Ponniyin Selvan - Telugu
Dear reader,
If you are wondering what is Ponniyin Selvan, well, it's one of the most famous historical novels written in Tamil by master story teller Kalki. It is about one of the most critical periods in the life of one of the greatest kings of South India, Raja Raja Chola, whose given name was Arulmozhi Varma.
A few words about myself and how I got to translate Ponniyin Selvan to Telugu: my parents are (were) Tamilians. However, I was born and brought up in Andhra Pradesh and I studied in Telugu medium. That's how I came to know Telugu very well. From my mother, I learned to speak basic Tamil and during my school days I was fascinated by her collection of old 'Ananda Vikatan' weekly issues (1960s) and asked her to teach me to read Tamil. So, I got to learn to read Tamil and enjoyed reading those old magazine issues. Later, when in 1998, Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan started to be re-published in Kalki weekly magazine on the occasion of his birth centenary, my mother asked me to buy it for her regularly. I did and she would also ask me to take out each episode/chapter from the magazine and archive it for reading later again. So, I got the collection and kept it, mainly for her. I once attempted to read it, but couldn't understand even one line.
Then, sometime in late 2011, a friend asked me to find out if there is an English translation of Ponniyin Selvan. I found out that such a translation exists and informed him about its availability. That's when my interest in Ponniyin Selvan was re-kindled. I took down the archive from the attic and started reading. Initially it was difficult as it's written in ancient Tamil and my Tamil is very basic. But once I got a hang of it, I just couldn't stop reading it until I finished it - of course it took me several months to read, just reading whenever I got some free time after my office work.
After reading it, I wondered what could be done about it. The immediate thought was to translate it into the one Indian language I know well - Telugu - as I felt our Indian stories are best written and read and enjoyed in our languages. Thus started my journey of exploring both the languages and digging deep into the reservoirs of my knowledge of Telugu, which has been rusting for many decades now, and then translating the original into Telugu, without losing the essence of it. It took me about 4 years to do it, doing it whenever I would get some free time after my office work. It was one of the best experiences in my life and I am so happy that I chose to do this translation.
This is the best historical novel AND the best suspense thriller I ever read and enjoyed. Kalki, the master story teller, would end most of the chapters with some suspense or a twist, to keep the reader's interest at a high! I immensely enjoyed reading it and enjoyed translating it equally! I hope you also will enjoy reading my Telugu version of it!
About the devotional poems and songs in the original novel: in most cases, I have just given the brief meaning of such poems and songs, including some of saint Thiruvalluvar, as my Tamil is not good enough to understand them and translate well into Telugu poems and songs. However, that doesn't affect the flow of the story.
I am not a literary person and this is my first attempt at writing anything at all. So, please read it critically and share your comments with me through email.
The novel is divided into five parts and each has forty or more chapters. To get you interested, here is the link to the first volume (PDF format):
Ponniyin Selvan (Telugu) Part 1For the hard copies of the five volumes, please contact the publisher or one of the online stores listed below
Publisher: Ms Vattsala Devi
- Address and Phone: Priyadarshini Prachuranalu, 308, Pratap Highline Apts, Basanth Lane
- Kachiguda 'X' Roads
- Hyderabad - 500 027 phone: 94904 72427
Telugu Books
Logili
Audio Books on Dasubhashitam
Audio books of my Telugu translation of Ponniyin Selvan are available on Dasubhashitam app
In case you are unable to procure a hard copy of my Telugu translation of Ponniyin Selvan...
Drop me an email.I will send you the PDFs.
Acknowledgements and Credits: If you feel my Telugu translation is good, then all the credit goes to the wonderful Telugu pandit teachers who taught me Telugu during my high school years - Shri Chengalrayan (Aragonda, Chittoor Dt), Shri Munirathnam Reddy (Pakala, Chittoor Dt.) and late Shri Narayana Shastry (Chandragiri, Chittoor Dt), and of course to my mother late Smt. K. Lalitha for teaching me basics of Tamil and for her interest in reading such a wonderful novel, which I archived from the magazine.
Special thanks to Ms Gowri Ramnarayan, grand-daughter of Sri Kalki, for her encouraging response and confirming that I can e-publish it, as all the works of Kalki are nationalized quite a while ago.
A note about the original author's pen name: 'Kalki' is actually the author's pen name. His actual name is Krishnamurthy. He chose the first few letters from his wife's name ('Kalyani') and his own name ('Kirushnamurthy' as written in English by Tamilians of that era) and formed his pen name 'Kalki' thus making his wife's name immortal too, in my humble opinion! How wonderful! Thanks to my mother who shared this little-known fact.
Best regards,
K. Nagarajan
Bangalore/Bengaluru
9-Jan-2017
Email:knr_sh@yahoo.com