காவல்கோட்டம் - சு. வெங்கடேசன்

This is a huge book both in terms of pages and weight (!). I read everyday one to two hours for almost 3 months to finish this book.  The only motivation to start this book was "Madurai". For us southerners Madurai is a gateway to modern cities.  For everything from education to shopping we go to Madurai. But unfortunately no one taught us the history this wonderful city.  So when I got this book I immediately started reading.

This book is about 600 years history of Madurai starting from Viswanatha Nayakar reigns till the collapse of oor kaval. (1310-1910). The book details the administration under Viswanatha and various battles he fought and the construction of Madurai fort. The war scenes were beautifully portrayed specially the way the author name the different communities of soldiers under different banner.This part of the book is a fast read and interesting too. The rest of the book tells the decline of Nayak kingdom and rise of British rule.

The destruction of the fort was explained in a very emotional manner. The symbol of the glorious olden days was destroyed on the order of the collector Blackburn.The opening of the first police station and people's reaction towards it specially about the police dress was told in a enjoyable manner. The slow rise of Christianity and missionaries works were covered in the second part of the book specially towards 1900.

Many incidents described in this book are very interesting - one such incident was the story of "Aravan" movie.The second part of the book details life of  Kallar community and their reputation for thievery and Kaaval . I'm not sure why the author needs to give so much pages for this particular community. Is he glorifies the act of stealing?. So many rituals and customs of this community is explained in details - the story of "மொண்டிக்கொம்பு "  and "ராஜகளவு  - theft judged on the basis of technique and bravery not by the stolen things".  Very interesting and good to know.

The description of the Great Famine of 1876-1978 was something one cannot forget easily. The story of two remarkable women - Nallathangaal (நல்லதங்காள் ) and Kunjsaraththammaal (குஞ்சரத்தம்மாள் ) was something I will never forget. There are so many  related and unrelated stories throughout the book which gives lots of historical informations.

I think the author struggled to write a good story from the materials he collected from various resources like missionaries , British documents and people's memory. Apparently the author collected materials for this novel for ten years.I felt that many stories and historical informations were inserted as the story do not have any theme. May be that's the plus point of this novel. I do not have any idea of most of the historical events described in this novel . So I searched in internet and found some information. And I realized that the author did good job but may be good proof-reader would have made the whole content better.

On page 458 I read the name "Pamban" and about the prison there, wow, Pamban is my native but I never heard anything about the prison except there is a street called "Jail theru". I called many people there and asked them about it to my shock no one knows about it. I searched online but I did not succeed . Its a shame. On Page 485 to 487, there are some details of how the construction of the railway bridge was started.

• -First meeting headed by William Kare /Carey (Im not sure about exact name)
• -The plan was announced by Captain William Fraser
• -Work started in 1838
• -The pros & cons of the construction of the bridge was reported by Lieutenant Colonel Cotton
• -Total expanse 15 lac rupees
• - Reduce the journey European ships travelling to India by 36 hours
• - 100 feet light house was constructed with light reaching 14 miles

On page 629, the letter writtten by James Patricks to Richard Greenville explains why the British government decided to built the prison in Paman though there was no police station or court there, Britishers sent the accused and convicted to the prison in Pamban and used them for bridge construction work. Many fishermen were  arrested and forced to work on the construction,

Two of the great modern Tamil writers - Jeyamohan and S.Ramakrishnan wrote complete contrasting reviews for this book .I'm reading both these authors website daily -both their reviews make sense to me. The author did not give any credit to others and to make things worse there is no bibliography also. I don't know much about Madurai history and for me this book is neither fiction nor a non-fiction. I need to read more about this wonderful city.

The writing was mix of good ,flat and at times very hard to proceed. The language of the people did not change in 300+ years in this novel.  This novel received Sahitya akademi award.Read if you have time and want to know more about Madurai.

A classic and ordinary.!