CHAPTER 6 The Midnight Meeting
After the performance, the guests were treated to a huge feast. But Vandiyathevan had no taste for the repast. He was exhausted, his mind was in turmoil.
His friend, Kandan Maran, sat next to him and proudly identified the guests. Pazhuvettarayar, Sambuvaraiyar and Mazhavarayar were all there. He pointed out the landlord of Kunrathur, Pallavarayar, Kalingarayar, Munawarayar, Poovaraiyar, Singamutharayar and Rajaliyar, whispering their names to Vandiyathevan. These were not ordinary persons, nor were they usually seen together. Most of them were petty princes or had earned their designations by performing brave deeds.
In those days, princes and dignitaries of equal status added the suffix ‘arayar' to their names. It was the practice to identify them by the name of their native place, with “arayar' attached to it.
In those days “arayar' was not just a hereditary title that entitled the holder to a life of luxury in the palace. Only those who were capable of leading their warriors into battle and who emerged as battle-scarred veterans could retain the title. These chieftains ruled within the borders of their countries but were still under Sundara Chozhar of Pazhayarai. Some of them occupied important posts in the Chozha administration.
Vandiyathevan should have been pleased to see so many important personages of the Chozha empire assembled in one place. But he was not. He asked himself why they had all met there. All sorts of suspicions and apprehensions troubled him.
Vandiyathevan went to bed in the space Kandan Maran had provided for him, troubled by all these doubts. Since there were so many guests in the huge palace, he could only be given a small corner in a mandapam upstairs, on an open verandah. Kandan Maran said to him as he left, “You must be tired. Sleep well. I’ll tend to the other guests and then come and sleep beside you.”
As soon as he lay down, Vandiyathevan's eyelids drooped. Nidradevi, the Goddess of Sleep, slowly engulfed him. But it was no use. Even Nidradevi could not subsume that thing called the mind. Even when the body lay supine and his eyes closed, thoughts buried in the depths of his subconscious flowered as dreams. Many events, meaningless experiences and irrelevant thoughts came to him in this dream world.
He heard a jackal howl from somewhere far away. One jackal became ten, then hundred, and the howling grew louder. They came nearer and nearer Vandiyathevan, their eyes blazing in the darkness like pieces of glowing coal.
He tried to turn and escape in the opposite direction, but was confronted by a pack of ten, a hundred, a thousand barking dogs that charged at him, their eyes blazing.
He trembled at the thought of being trapped between the dogs and the jackals. Luckily, he spotted a temple, ran inside and bolted the door. He turned and saw that it was a Kali temple. A priest armed with a scimitar emerged from behind the statue of Kali, whose mouth was a gaping gash.
He came nearer and nearer Vandiyathevan, shouting, “Come on! Come to me!” “What is the history of your royal lineage? How many years has your clan been ruling? Tell me the truth!” said the priest.
“I belong to the Vanar clan which ruled for three hundred years. We lost our kingdom to the Vaidumbarayars during my father’s reign.” “That means you’re unfit to be sacrificed. Go on, run,” said the priest.
Kannan suddenly took Kali’s place. Two girls holding garlands danced in his shrine, singing Andal’s pasurams. As Vandiyathevan began to lose himself in the music, he heard Azhwarkadiyan's loud voice singing behind him. “We saw, we saw what was pleasing to the eye.” Actually it was his head, which was on the sacrificial altar, singing.
Repelled by this sight, Vandiyathevan turned, and knocked his head against a pillar. The dream vanished and his eyes opened. But he saw something which connected reality with the dream.
Opposite him, there was a head on the ramparts of the Kadambur palace. Azhwarkadiyan's head. This was no illusion, no dream, it was reality. Because as long as he stared at it, the head was there. And he knew that it was not just a head but had a body attached to it. For Azhwarkadiyan's hands were gripping the top of the ramparts. And he was peering down intently. What was he looking at? There must be a plot somewhere. Azhwarkadiyan's motives for being here couldn’t be good. He must have come with an evil intent to do harm.
As Kandan Maran's dear friend, was it not Vandiyathevan's duty to prevent him from doing something wrong? How could he sleep peacefully if he didn't protect from harm those who had fed him so kindly?
Vandiyathevan sprang up. He tucked his sword into his waistband and walked towards the head.
He had been lying in a corner of the mandapam of the upper storey of the palace. So he had to negotiate his way through the decorated tops of the mandapam, the stage, the stupas and the pillars. When he had walked a short distance, he suddenly heard voices and paused. He clung to a pillar and peered down from behind it. Ten or twelve people were seated in a cramped, dimly lit courtyard, surrounded by high walls on three sides.
They were all dignitaries he had met during the night’s festivities, princes and important officials of the Chozha empire. They must have gathered here in the dead of night to discuss something important.
Azhwarkadiyan was seated on the wall to overhear what he could and find out what they were doing. He had been clever enough to choose a vantage spot from where he could watch them unseen. No doubt he had been clever enough to find this spot. But his ingenuity was not going to work with Vandiyathevan. That impostor of a Vaishnavite would be caught red-handed... however, it was impossible to cross over to the wall unobserved by the gathering. It could be dangerous for him if they caught him.
He remembered Sambuvaraiyar saying, “Today of all days!” They must have gathered to discuss something of great importance and it was clear they did not want anyone else to know what it was. That being the case, if they saw Vandiyathevan quite suddenly wouldn’t they be suspicious?
Azhwarkadiyan could jump down and escape before he could tell them about him. But all he would achieve would be to rouse their suspicions. If they asked, “Why did you come here when you are supposed to be sleeping?” what would he reply? He would place Kandan Maran in an awkward position as well. Aha! There was Kandan Maran, also seated. Perhaps he was deliberating with them? I could ask him in the morning, he thought, and find out everything.
At that moment, Vandiyathevan's attention was drawn to the palanquin that had been set down near the crowd. Ah! Wasn't that the palanquin that had followed Pazhuvettarayar's elephant? The woman who had parted the curtain and peered out, where could she be now? They said the old man had not even sent her to the anthappuram. This was the trouble when older men married young women. They were constantly suspicious and couldn’t bear to be separated from their loved ones even for a minute. The young wife was probably in the palanquin now. Aha! Look at that great warrior’s fates Ensnared by a young girl, he suffers, at his age, as her slave! It isn’t as though she’s a Rathi or a Menaka or a Rambal Vandiyathevan could not forget the dislike he had felt when he first saw her. Why was Pazhuvettarayar infatuated by such a woman? Azhwarkadiyan’s obsession was even more amazing. Perhaps he was clinging to the wall now because this palanquin was here. What was their relationship? She could be his sister, or even his lover. Pazhuvettarayar could have abducted her forcibly. One could believe he had.
Perhaps Azhwarkadiyan was seeking an opportunity to meet her and talk to her. Why worry, thought Vandiyathevan. Let me go back to sleep.
Just as he decided this, he heard his name mentioned and instantly became alert. “That boy who’s come, claiming to be your son’s friend — where's he sleeping? He must not hear anything we say. Remember, he serves the commander of the north. Till our plan bears fruit, no one else must know of it. If there's even the slightest suspicion that this youngster has heard something of all this, he must not be allowed to leave this fort. It might be prudent to finish him off once and for all.”
Readers can imagine Vandiyathevan's feelings when he heard this. However, he decided to listen and stayed rooted to the spot. Who was the commander of the north? He was none other than Emperor Sundara Chozhar’s eldest son, Aditha Karikala Chozhar, the heir apparent to the throne. What was their objection to his working for him? What were they going to discuss that Karikala Chozhar should not know?
He heard Kandan Maran springing to his defence.
“Vandiyathevan is peacefully asleep in a corner of the mandapam on the upper level. He can’t hear what we are saying. He's not the kind that interferes in what doesn’t concern him. Even if he gets to know something, it won’t harm your plans. I will vouch for him,” he said.
“I’m glad you have so much confidence in him. But none of us know anything about him. That's why I warned you. We're going to discuss a most important issue now: the right of succession to a big empire. Even if one word slips out carelessly, the consequences could be catastrophic. Let all of us keep this in mind!” said Pazhuvettarayar.
