#vaanathi

[noislz]

nefer + some other sketches

[bidoofenergy]

and pardon my mistake

T | 635 words

It's not fair. It's her duty

or: kundhavai loves vanathi and knows she'll never be hers.

Kundhavai is a teenager when Vanathi is arrives at the palace—but she’s already ruined lives. Neither of her brothers are there, though this girl is supposed to be Arunmozhi’s bride, so it’s Kundhavai that stands at her father’s shoulder as they welcome Vanathi.

read now on ao3

[queenfredegund]

TRISHA KRISHNAN as KUNDAVAI DEVI  SOBHITA DHULIPALA as VAANATHI

Ponniyin Selvan 1 (2022) dir. Mani Ratnam

[kovaipaavai]

Muzhumadhiyin Pirainilavu

Kaanchi was celebrating their prince's return. Parakesari Aditya Karikalan had slain the Rashtrakoota king Amoghavarsha and had avenged his grand uncle's death at Thakkolam. The mighty sword of the Chola kingdom was returning home in victory and if that was not a significant cause for celebration , the young tiger , Arunmozhi was hastening to Kaanchi to welcome his brother and celebrate with the people.

All of Kaanchi was rejoicing , except for one person . All of Kaanchi was rejoicing , except for her mistress. Nandini Devi was fighting a migraine and severe irritation towards her idiot in law , who left no occasion to barge in on Kaanchi and provoke Vaanathi , the little moon of Kaanchi who was sister and daughter rolled into one.

Aditya and Nandini had known that they were going to be childless. Second chances in a kaalachakkaram seldom happened without sacrifices and Soodhani had demanded that they sacrifice their progeny and vamsakulam for a chance at forgiveness and life together and they had acquiesced. Just when they had reconciled themselves to Soodhani's harsh punishment , her benevolent grace bestowed Vaanathi into their care .

Their first days had been anything but calm . Vaanathi hated anything to do with the other members of the family and had thrown a tantrum worthy of royal brat when she had been introduced into Arunmozhi's circle. Full of simmering rage and quiet sorrow , Vaanathi had done everything she could to drive the young prince away even as the grand dames of Pazhaiyarai joked about childhood love and early marriage. Caught between brother and ward , past memories and current dilemma , Aditya and Nandini had been clueless about their next steps until the distant rumbles of war shifted their base to Kaanchi.

Days at Kaanchi were anything but peaceful , but there had been a sense of security , content and peace within the fort walls . That too had ended abruptly with the arrival of Arunmozhi and his unwanted chaotic courtship of their darling. It started when Arunmozhi had requested a message from Vaanathi for her beloved uncle enroute to Eezham. Soon , messages were flying back and forth between the southern coastlines , with the prince flying into fury and panic if any of his messages went unanswered but choosing not to answer pointed questions Nandini or her husband had asked of his intentions.

When an irritated Vaanathi had resorted to single line replies , the messages had been replaced by extravagant gifts. The softest silks , whitest pearls and ivory laid combs seemed more like appeasements than symbols of affection and their arrival had only stopped when her husband had indicated to his brother that those tokens were being donated and sold off to raise money for the karungalpani of the surrounding temples.

Despite these outwardly gestures of rejection , Vaanathi seemed to have feelings for Arunmozhi and the depth of those feelings had been exposed when Nandini's maternal family had requested an appointment to appraise her of mutual affection between Kuzhali and her brother-in-law. That night , they had found Vaanathi crying out in agony and pain , waves and waves of untold misery and unspoken grief washing upon her despite the comfort of Nandini's words and assurance of Aditya's arms.

Within the safe space of their chambers , their kanmani had broken down and finally revealed about her continued and wretched existence within the Kaalachakkaram. Her unsuccessful pursuit of love , the ensuing heartbreak , the unrelenting cruelty of her husband's silences whichhad caused Vaanathi to block her heart in this life ; Arunmozhi's cryptic messages and gifts that had yet again lead her to open her heart up , only for a cruel slap to land in the form of Kuzhali's alliance. Her last attempt at evading love had failed and the heaviness of unacknowledged and unrecognized feelings caused their crescent moon unrelenting pain.

Vaanathi's revelation had left them seething and angry. It had taken Aditya and Nandini centuries of prayers for a chance at a new beginning, and here was their kin carelessly squandering away Emperumaan's benevolence and unconditional love. As Vaanathi sobbed her way to sleep that night , Nandini and Aditya made a solemn vow to give their darling reprieve from pain and guard her from the thorns of Arunmozhi's shadow.

It was this promise that was causing Nandini an unmitigated migraine. Arunmozhi was coming to Kaanchi and protocol mandated Vaanathi's presence despite their promise to guard her from heartache. Nandini was pained by Vaanathi's descent into grief and so was the object of her desire , if his sorrowful glances were proof worth going by.

Accompanied by Panchavan Mahadevi and Kuzhali , Arunmozhi had descended upon Kaanchi and had sent Vaanathi into hiding. While his handsome presence , constant cheer and overt friendliness encouraged other women to present their suit , Ponni's son continued to look for his idhaya raani , eyes gazing at her with deep love and longing and something akin to worship during the few glimpses he had of her at the temple each morning.

Dreading yet another repeat of longing eyes and mournful gazes Nandini had confronted her brother-in-law a week later, only to be at the receiving end of a truly perplexing conversation about Sivaperuman's second chances and Kannapiraan's blessings of love interspersed by love confessions to Vaanathi and fervent denial of a relationship with Kuzhali .

Arunmozhi vowed that he loved no other than Vaanathi and blamed ignorance and suspicions for centuries of misery and mistreatment. He had begged the gods for a last chance , praying to any deity who would listen, only to be rewarded by his beloved's indifference. The sincere confession of his past mistakes and fervent assurance of Vaanathi's happiness moved Nandini enough to respond thus :

"Maithunare , kaadhal velipadutha vendiyathu. Sollal , Seyalal appattamaaga velipadutha vendiyathu. Kaadhal nambappada vendiyathu , potrapada vendiyadhu , edhuthu theriya vendiyathu . Thangilin sandhegamum , mounamum en kanmanyin idhayathai kurudakkivittana.

Samudrakumariyin ellai meeralgalukkum , panchavan deviyin elanam mirka sorkalukkum neenagal kurudagivittadhal , en kanmaniyin kaadhal oomaiyaagi vittadhu. Ungal kaadhalai appattamaaga velipaduthungal , adhu vazhiyil irukkum innal , thandagal ellavatraiyum murikkum arumarundhaaga maarum".

Arunmozhi followed her advice to the T. In the days that followed , he made a public vow to stay monogamous , in a move reminiscent of Aditya. He then negotiated a betrothal for Panchavan Mahadevi with the next unmarried prince in line to the throne , only to turn around and bequeath the said throne to Kandaradithar's line. A public rejection of Kuzhali's affection soon followed , with Arunmozhi stopping her cousin from shadowing him. In a decisive tone , much like that of her beloved husband , Arunmozhi had denied all feelings but friendship towards Kuzhali and vowed to marry Vaanathi and no other.

Her crescent moon had smiled that day. Nandini had seen such joy and love in her kanmani's countenance that it had reminded her of the beautiful moon on a Chitra Pournami night. Vaanathi's journey of love had began but had a long way to go. Centuries of hurt were seldom undone by a single gesture , but the overt glances , entwined hands and secret embraces she and Aditya had interrupted in the last few days indicated that her pseudo daughter and her idiot brother in law were well on the way of a fully healed , emotionally fulfilling journey of love.

Content and happy , Nandini sighed and leaned against the mandapam wall , only to be surrounded by her thevar's embrace and blanket of love. As she turned around to kiss his heart , his embrace tightened and she couldn't help but remark " Thevare , nam vaanathaiyin mugathai paartheera ? kaadhalin poorippil nam kuzhandhaiyin azhagu pallayiram madangu koodivitadhu allava" . Aditya hugged her tighter , sniffed her jasmine scented hair and laughingly remarked " Aam Devi , en muzhumadhiyin pirainilavu , ippothellam kollai azhagaathan therigirathu"

[slippersmoo]

Thinking about how masterful the women were written in Ponniyin Selvan. Beautiful, ambitious, intelligent, self sufficient. Ugh, chefs kiss

It’s amazing to think how aggressively feminist the story and script actually is but it’s so subtly done that you’re not slapped in the face by it.

Also PERFECT performances from all the actresses

[hollogramhallucination]

justice for vaanathi! mani ratnam owes us a director's cut with these scenes. free the deleted scenes and music!

[egyptian-sun-god]

GUESS WHO’S ON THE PONNIYIN SELVAN HYPE TRAIN??

Me. I am. 

I fucking love this movie already, all the actors interviews are on point, the songs and the trailer looks fucking fantastic. Man it does NOT get more Tamil than this.

Like this movie is literally like our Harry Potter in some ways. It’s like a timeless classic with fucking great characters and interesting settings. Like this do be the fairytale. 

I’m so pumped for it, I hope the rest of my South Indian ppl can be hype for this movie as well, I hope it does great and paves a new interest in our stories. 

So yeah since Vandiyathevan is like my favourite character, I decided fuck it and drew Karthi in a couple of stills from the song Raatchasa Maamaney. (I added the process shots as well)

- AAdhi

[moon-880]

Heartbroken ( part 1)

Arulmozhi walked to the garden and saw Vanathi pluckiness flowers.

“What are you doing,devi?” Arulmozhi asked. Vanathi knew whose voice it was.

“I am plucking flowers to make garland.” Vanathi answered. “ What are you doing here,Illavarsae?” asked Vanathi.

“Nothing,just roaming around.”

“I am going.have a nice day” Vanathi turned around and was going to go.

“Do you really wanna marry me” Arulmozhi asked. Vanathi was stopped by his question. Vanathi turned around and asked Arulmozhi “ What is that question, Illavarsae? Every girl in the Chola kingdom would want to marry you.”

“Yes, every girl would want to marry me for the throne. Aren't you also marrying me for the throne?”

Vanathi was shattered by his question. She thought that like everyone he also thinks that she wants to marry him for the throne.

“Answer me, devi. Aren't you also marrying me for the throne?” Arulmozhi asked.

Vanathi was on the verge of crying. She asked” What made you think that I want to marry you for the throne? If my answer is that I want to marry you for the throne, what would your answer be?”

Arulmozhi said” Everybody says that you want to marry me for the throne. So just like everyone, you also want to marry me for the throne, isn't it?”

Vanathi couldn't believe her ears. He also thinks that she wants to marry him for the throne. Vanathi couldn't control and said “ You don't know me. So stop making assumptions about me.” Saying that, Vanathi left him.

Arulmozhi was standing there looking at her disappearing. “ I think I made a big mistake”

Meanwhile Vanathi went to her chamber and started packing her things. After she finished, she went to Kundavai’s chamber.

“akka, I want to go back to Kodamballur. Please give me permission to go back.”

Just as Vanathi said this Kundavai asked “ What happened, Kanne? Why do you suddenly want to go back to Kodamballur? Is everything fine?”

“Everything is fine, akka. Please do not ask me to not go. Please let me go to Kodamballur.Please” Vanathi was holding back her tears.

“okay, I will give you permission to go back.take care of yourself. I will miss you very much”

“Thank you, akka. Take care of yourself.I will also miss you very much.”

A heartbroken Vanathi left for Kodamballur.

@nspwriteups @whippersnappersbookworm

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