Ponniyin Selvan I puts the spotlight on the Cholas even though it should be viewed as fiction

Mani Ratnam’s highly anticipated Ponniyin Selvan: I (AKA PS1) is an adaptation of a classic Tamil novel while incorporating real-life figures like rulers of the Chola dynasty. Despite the source material, the cast and crew aim to highlight the achievements of Cholas which are historical truths... but only to an extent. 

Despite finding their place in few chapters in Indian history textbooks and an architectural legacy rooted in some of the finest ancient temples of Tamil Nadu, the Chola dynasty has still not managed to capture the national imagination. Through PS1, Ratnam and his actors are trying their best to reintroduce the legacy of the Cholas for mainstream viewers. 

Vikram’s viral speech on the Cholas: It’s not just the film that serves this purpose; even the promo events find the team stressing on the dynasty’s feats. Vikram, the lead actor who plays the Chola crown prince Aditha Karikalan (the elder brother of Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I who is played by Jayaram Ravi) has recently been trending on social media for a viral speech that highlights the achievements of his character and the empire. 

“[The Leaning Tower of Pisa] is actually falling over and we are getting excited and taking pictures of it. But we have temples today [Vikram most likely was referring to Brihadeshwara Temple in Thanjavur here] that stand and they didn’t use plaster,” said Vikram on the architectural feats of the Chola rule, “You know this particular stone; they had to use a ramp which was six kilometres long, which was pulled by bulls, elephants and people. Six kilometres long to get it up there, without any machinery, without any cranes, without anything.”

The actor further highlighted how PS1 is a film for all Indians and it is needed to celebrate the history of such ancient rulers. He then continued fanboying over Rajaraja Chola I, 

Grand rulers and grand temples: Who were the Cholas? The Chola dynasty (also known as Choza) might have started out in the 300s BC but its rise definitely took place in a more medieval era like 9th century AD. While the empire’s territory included peninsular India (Tamil Nadu, Kerala), and the northern regions of modern-day Sri Lanka, the Chola influence eventually spread towards South-East Asian territories like Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. 

But the heartland of the empire was definitely the Kaveri river, which the emperors derived their power and mythical legacy from. For the ones who can’t understand Tamil, Ponniyin Selvan itself translates to Son of Ponni (Ponni being another name for Kaveri in Tamil literature). 

When it comes to the rulers, it was Rajaraja Chola I (Vikram’s character) who took the empire to new heights, followed by his son Rajendra Chola and his successors. Eventually, the Cholas paved the way for the Pandyan dynasty who acquired power in the South in the 13th century. 

The legacy of the empire (and particularly Rajaraja I) lives in the form of the hard granite-stone temples that are now collectively known as the “Living Chola Temples”. The greatest of these is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Brihadeshwara Temple at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. 

Dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, the temple interestingly bears the tallest temple tower (vimanam in the colloquial tongue) at a height of 63.4 m or 208 ft. For reference, the Qutub Minar in Delhi stands at 73 m, and the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza, Egypt, is 146.6 metres. An 80-tonne stone cupola stands on the top of the Brihadeshwara temple; truly a miraculous wonder given that the Cholas had no equipment to lift stones at that height. Another highlight is the bull Nandi’s statue at the entrance, which was carved out of a single rock and weighs over 20 tonnes. 

The obvious casteism and devadasi system, a revisionist history of the Cholas: History has always had multiple sides and the Cholas were no exception. While Rajaraja Chola I was a committed Shiva devotee (aligning himself with the Hindu sect of Shaivism), revisionist takes have focused on how the Cholas were one of the many Hindu dynasties that contributed to upper-caste Brahmin supremacy. 

The Tamil film industry has naturally had a fascination with the ruler right from its inception, with Sivaji Ganesan’s 1973 biopic Rajaraja Cholan. But as of late, the alternate hot takes are also hinted at within the industry. In 2019, Tamil director and screenwriter Pa Ranjith drew flak from Hindu groups for a speech at Thanjavur, in which he claimed how the reign of Rajaraja Chola I was marked by snatching lands away from the oppressed castes and reinforcing the devadasi system. 

While it is unclear if these women were sexually abused in the Chola regime, the Chola stone inscriptions proudly proclaim this practice of "aqcuiring women for divine service" with 400 devadasis (some being men) dwelling within the Brihadeshwara temple alone. Historian Po Velsamy, in his book Kovil, Nilam, Jati (Temple, Land and Caste), states that even though the practice was prevalent before the Cholas, it was Rajaraja Chola I who institutionalised the system as a crucial part of his empire’s religion. 

As for the land acquisition process, Velsamy adds that the Cholas had a complicated system of dividing lands but obviously, much like the other dynasties, the Brahmins formed the upper crust and got land benefits along with tax privileges. Eventually, non-Brahmin communities such as the agricultural landlords Vellalals came up as a powerful landowning group but the fate of groups that would later identify as Dalits was still dark. 

Why PS1 is ultimately not history: For those who didn’t know yet, PS1 is only inspired by actual historical figures, with the story adapted from Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 novel Ponniyin Selvan, a pathbreaking work in Tamil fiction that tells a dramatised story of Rajaraja I across five volumes and 2,210 pages. 

So, right from the onset, the film is a work of historical fiction. On a Facebook post, critic and filmmaker Rajamani Rajesh comments on this aspect and the amusing nature of the marketing involved. 

Rajesh adds that the film definitely seems to be an attempt to present Rajaraja I as a national icon. Whether PS1 succeeds in establishing him as an icon or not, the hype behind the film is of course, undeniable. With another part slated for a 2023 release, the collective budget of the two parts amounts to roughly Rs 500 crore, making it Mani Ratnam’s most expensive project to date.

PS1 releases in theatres this Friday in Tamil along with dubs in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi; and stars some of the biggest names from across several film industries: Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karthi, Prakash Raj, Shobhita Dhulipala, Trisha and Jayam Ravi.