In the book, 'Kannaki's Anklet : An Epic from the South of Vindhyas', the author, Utkarsh Patel is
looking to do it again, but perhaps with a kind of a twist. His stories are everything to do with women. This time too, it has to do with two women, but
with a turn of sorts for one woman. Her courage, her intelligence, and her essence...
It is a simple enough
story, where the heroine is Kannaki. She is born to an affluent family, in a
port town in the Chola kingdom. The parents find her a groom. Kovalan is his
name, and he sings at the temple. The two are shown as two people, so much in
love with each other.
The two of them seem
like nothing could separate them, but then suddenly, there is the advent of the
courtesan, Madhavi. Now, Madhavi lays down her charms upon Kovalan. He could
not resist these, and leaves behind Kannaki. That is where the twist lies.
There is nothing much Kannaki can do, as she watches Kovalan spend all his money on Madhavi and reduce
himself and his family to impoverishment. Madhavi’s mother, who was
happy all this while, is suddenly against Kovalan, and this she makes clear to
Madhavi, which Kovalan overhears. Kovalan leaves, and one can see the heart break
of Madhavi too.
As Kovalan makes his
way back home to his wife, Kannaki, I had to feel faintly for Madhavi too. Kannaki now comes into focus again, and I, who had spent all this time feeling
bad for her, could not help but become slightly happier. (But of course, our
times have changed so much that I am left feeling confused, basically Kovalan,
who had left both wife and lover should pay, I felt, but that is not how this
story goes.)
Anyway, returning to
the story, Kannaki and Kovalan, now want to start off on another journey, this
time to Madurai. But Kovalan, ends up meeting a messenger from Madhavi, who tries
to lure him back to her. But Kovalan is adamant and refuses to go back to her. The two of them go off
on foot to Madurai. The road seems hard and affected by hazards, but the two of
them are lucky as they find Sadhavi Kavunti, a Jain monk to escort them.
On their way, the two
of them come into contact with some strange people. They end up meeting quite a
few people, a few wise folks, a wood nymph, who tries to entice Kovalan, and
some other people. But they always were full of stories and songs, some of which
were composed by Kovalan and a few by Kannaki, too. Some were legends and tales
of the places and the people, they were with too.
The two of them reach
Madurai and try to start off a new life. They have plans of using an anklet of Kannaki’s to start off with a little money. As Kovalan sets out to sell the
anklet, he meets with a goldsmith, who wrongly accuses him of stealing the
anklet from the queen.
What happens to
Kovalan? Will he get framed? Will Kannaki find out exactly, what went wrong? Will
Kannagi manage to prove her husband’s innocence?
You can Buy the Book, right here.
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