Excerpt: Ponniyin Selvan Book 4, Wind Storm By Nandini Krishnan

Who wants to kill Arulmozhi Varman, the beloved Ponniyin Selvan, whose kindness has won over the hearts of the Lankan people, earning him their unwavering loyalty? How does he manage to repeatedly escape death, each time aided by a mysterious woman whose face bears an eerie similarity to that of the Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani? Surrounded by danger in all directions, Ponniyin Selvan must find his way through this chakravyuha just as Abhimanyu had to in the great battle of Kurukshetra in Mahabharata ... and emerge alive.

This unabridged translation of Kalki Krishnamurthy's masterwork by Nandini Krishnan is at once faithful to the original and accessible to the readers of this day. Carefully crafted in lyrical prose, the Ponniyin Selvan series is the quintessential page-turner: full of adventure, intrigue, conspiracy and romance.

Here's an excerpt from Wind Storm, Ponniyin Selvan Book 4

Vandiyadevan hurried towards the spot where he had just seen the prince with ‘Nandini’. Even before he’d reached that point, doubts began to rise in his head. Was she indeed Nandini? She wasn’t dressed in the grand saris and ornate jewellery the Pazhuvoor Rani favoured ... why, she had an ascetic simplicity about her! But her face ... it was all Nandini ... yet, there was something different about her. What was it that distinguished her from Nandini?

Vandiyadevan saw her now, slipping into the shadows of a house by the roadside. He tried to pursue her, but the prince caught his arm and stopped him.

‘Aiya? Who is that woman? I’m sure I’ve seen her before,’ Vandiyadevan said. 

Azhvarkadiyaan, who had joined them by now, said, ‘That woman must be the guardian deity of Chozha Naadu. Look over there ... if we had remained at that spot ... if she had not signalled for us to cross  the road, why, we would have reached the lotus feet of Lord Buddha by now!’

They turned to look at the spot where the debris had fallen. A chunk of the balcony had fallen on the road, and now resembled a small hill. Not even an elephant could have escaped being crushed to a horrid death under it. What chance did three mere humans stand?

‘Our guardian deity timed the clapping of her hands rather well,’ Ponniyin Selvar said. 

‘Ilavarase! Whom did you say that lady was?’ Vandiyadevan asked.

‘Whom did you think she was? What made you attempt to follow her?’ the prince asked.

‘The Vaishnavite said she was the guardian deity of Chozha Naadu. She struck me as a goddess in the avatar of a shield protecting the Chozha dynasty,’ Vandiyadevan said.

‘What do you mean by that? Whom do you think she was?’

‘I don’t know if it was simply an illusion. But for a moment, I thought she was the young wife of Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar, Nandini Devi. Did you both not think so?’ Vandiyadevan asked.

‘I didn’t get a good look. But you must have been hallucinating. How could the Pazhuvoor Rani possibly be here?’ Azhvarkadiyaan asked.

‘He calls it a hallucination. But perhaps it is an optical illusion. It has sometimes struck me that  the resemblance between those two faces is quite extraordinary,’ the prince said.‘Come, let us walk as we speak.’

The three men now chose to walk in the centre of the road, in the moonlight, rather than in the shadows by the side. 

After a while, Vandiyadevan asked, ‘Ilavarase! What did that lady tell you after she called you to her side?’

‘She told me two men I should consider my enemies had come in search of me. And that they were looking for the right opportunity to kill me.’

‘Adi paavi! Was she referring to the two of us?’ Vandiyadevan fumed.

Ponniyin Selvar laughed and said, ‘No, she didn’t specify that it was the two of you. But it doesn’t worry me if she was indeed referring to you. The devi has told me my lifeline is rather strong. And she has herself saved me from death several times in the past.’ 

‘Aiya! I know who those two enemies are. They were accompanying Parthibendra Pallavar on his search for you. I saw two figures inside the building which has now collapsed. It must have been those two,’ Tirumalai said. 

‘Aiya! Vaishnavare! Why didn’t you say so before? Go on, now! I’m going to go search in the rubble!’ Vandiyadevan said, and made to run back the way they had come.

The prince stopped him again, and said, ‘There is no hurry. We can’t possibly find them in the rubble either. Let’s not worry about that now. Listen to me— you must remain by my side until I state otherwise, do you hear me? Who knows what dangers lurk around which corner? You, who are courage in human form, are the reason I’ve decided not to bring along a posse of bodyguards! What am I to do if you abandon me in the middle of the road?’

Vandiyadevan was all but intoxicated by the prince’s speech. ‘Aiya!’ he gasped. ‘I will not leave your side for a single moment!’

‘And I won’t leave your side for a single moment,’ Azhvarkadiyaan said. ‘You’re the prince’s protector. And I’m your protector.’

It wasn’t long before the three men were back at the ruin of Mahasena Chakravarti’s palace. The servants had readied their beds in a large hall, equipped with ancient cots that had withstood the vagaries of time. The three men lay down. The windows to one side of the room allowed a beam of moonlight into the room.

‘Hundreds of years ago, the emperors of Lanka and their sons and the women of the royal household must have slept in this very hall,’ Arulmozhi Varmar said. ‘And moonbeams must have peeped in through these very same windows. It must come as a sore disappointment to those moonbeams to see three ordinary men like us occupy the spot that those souls once graced, don’t you think, Vandiyadevare?’

Excerpted with permission from “Wind Storm-Ponniyin Selvan Book 4”, by KALKI, Translated by Nandini Krishnan, Eka- Westland.