The author of Gods, Slaves & Kings - The Siege of Madurai, R. Venketesh hails from the old Zamindari family of Devakottai which had been responsible for the onset of the textile revolution in Southern India. Venketesh is deeply involved with the science of Vastu Sastra and he lives at Chennai with his wife Lakshmi and architect son Akshey. He happens to be a bilingual author and has written three historical novels in Tamil including "Kaviri Maindan - The son of Kaveri". Its a sequel to the great "Ponniyin Selvan" by Kalki Krishnamurthy.
The author is his humble self while accepting encomiums for his work, "Well, I have to thank my editors Amish Raj Mulmi and Dipali Singh, publishers, family, friends and others who supported me in this venture. The editors have done a marvellous job and the book is glowing further because of them". The cover design by Saurab Deb is fantabulous! In his acknowledgements the author has gracefully included the name of the legend Kalki Krishnamurthy, his own father, the Ponniyin Selvan group and the friends who impelled him to come out successfully with this historic work.
The books begins with two strands which travel with each other from the latter half of the thirteenth century and merge by the second decade of the fourteenth century. The first ever recorded brutal loot, plunder and conquest of Southern India has been chronicled well in this novel. Venketesh has delivered fiction based on history in his unbiased cum racy style and the book is simply unputdownable. The plot has been woven well into the story which begins at Somnath which bore one of the worst brunts due to the invasion of Ghazni Mohammad and ends with the inhuman loot and capture of Madurai - hopefully the last in the pages of Indian history.
The chief characters of this book, both Malik Kafur and Veera Pandya are made to compete with each other from the very beginning by the author. The Khambhayat in Gujarat has been a cradle of wealth and so has been Madurai from time immemorial. This kind of affluence was possible due to international commerce and cultural exchanges between the peoples of the world. Its a point worth pondering about. Malik Kafur is born to a merchant and his unhindered access to the harem of the local ruler gets him snared into the arms of Chaula - one of the prettiest in the harem. He helps her escape and accompanies her too and their friendship gets consummated physically while both are on the run. However, destiny thinks otherwise and the lovers are given up by the local priest and the enraged ruler gets Chand Ram (the earlier name of Malik Kafur) castrated thereby making him a eunuch for the rest of his life. It was perhaps the only time that the man who was to become the dreaded Malik Kafur made love in his life and also got gelded as a consequence of the same. Later on the eunuch is sold in the slave market and gets purchased for 1000 dinars by an Arab merchant living in Gujarat and he is thereafter known as Malik Kafur. The job of the slave was to look after the harem of the Arab household by getting the women ready to bed the master as per his preference. In due course of time the trader instinct in Malik helps his master to make oodles of money and this in turn gets him unhindered freedom to deal with anything concerned with his master Sheikh Abul Hassan.
Eventually the Turks invade Gujarat and Malik Kafur's instincts and actions as well help his master to flee safely with both his family and fortune to Arabia. The prophecy that was made at the time of the birth of Malik Kafur starts to act when he gets deposited with the Ulugh Khan, the trusted aide and general of the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin Khiji. It was prophesised that Malik Kafur may become very powerful and do a lot of cruel things. Now, his association with the tyrants of Delhi was about to begin and the prophecy began to become apparent. Slowly but surely Malik Kafur became the most trusted aide of Alauddin Khilji and he began to be dreaded by all the generals plus the family of the Sultan for the rest of his tenure! It was Malik's good luck and strategy which came of help each time and also the strong belief in the mind of the Sultan that the "Slave" was the best thing to happen to him for he was result oriented while also being bereft of anything called family or indulgence. Malik Kafur meets a wide range of people, from Amir Khusrao to Saint Nizamuddin while plotting and gaining power over the years before he embarks on an invasion of the South in order to push the frontiers of the Sultanate besides increasing the wealth of Alauddin's Court through loot and plunder.
He uses strategies hitherto unheard of and thereby captures the premier South Indian empires belonging to the Yadavas of Devagiri, Kakatiyas of Warangal, Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra and the Pandyas of Madurai. It took thousands of elephants, carts, horses and palanquins to transfer the unheard of wealth in the form of gold, silver, diamonds, gemstones and beautiful women who were to be assets cum indulgences in the harem of debauched Sultan Alauddin Khilji. The loot of Srirangam, Chidambaram and the pillage of Madurai have been put across in an emotional manner. Finally the episode were he encounters the Lord as an old man in the Meenakshi temple feeding stone elephants with sugarcane kind of terrorises him and forces him psychologically to turn back with the lovely statue of Goddess Meenakshi with her green eyes to Delhi. Eventaully he begins to talk with her and it becomes a habit and finally he causes the finish for Alauddin and brutally takes over the Sultanate. However his crude mission comes to an end when he falls prey to his own machinations which ends his life in the same room where he engages himself in private conversations with Goddesss Meenakshi. The Goddess finally seeks his end and miraculously returns to the South. The dawn to dusk story of the "Slave" Malik Kafur gives us an insight into the conflicts and politics within a harem and the role of women, aphrodisiacs and debauchery that was practised. It speaks about the unhindered and unlimited sexual indulgences of the Sultan and his Court. The destiny of the harem of the former rulers is shown too and power struggle accompanied by palace coups which change the fortunes of vast empires are well depicted by the author who has done excellent research in order to support his lovely work. The descriptions of the forts, landscapes, strategy, religious fanaticism that ensures the destruction of temples in order to keep the tempo of the Sultanate's army going unabetted make the book a fast and qualitative read.
The Prologue begins with the sentence, "He was born a bastard! "while introducing Veera Pandya, the first son of the Pandyan Emperor Kulashekharan who rules the lands of the prosperous South with the aid of his efficient brother Vikrama who later turned a traitor who gets vanquished only to reappear at the anti climax as a wise strategist. Kulashekhara Pandya dotes on his bastard son Veera Pandya and his mother Tara but he is at cross roads with regard to anointing an heir apparent from the very beginning. Both the illegitimate Veera Pandya and the legitimate! Sundara Pandya love to hate each other from their childhood and this becomes the nemesis for the Empire eventually. The young princes are made to learn the art of war and statecraft under the grand old master Rajadityan near a forest. Its in this neighbourhood, that their night escapades give them their first hand visual experiences of love making when they witness amorous couples making out in the thickets of the forest near the hermitage of their mentor.
Finally both the princes return to the historic city of Madurai and in order to postphone the game of thrones, Veera Pandya is sent on an expedition to capture the unconquered parts of Sri Lanka whose rulers were once their allies during their struggle against the mighty Cholas. Veera Pandya intelligently gets holds of the relic of the tooth of Buddha and thereby completes the conquest. Later on, he is made the heir apparent amid much resistance from his brother Sundara Pandya who happens to also be an nephew of the erstwhile Cholas. Veera Pandya has sexual dalliances with one Vani and the would be Queen of of Sundara Pandya, Sunanda as well which results him siring Chandran and Parakrama Pandya on the same night! Sundara Pandya indulges in patricide and finally gets over powered by Veera Pandya who becomes the monarch. The monarch chooses a commoner Radhika as his Queen in gratitude for his friend Akshayan who lays his life in order to save the prince. In reality, the exuberant Radhika is the lover of Akshayan and the prince makes her his partner for life in a manner that befits the noblest of the noble.
The defeated Sundara Pandya wanders in the forests for years and finally aligns himself with Malik Kafur in order to secure the pearl crown of Madurai for himself but gets disheartened on seeing the plunder of the Hindu temples by the Muslim soldiers from Delhi and therefore he defects to the side of Veera Pandya. Its late in the day for Veera Pandya who beats a hasty retreat by quitting Madurai in spite of having been warned earlier by his exiled uncle Vikrama. Once again the uncle, nephews and the grand nephew Parakrama who gets slaughtered in the course of the war get together and harass the returning army of the Delhi Sultanate to no end. In spite of all this they squabble and the kingdom gets divided into three parts and once again Vikrama tries to capture it with the aid of his grandson, the Chera ruler - Ravivarman Kulahekharan, but he fails in the endeavour. The Pandyan civil war ruins the South and a Sultunate is established at Madurai . The brutal rule continues for decades until Kumara Kamapanna, the son of Bukka of Vijayanagar redeems Madurai during the second half of the fourteenth century. The boon of Goddess Meenakshi and her divine direction in this regard are well chronicled in "Madura Vijayam" by Ganga Devi, the Queen consort of the great unsung hero of India who redeemed Tamilnadu from the clutches of tyranny - Kumara Kampanna.
The racy story completes itself with the brutal end of Malik Kafur and the peaceful but uneventful exit of a failed Veera Pandya who somehow fails to use his skills and bravery in aid of his people. It was sad that a large army and wealth along with the culture of the people lost a historic oppourtunity to stand up. The story of the fall of Madurai demonstrates as to how missed oppourtunities can turn into disasters. Thankfully the Cosmopolitan but largely Telugu Empire of Vijayanagar founded in the year 1336 continues in various capacities until 1736 when the Naicks were overcome by the proteges of the Mughals. The Vijayanagar Empire added much to the culture and prestige of Tamilnadu while also making its superbly wealthy presence felt internationally.
The author has ensured a number of things, first and foremost he has made his book historic and unputdownable at the same time. Secondly, he has ensured that the readers get a glimpse of history when they visit the missed oppourunities, glories and the horrors of the past. Finally, this narration by the author is sure to make the reader sit up and think over the future of India. A Thumbs Up to the author R. Venketesh for having captured the lost moments of our hoary past while also galvanising the reader to look out and work for a strong India.