‘I liked the lion in your story better than Sinhabahu. Does your country still follow the tradition of men marrying their sisters?’
‘Not among ordinary people. But the royals do as they please. There are those who even marry their own daughters. There are kings who have died early due to alcoholism. King Mahinda’s misdeeds are endless.’
‘Do you know where Mahinda is now?’
‘I do. It is not easy to get there. I was taken there once.’
‘Why?’
‘Can the army chief’s daughter disobey the king? I’ve heard that he doesn’t sleep with the same woman twice. I was taken there blindfolded. After getting down from the palanquin, I had to climb more than a thousand steps. But when my blindfold was removed, I saw a heavenly place. A city of dreams where dance, music and liquor flowed like rivers. Thousands of women and gamblers from various corners of the earth were celebrating. This continued until dawn. I had to submit myself not just to the king but to his friends as well.
‘I was ordered to forget everything when I was sent back. But I got a baby as a gift. The child had Mongoloid features, though, and was not the king’s. Orders were issued to kill him before he turned one. The soldiers forcibly took him away. I did not ask what happened to him. Please, let’s not talk about it.’
She sobbed into his chest. The emperor did not take Mangala to Thanjavur. He made her the Chola Madevi of Lanka. When he returned to Thanjavur after five months and eighteen days, Devanayaki was in the seventh day of her confinement.
16
The people in the city welcomed the victorious Rajaraja Chola with great celebrations. As Devanayaki had recently given birth, she did not actively participate in the festivities. It was twilight when the emperor came to meet her. Devanayaki was lying on a silken mattress, breastfeeding her baby daughter. Singing a lullaby, she joyfully placed the baby in the emperor’s outstretched hands. In her hurry to get up, she forgot to cover her breasts. The king looked in wonder at Devanayaki who had become even more beautiful after giving birth. Then he looked carefully at the baby under the light of a lamp.
‘Everyone says she has got your features.’
‘That is natural, but she has inherited her golden complexion from you.’
‘Well, let her inherit something from me. This is my humble gift to the emperor who defeated Mahinda.’
‘Oh, is that so? We will name her Kuveni then.’
‘What is the significance of this name?’
‘When Vijaya, the first Sinhala prince, reached Lanka a thousand years ago, Kuveni was a princess there. Vijaya married her. Later, he abandoned Kuveni and her children to marry a Pandya princess. Distraught, she committed suicide after poisoning her children. It is believed that her curse brought about the downfall of the Sinhalese. It is in memory of my victory over the Sinhalese that I name her Kuveni.’
The emperor kissed the tender cheeks of the baby and murmured, ‘My lovely baby, Kuveni,’ in her ears. She burst out into a wail, stopping only when Devanayaki started to feed her again.
The emperor stayed for a while and explained each phase of the battle to Devanayaki in great detail. He apologized for proceeding to Keerimalai without paying heed to her warning. He thanked her for the directions she had sent through her spies. Her eyes filled with tears when he told her that victory would have been impossible but for her timely help. When he said that in return for their help, he had given the control of Puttalam to Sultan Sayyed Muhammad and had made Iravipillai the military chief of Anuradhapura, she wanted to ask what he planned to give her. But she contained herself.
To her surprise, though, he announced, ‘Kantha Madevi, you are now the chief consort of Mummudi Chola. You have to sit on my left in the royal court and rule the country. When I leave the capital, you will be responsible for administration. Kundavai will apprise you of the details.’
Though initially she felt happy, Devanayaki quickly recognized the hidden danger in this command. The present consort was Loka Madevi. She thought to herself, ‘If I replace her, immense problems will arise. As it is, they accuse me of not allowing the emperor to visit his other queens. Even Kundavai, who controls the queens as well as the emperor, is not favourably disposed towards me. So if I am made the chief consort, there will be a bitter power struggle inside the palace. That will finally result in weakening the emperor.’
‘No, Your Highness. Let Loka Madevi continue to be your chief consort. I need not be present in court to help you with administration. You can give me some other gift in memory of the victory over Lanka.’
Mistaking her refusal for humility, the emperor was insistent. But when she explained, he understood and his respect for her increased. Anyone else would have accepted without bothering to think about the implications. He left her bedchamber wondering what would be an appropriate gift for her. That night, he stayed with Loka Madevi. Though dimmed by age, she was beautiful. She could never conceive and believed that to be the reason why the king was not interested in her. So she was very pleased when he came to her on his return from Sri Lanka.
As he had been away for five months, the emperor was fully occupied with matters of state and couldn’t spend much time with Devanayaki and the baby. He had to travel within the country for several reasons: there were security threats from neighbouring countries, the emperor had to personally supervise the defence strategies, he also had to assess the skills of the newly recruited soldiers at various training centres and oversee the collection of taxes. It took him two months to set everything in order. By then, Devanayaki had recovered fully and Kuveni had begun to sit up and gurgle.
During the month of Margazhi, the season of festivals, the emperor took Devanayaki and Kuveni to the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam. Their journey from Thanjavur to Uraiyur was in a beautifully decorated carriage drawn by four horses, accompanied by soldiers and music. They reached Uraiyur, the first capital of the Cholas, paid tribute at the tomb of Karikala Chola and went to the Ranganathaswamy temple in a decorated boat. The main priest of the temple and prominent citizens welcomed the emperor and Devanayaki with traditional rituals. The emperor gifted an elephant to the temple in Kuveni’s name. Everyone stood spellbound when Devanayaki sang and danced in the temple.
That night, they stayed in the Uraiyur palace. It was then that the emperor told her in detail about his conquest of Sri Lanka. He told her how a group of crocodiles had attacked their boats while they were going to Anuradhapura from Manthai, and how one of the ships from Kanthalur had run aground in the swamps of Puttalam lake. He informed her that the underground labyrinths were exactly as inscribed under the jewellery box she had shown him. Devanayaki listened anxiously with Kuveni sucking at her breast. She interrupted him occasionally to clarify her doubts. After discussing the war, she wanted to know about the emperor’s journey to the city of dreams in Sri Lanka. The emperor hesitated. Then he decided it was better to tell her everything, as she was extremely intelligent.
‘I didn’t get an opportunity to visit the city of dreams in royal style. Mahinda has made both the wife and daughter of his predecessor, King Sena, his queens. It is said that the daughter is very beautiful. By the time we reached there, Mahinda and his queens had escaped. Luckily, Mangala was there. She is the daughter of the army chief. Though she initially resisted, she later cooperated with us. She was with me until I left Anuradhapura.’
Feeling a twinge of jealousy, Devanayaki wanted to know more about Mangala. The emperor told her Mangala’s story.
‘Oh! Why didn’t you bring her here?’
‘She does not have the ability to assist me. Her language and culture are different. It will be difficult for her to adapt.’
‘Is she beautiful?’
‘Not as beautiful as you. But she is good enough to be the queen of a Chola emperor.’
‘You are just saying this to please me.’
‘No. If you are a frangipani bud, she is a lotus bud.’
Devanayaki burst into laughter. Fortunate
ly, Kuveni did not wake up.
The next morning, they had a dip in the Kaveri and visited the Ranganathaswamy temple once more before returning to Thanjavur. But before that, Rajaraja presented Devanayaki a special gift in the presence of Lord Ranganatha. It was a lock with seven keys that had been kept at the Lord’s feet for a night.
‘This is a gift for your help in the war against Sri Lanka. The new palace near the Thyagaraja temple in Thiruvarur on the banks of the river Kaveri now belongs to you. You must establish an intellectual centre there, like the one in Kanthalur. We must invite teachers from all over the country to stay. Our children must be trained in all subjects. We should also collect manuscripts and preserve them. Do you know how diligently all this has been done in the Buddhist monasteries in Anuradhapura? They carefully record history. The monks at Abhayagiri can tell you each and every incident that happened since the day the Buddha first came to Sri Lanka. Our ancestors were not as conscientious about recording history. We must teach our children history and not merely legends like that of Kuthiramukhi Madeviyar. We must inscribe on stone and copper sheets whatever we have achieved.’
Devanayaki was both surprised and proud at the changes that had come over the emperor after the Sri Lankan conquest. Was it due to Mangala’s influence? Or that of the Buddhist monks? After the Kanthalur war, the emperor has realized that conquered territory must not be looted and destroyed, rather an effective administration system should be established there. Maybe Mangala, the lotus, had been able to influence him as well.
Devanayaki and her daughter shifted to the palace in Thiruvarur before long. It was a ploy to prevent Kundavai Pirattiyar from realizing that Devanayaki was advising the king on all matters of state. To keep Kundavai happy, the emperor made her his joint signatory on all royal commands. Kundavai and Rajaraja’s queens were happy that Devanayaki was shifting to the new palace.
It was luxurious. The architecture of the palace at Thiruvarur made up for the lack of amenities in the emperor’s other palaces. A tributary of the river Kaveri flowed through it. There was an underground pathway from the palace to the Thyagaraja temple. But most important of all was the mirror palace on the third floor, where the ceiling and walls were inlaid with mirrors. That was exclusively for the emperor.
The emperor invited all leading exponents of literature, music, dance, politics and logic to Thiruvarur. As they followed the gurukula system, arrangements were made for the students to stay there during the period of their studies. Apart from the education imparted by the gurus, Devanayaki especially trained each student in accordance with the position he was to assume in the administration of the country. For that reason, Rajendra Chola, though no longer an adolescent, was her most important disciple.
The three years that Devanayaki spent in Thiruvarur were the happiest in her life. During this period, Rajaraja never ventured overseas to wage wars. He used this time to devise plans to capture Kambuja and Srivijaya. When Devanayaki moved to Thiruvarur, the centre of the espionage team also shifted there. There were more than a thousand people, both men and women, in her team of spies. They informed her of developments all over the country and abroad. A special centre was established in Thiruvarur to train spies. Those who were selected had already completed their military training. Here, they were given training in psychology, taught different languages and given an insight into different cultures. Then, they were taught the skills of persuasion. Women were given special training in the art of seduction. The most important quality a spy needed was loyalty. They had several tricks to ensure this. The king would show great consideration towards them and their families, they would be trapped and later pardoned, traitors would be punished severely to set an example, or they would be tempted with offers of high positions.
Devanayaki lost the excess weight she had gained during pregnancy as she went horse-riding regularly. The emperor felt that she was growing more beautiful every day. Fortunately or unfortunately, she was never able to conceive again. But Kuveni’s presence brightened their lives.
Life flowed smoothly, until an incident occurred that shocked the country. One night, when Devanayaki was offering her dance as tribute to Lord Thyagaraja, Sinhala spies disguised as theatre actors kidnapped Kuveni. The emperor was watching Devanayaki’s dance when it happened. The child was drugged and taken away. The emperor was shocked as it had occurred in the capital of spies. In spite of searching through the night, the Chola army was unable to find the child. Some people reported seeing a small boat sailing down the Kaveri. Devanayaki lost consciousness. The next morning, a message in Sinhalese was found near the temple. It stated that the revenge for burning Anuradhapura had commenced. That was when they realized that Sinhala spies had kidnapped Kuveni and the actors had suddenly disappeared.
On the third day, Kuveni’s corpse was found near the Chidambaram temple. Her body bore marks of sexual abuse. The word ‘pattavesi’ was gouged into her skin.
17
It seemed as though the pages containing information about the days that followed Kuveni’s death were missing from the Susaana Supina. The book that was recovered in Sigiriya only mentions Devanayaki alighting from a Kambuja cargo ship at the Tirukonamalai harbour. What happened in the days immediately after Kuveni’s death is not mentioned. It was after the Telugu Chola king, Bhima, was defeated and a vassal named Jatavarman was given power to rule over Kanchi, that Kuveni was killed. But the Chalukya’s attack from the north was strong. In that situation, the emperor would not have been able to go back to Sri Lanka. Historical documents say that Rajaraja Chola had to spend months in Vengi to hold back the attacks of the Chalukyas. But the Susaana Supina says that when Kuveni was kidnapped, Rajaraja was in Thiruvarur. It is not clear how he reacted to the kidnapping. We do not know whether Mahinda’s spies caused more trouble either. It is hoped that all will be known when the lost pages of the Susaana Supina are recovered.
In the first half of the Susaana Supina, it is mentioned that it took Devanayaki months to recover from the shock of losing her daughter, and so the administration of the intellectual centre was passed on to Rajendra Chola. She went to Sree Vallabha Buddhanar in the Chudamani Vihara to convert to Buddhism. But she was not in a mental state to be a sanyasin. Devanayaki was desperate for revenge against Mahinda. She had also not managed to free herself from worldly desires. Understanding this, Sree Vallabha Buddhanar sent her back, asking her to return only after she had freed herself from these bonds. Comforting herself with the thought that she would find solace in the verses of the Thiruppavai, Devanayaki returned to Thiruvarur. But when she returned, strange things began to happen in her life.
These later developments are recorded in an appendix to the Susaana Supina which was written by Chidambara Desikan about the legend of the statue of Gnana Saraswathi in Gangaikonda Cholapuram. When Devanayaki returned to Thiruvarur palace, Rajendra Chola was busy creating an idol of Saraswathi for the stage. He worked on the black granite like an expert sculptor. Though the servants had been given strict instructions not to disturb him, they couldn’t prevent Devanayaki from entering the room. She stood silently, looking at the sculptor and the idol. The work on the idol was nearly over. The goddess Saraswathi seated in padmasana on a lotus resembled Devanayaki. Saraswathi’s lips, nose, beautiful eyes, long legs, voluptuous thighs, slim waist and broad lap were exactly like Devanayaki’s, but the rest of the statue was incomplete. As he meditated on how to carve the upper half of the statue, Devanayaki entered the room. Sensing the presence of another person, Rajendra turned around in annoyance. But when he saw that it was Devanayaki, he folded his hands in respect. His hands that were used to carrying a sword were holding a chisel.
‘Are you going to become a sculptor?’
‘Forgive me. I was very upset when I heard that you were leaving. You are the person who opened the gates of knowledge to young people like me in Thanjavur. I carved this Saraswathi idol so that I would never forget you.’
‘But your Saraswathi does not hold a
veena.’
‘This is not an ordinary Saraswathi idol. I have never seen you play a veena. This is a sensual Saraswathi who imparts all sorts of knowledge.’
‘Then why are you lost in thought without completing the sculpture?’
‘This is all I know.’
Devanayaki recognized the sparkle of love in his eyes. It was a complex situation.
Desikan discusses in detail the dilemma of a woman who has to romance both father and son. He justifies Devanayaki by observing that the father’s relationship with her was merely the celebration of a victor and not love. She asked the young prince a question to provoke him.
‘What if I permit you to know?’
‘I should see you as a mother, as my teacher.’
‘But you don’t consider me so. I can see what you desire.’
‘Then?’
‘You are a prince. A king has the right to take everything he desires. So don’t hesitate.’
Rajendra haltingly touched her hand. She too desired this. It was the crystallization of an anger that had been latent in her subconscious mind, towards the emperor who brought back a queen after every war. She conveniently forgot her promise to remain faithful to him until he was defeated in battle. Anyway, it was not just to have different rules for men and women. Devanayaki led the prince to her room. The youthful Rajendra was far more handsome than Rajaraja. The prince spent the first night internalizing the details he needed to complete the sculpture. It was almost dawn by the time he had finished measuring Devanayaki’s features and recording it in his book. She was seated in padmasana and was amazed at his ability to control his passion in spite of his youth.
Sugandhi Alias Andal Devanayaki Page 12