was not successful either. By the time mahendiran died, the men had turned so powerful, that women were treated very badly. They had to live every day with fear and tears. Pavazhanaadu was going through one of the toughest phase in its history and no king for nearly 100 years was able to control it.

Then came Padmanabar – the most respected king of Pavazhanaadu after Aadhirayan. Padmanabar thought that using force was not a solution for this problem as none of his soldiers would accept to stop men from drinking alcohol when they themselves were addicted to it. So he called in all the wealthy merchants who sold alcohol and announced them that they would be waived off tax if they sold alcohol only at certain periods of the day. This was a great opportunity for the merchants. They knew addicted men would come anytime they opened their shops and so they will still have the same amount of sales. And with no tax, they will have just more gold and silver than they had now. They welcomed the proposal and accepted to open their shops only after sunset. And as an indication to women, padmanabar had also asked the merchants to tie a huge bell in front of their shops and ring it daily when they opened the shops. He convinced the merchants explaining them that it would not only be an indication to women to be careful, but also for men to come to their shops.

And so every alcohol merchant had a bell called locally as ‘madhuoli’ which they would ring to indicate that their shops were open.

Now as imayaazh indicated about the madhuoli, the soldier seemed to have gone into a diferent era where all the history came into his mind. He recovered himself after a second and replied

‘I think I should not blame you girls after all. King Padmanabar started the madhuoli concept before which it was very difficult for women to come out of their houses. And only after this have women gained some confidence and have started to come out for the past ten years or so. And don’t worry girls. His honourable King Kunjidhapaadhanaar is going one step forward to stop this problem. He has sworn to his father on his death bed that he would totally eradicate the practice of consuming alcohol from Pavazhanaadu. It won’t be long before which you permanently stop hearing those ‘madhuoli’ bells ringing. And it won’t be long before men like him who was about to hurt you after having consumed alcohol during the day from illegal sources are controlled and destoryed’

And a shrill sound came from a distance. It was the ‘madhuoli’.

The soldier smiled gently at the coincidence and said ‘Well they say things spoken out will happen when a bell rings. And this bell is ringing now just to indicate its own death… but first things first. I would request you girls to leave the place now immediately’

Kumudhini had still not recovered and she started to move away first. Imayaazh and thamarai were uncomfortable and were not sure if they should go or not. Devaki took her eyes off the soldiers who were dragging the man away and said to the soldier ‘I think we made a mistake… we were discussing about something and we did not realize that it was time for ‘madhuoli’ to ring. One of our friends who was with us has gone up to the temple. We can’t go without her.’

The soldier seemed skeptic. He looked at devaki for a second to find out if she was speaking the truth. ‘Why did your friend go to the temple at this time? And what about you girls? Why did you not accompany her?’ he asked looking into devaki's eyes.

The girls looked at each other for a second. Devaki spoke slowly ‘We were all planning to go. But she started before us. We were about to go too ,and all this has happened’

The soldier still was not convinced. He could see devaki trying to avoid his eyes.He said ‘I don’t advice you all to stay back till she comes down. I’ll go up, find her and take her to her house. You girls go along with my soldiers to your respective places’ He turned and looked at a group of soldiers who were standing at a distance and chatting. on seeing him, three of them came running. ‘You three go along with these girls to their places and I will meet you on budhan in the capital’ He commanded.

And the girls started to depart with the three soldiers as the head of them started to climb up the hill. As they went along the narrow streets of araimedu which was getting darker every second, all the four girls but kumudhini started to think about the soldier they had just met. He was handsome. He was strong. He was courageous. He was soft yet powerful in his words.

And suddenly an interesting thought crept into their minds...

‘may be…may be the medicine that sembaruthi ate is going to work after all’

The Cloud of the Princess - Part I Chapter 5

Hundred and fifty years earlier, pavazhamozhiyaal, the queen of aadhirayan was crying in pain. Pain that was more mental than physical. Pain that a woman should never experience. Pain that hits your heart with sharp edged stones when your first child dies before even making the first sound on earth. Pavazhamozhiyaal cried her lungs out on the dreadful day when she had given birth to a dead child. A male child. who if had lived would have changed the course of history of pavazhanaadu. But now it lay aside her as a lump of matter that neither moved nor cried. There was dead calm in the aura of the silk bed where pavazhamozhiyaal was lying except for the continuous sound of pain that started somewhere deep below her heart and was directed towards the sky , translating into deadly words of woe as they reached the ears of those brutal gods who were comfortably sleeping up there. The gods woke up, stared bluntly at pavazhamozhiyaal and spoke the worst words that pavazhanaadu had ever heard before ‘Oh lady…. may you come here too’

And the shrill started to fade off.

Pavazhamozhiyaal cried one more time in helplessness and her soul prepared itself for the unknown journey towards the unknown worlds.

Aadhirayan, normally praised by poets as the man with an iron heart stood by his wife's side and also by all those poet’s words. Not a single drop of tear came out from his eyes. Those eyes were not red. They were rather yellow , depicting neither fear nor pain but an unknown stem of disease, the roots of which started to pierce harder into his heart.

It was regarded as the karuppu aandu in pavazhanaadu’s history.

Exactly an year later, pavazhanaadu celebrated in joy. aadhirayan had married again and this time his new queen was safe after giving birth. To double the happiness of her and the whole of pavazhanaadu, she was blessed with a pair of twins. Both were male. And aadhirayan thanked the almighty silently as he went back to his palace after kissing his queen on the forehead.

The kids grew up fast and they were seventeen in no time. They had mastered all the skills that a king must have and were as powerful as rocks physically. They had the wondrous looks of aadhirayan and were even more analytical than him. All the knowledge that aadhirayan had kidnapped into his land were taught to them and they were teeming with confidence and pride.

It was then on a sunny morning day, old and experienced mudanmandhiri kesavanaar had come up to aadhirayan , bowed and said

‘irayey… I don’t wish to say what I have to say now, but if I don’t tell it now, it might affect not this old man but the whole of pavazhanaadu’

aadirayan started to laugh. His laugh became a roar in a while and he uttered with a voice that shook men with hardest of hearts, let alone old kesavanaar

“I know ayya… I know… is it not about who becoming the next king?.... ‘

There was a worried look in the mudamandiri’s face

‘Yes …’ he replied without emotions.

‘Time shall decide that my dear old reliable mudanmandiri…. time shall decide the fate of this god’s land’

And time had something very bad to give back.

Slowly, small problems began to pop up between the twins sugumaaran and eezhendiran. Though both of them were as close as possible for seventeen long years, a split up was occurring slowly but surely. They were controlling themselves for their father was still ruling the country but they knew it was not going to be for long before that old man died. But in the meantime the soldiers and the army had slowly started to divide into two groups, one supporting sugumaaran and another eezhendiran.

And the old man did die after seven years.

Immediately after his father’s death, sugumaaran declared himself the ruler of pavazhanaadu. And ordered his men to attack eezhendiran. eezhendiran who ,though was expecting a war , did not expect it on the immediate day after his father’s death. The unexpected attack made eezhendiran and his men to flee from the palace. A civil war broke out and the streets started to float in blood. Men, dogs, women, goats, children, cows and every other thing that came in the way of the two armies were killed. It was a deadly sight especially because no war rules were followed and a pang of horror hit the poor and the common man. Men and women started to flee along with eezhendiran’s army to safer places which did not seem to exist at all. The war of death continued for two years and at the end of it no one was a winner. eezhendiran had run away to the other side of the majestically huge river amudhu that aadhirayan had seen as blue line of water from the apex point of asuragiri some fifty years ago. A significant part of the common men had also transferred their homes to the eezhendiran’s side. Slowly , eezhendiran built up a army of his own and declared himself the king of eezham – the name he gave to the land he had occupied on the east of river amudhu while sugumaaran continued to rule from the west of amudhu without renaming the name of the land that his father had discovered – pavazhanaadu.

The thought of every old man who had survived the civil war and was on either one side of amudhu was similar.

‘The twins have spoiled the beautiful land that the father had built with his blood and flesh’

And it was very true.

Except for one man who had a slightly different idea – mudhanmandhiri kesavanaar.