Book Review: Battle of Vathapi - Nandi’s Charge (2022, Arun Krishnan)

 

I’ve always felt that the written Indian History (and consequently historical fiction) is heavily biased towards North India.  Hence, I’d been looking  forward to reading Arun Krishnan’s maiden effort, ‘Battle of Vathapi – Nandi’s charge’. (Notice how Vathapi is transliterated the south Indian way!)

This is a quick, general review with no spoilers. Read on!

The story is set in the 7^th Century CE, which is one of the most ‘happening’ eras in Indian history. There were three emperors whom we know quite a bit about. We also know of several smaller kingdoms and their relationships with these kings. We also know of the Sri Lankan royalty, whose fortunes were affected by the relationships they had with the Pallavas and Pandiyas. Throw in the major religions of the time, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Jainism and Buddhism, and you have rich material for several novels!

I’m not qualified to comment on the historical accuracy of this work. With that caveat, let me say that I was impressed by the research that has gone into this book.

The style is original. Arun has not allowed himself to be too influenced by the fictional characters that Kalki Krishnamurthi has created in his iconic novel set in the same era – Sivagamiyin Sabatham.  There is one exception - Arun confesses in the preface to having  borrowed the Chalukyan spy chief’s name as a nod to Kalki. The style, pace of narration and dialog construction don’t resemble Kalki in any way. This is no mean feat. Arun’s style seems entirely original – it does not resemble that of any other contemporary writer either.

The book is longish – 576 pages.  This gives the author enough room to build up the characters and landscape, towns, the people, food and people’s attitudes. The author paints a leisurely  picture of forests, towns, villages, residential areas and rest houses for travelers. The detailed description of the ministers, spy networks and military leaders gives reader a sense of the support system around the kings.  The pace is even. The language is simple yet powerful.

The other thing that I like is that all the kings are described as reasonable men, acting in self interest rather than out of envy or malice. Many historical works of fiction fall into the trap of painting the opposing kings as evil to make the protagonist look good.

I have a few minor gripes:

•  I could have used a map as I followed the journey of the characters.  At least, there is no map in the kindle edition.
• I find the use of Tamil words such as ‘aiyaa’ and ‘periyavare’ a bit odd, even with footnotes for translation. When the whole sentence is translated, why would you just leave that word out? Let me hasten to add that this is just a personal preference.
•  The three young captains in the Pallava army seem too much alike. I reminded myself of a few things as I went along – ‘Kannan is the one who has a thing for women'; 'Muthuvel is the vegetarian one' and so on. But the characters still blurred into each other and left me disoriented a bit.
• There are some minor editing errors. In dialogs, the sentences uttered by two people are placed in a single run, without a line break. I noticed this in several places. (Again, this is in the kindle edition).

But these are minor flaws. They don’t detract from the enjoyment of the book.

Historical fiction is hard work. You have to combine proven facts with imaginary elements that can't be disproved. If you end up writing about Chozhas or Pallavas there is this other occupational hazard - your work will be compared with that of stalwarts like Kalki Krishnamurthi.

Arun has accepted the challenge, and conducted himself admirably on his debut. His first novel is a nice appetizer, and works your appetite up for the main course to come. A thoroughly enjoyable read.