36

CHAPTER III

THE TREATMENT OF HISTORY BY SCOTT AND

KALKI IN THEIR HISTORICAL NOVELS.

History is based on facts; novel is based on fiction. So, the historical novel is the

blending of fiction with facts. Stoddard says: “Fiction is the underlying basis of the

novel, fact is the underlying basis of history.” (The Evolution of the English Novel: 84)

“The historical novel takes its setting and some of its characters and events from

history; the term is usually applied only if the historical milieu and events are fairly

elaborately developed, and important to the central narrative”. (Abrams, M.H.: 117)

David Daiches defines a historical novel:

A historical novel can be 'primarily an adventure story, in which the

historical elements merely add interest and a sense of importance to the

actions described; or it can be essentially an attempt to illustrate those

aspects of the life of a previous age which most sharply distinguish it from

our own; or it can be an attempt to use a historical situation to illustrate

some aspect of man’s fate which has importance and meaning quite apart

from that historical situation. (35)

 37

The history deals primarily with people whereas the historical novel deals with

events. Fleishman observes, “the historical novel is an aesthetic contemplation of

history”. Anyhow, it is “unashamedly hybrid” (14). According to R.A. Donovan the

historical novel is primarily a novel, and only secondarily a work of history. Scott and

Kalki realizing the hybrid nature of their genre have made an imaginative and judicious

use of history which has provided them, to quote H.Butterfield “a theme”, and “a mass of

human experience ...a whole world of people .. .”(53-54) to work upon.

Both Scott and Kalki had wide knowledge of history with imaginative faculty for

the past. They were endowed with the secrets of the art of story - telling. Both of them

through their imagination breathed life into dull facts and made the past appear like the

present in their historical novels. Both of them merged their narratives with the actions

and passions of their historical figures. Both of them have understood that human nature

remains the same anywhere in spite of the rapid historical changes.

Both Scott and Kalki treated the historical novel primarily as a work of art which

uses history sometimes as its staple and sometimes as its direction. Both of them took the

bare facts of events of dry bones and impose on them the flesh of imagination and narrate

their story in the manner which suit their purpose best. As Tolstoy who raises history to

the universal by presenting a panoramic view of human history in War and Peace, both

Scott and Kalki drew freely from history and yet were all the time transforming the facts

of history into imaginary stories about men and women who became greater than their

historical reality.
 38

Kalki’s objective in writing historical novel is according to K.V.

Rangaswami, “his love for his Janmabhumi, and pride in the ideals and achievements of

its foremost sons alive or dead, of recent times or of the historic past, are well known".

rC.C Introduction xlii]. Scott being ‘the prudent Briton and the passionate Scot’

(Daiches) venetrates Scotland and loves England. He exercises his imagination more on

the customs and manners of the Scots and the historical events and class struggle.

Kalki’s historical novels have a regional base with a national outlook. His fiction is

meant to foster nationalism. His mission is to achieve national integration through his

historical novels. Like Kalki Scott was also a nationalist who supported the Union of

Scotland with England.

Scott was the first novelist with an imaginative understanding of the past, with the

ability to relive life in an earlier society. But his aim was not simply a static portrayal.

He presented his past period as part of the continuum of history. He chose as his setting a

significant event in history-the 1745- and by examining its causes and consequences gave

the reader a picture of the evolution of Scottish society in the eighteenth century.

Like Scott Kalki was the first Tamil writer who used the ancient history of famous

Tamil dynasties and the region as the background of his novels. He wants to sow the

seeds of courage and confidence and a sense of independence in the minds of the people

who were in servility at the expense of their nobility for four hundred years of Moghul

rule and two hundred years of British rule by going back to history to trace the essential

nobility of India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular as Prince Parthipan who

revealed his art in a picture gallery that had been kept in a locked chamber, his past glory
 39

and the glory of his race, to his son Vikkiraman so that he might be roused to heroic

action.

According to Wellek and Warren the writer is not only influenced by society; he

influences it. This is quite true of Scott and Kalki. It is believed that the historical novels

of Scott increased the national pride as Kalki. Kalki used his historical novels as a means

of rousing patriotic feelings in his readers. (Geetha,K.V:2)

In the novels of both the writers we find a more serious and responsible approach

towards history but Scott took liberties with the materials he borrowed. He does not care

for slavish accuracy of details whereas Kalki made careful study of his sources and used

them skilfully.

Like Scott Kalki was the first significant historical novelist who wrote historical

novels based on the history of Tamil Nadu. (Subbarayan, P. Preface to C.C. : iii) Through

P.K. and C.C we come to know about the culture and arts of Tamil Nadu of the past i.e.

the cultural heritage of India. The Pallava Kings Mahendravarman and

Naracimmavarman when they reigned in Kanci did a marvellous service to Tamil

language and Tamil people by giving importance to the fine arts such as dance, sculpture

and painting and spread the fine arts throughout Tamil Nadu. Tirunavukkaracar (Appar),

a great saint of Tamil Nadu rendered a great service to Saivism . Parancoti alias

cirutondar came to Kanci only for the purpose of pursuing his education when he was

young and later he became the commander of the Army and conquered Vathapi and

helped the Pallava Kings to establish their good governance in Tamil Nadu by rendering

his religious services. Kalki depicts the cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu that reached its
 40

pinnacle of glory during the reign of Pallava Kings. It is possible for the readers to know

about the history of Tamil Nadu and its cultural heritage during the reign of the Pallava

Kings through C.C and P.K. Kalki sustains interest in these novels by blending history

with romance. By writing his historical novels Kalki rendered a real service to Tamil

Nadu as well as Tamil Literature.

Mahendra Pallavar, Maamalla Naracimmar are really popular historical characters

of Tamil Nadu. Apart them commander parancoti, Vathapi Pulikeci II,

Maanavarman of Srilanka, Nedumara Pandian, Mangaiyarkarci, Kulachiraiyar, Appar

and Sampandar are also popular historical characters. Apart from them the other

characters are fictitious. The Pallava Kings were really great who evinced keen interest

in sculpture and painting, music and dance. They were great warriors, tactful and highly

diplomatic. The following events which are mentioned in the novels are historical facts

gleaned from epigraphic and other records.

Mahendra Pallavan embraced Saivism from Jainism due to the influence and

blessings of Appar. Pulikeci II of Vatapi declared war against Kanci and encamped.

Pulikeci reached Kollidakarai and met Chera, Pandiya and Kalapaala Kings. He was not

able to capture Kanci and went back. In order to avenge the Chalukyas the Pallavas
n-
declared war against Vathapi. Commander Paracoti led the army of Pallavas against

Vathapi. They defeated Pulikeci II at Vathapi and burned the whole city. Commander

Parancoti gave up his position as the commander of the Army and went back to his native

place Thiruchenkattagkudi and became a devotee of Lord Siva and led a peaceful life

with his family.

 41

The above mentioned events of history are historical facts. In those days when

Manhendra and Naracimma Pallavas reigned the Southern states, the period of that time

was considered to be the golden era of the Southern States regarding the fine arts such as

sculpture, painting, music and dance. Among the fine arts, sculpture and painting were

spread from Vindhya Pallavam to Sri Lanka and they were alike everywhere. That is the

historical truth. The same kind of sculpture and paintings are seen in such places as the

Ajanta caves, the Chitthana Vasal (Chittar Vasa Hills) in Tamil Nadu and Sri Hari Hills

in Sri Lanka.

The great artists (experts) pointed out that such sculpture and paintings

could not be seen in any partof the world.From the historical research we

come to know that such sculpture and paintings took place and spread

at the same time in places like Ajantha, Ellora, Vathapi and Nagarjuna Hills

on the banks of Krishna river and Maamallapuram.

(Kalki, C.C Preface xi-xiii)

It is very significant that the periods Kalki chose for his historical romances

- seventh century A.D. for both C.C and P.K and tenth century A.D for P.C

were ages of Hindu religious revival after a period of strong Buddhist and

Jain influences. In fact, many of the Tamil Kings had earlier become Jains

and a process of reconversion to Hinduism had just begun in the seventh

century with Emperor Mahendra himself leading it.

(Nachiyappan : 31-35)
 42

Kalki has shown Mahentira Pallavan as the patron of all arts and religions. He

was a lover of music and a disciple of the famous teacher Rutra-c-cariyar. The famous

saiva saint Tirunavukkaracar [Appar] lived in his period. Kalki refers to the visit of

Hieun-Tsang, the Chinese scholar to the Calukkiya Kingdom during the reign of

Naracimma Vann an.

C.C is a historical romance.As K.V.Rangaswami, an eminent historian, says:

C.C will be acclaimed, even on a superficial study, as a brilliant historical

romance ... Even without the indication given by the author himself in his

Preface(7) of the main historical facts of the romance, any reader will

recognize the background of wide and precise knowledge on which the

story is based. But one has to know even the minutiae of the history of

South India and the Dakhan at the period in which the action described is

placed to be able to appreciate fully and correctly the scholarly

qualities of the author, as revealed in this book and the wide and exact

knowledge of the sources of the history of the times. A minute

examination of the book has not shown a single error in history

on geography... Mahendra’s versatility and patronage of all arts-music

(Rudracharya and his inscriptional treatise at Kudimiyamalai as well as his

introduction of the Veena with eight strings), dancing in the form of

Bharathanatya, architecture,(Making of many rock-cut temples) and

painting-are describedat length by Kalki, and are in accord with the

evidence of inscription and monuments, (C.C. Intoduction : xxvii-xxix)

 43

The broad outlines of RC do certainly accord with the historical facts.

Parantaka I (907-955A.D.) Cola was succeeded by his second son Kandaradittar

(955-57) as the first son Rajaditta had died in the battle of Takkolam in 949. On the

death of Kandaradittar, as his son Maturantaka was still a child, Kandaradittar’s brother

Arinjaya (957) ascended the throne. When Arinjaya died within a year of the ascension,

Parantaka II (Cuntara Cola) (957-73) was coronated. Early in Cuntara Cola’s reign, his

first son Atitta II (Karikala) was declared crown-prince. But a few years before Cuntara

Cola’s death Attitta Karikalan was killed in 969 and Maturantaka Uttama Cola (973-85)

was declared heir-apparent (in preference to Cuntara Cola’s second son Arulmolivarman)

and he eventually became King in 973 on the death of Cuntara Cola. Maturantaka Uttama

Cola was succeeded by Arulmolivarman who came to be known as Rajaraja I.

These are the historical facts that Kalki adopts scrupulously in his master piece

which deals with two important historical events: the murder of Atitta Karikalan, the

elder son of Cuntara Cola and the heir -apparent to the throne, and the renunciation of the

throne by Arulmolivannan, the younger son of Cuntara Cola in favour of Maturantakan,

the son of Kantaratittta Cola.

Kalki’s biographer Sunda cites two books as possible sources for Kalki : K.A.

Nilakanta Sastri’s The Cholas, in two volumes (1935,37) in English and T.V Sadasiva

Pandarathar’s Pirkala Chozlar Charittiram (“History of the later Chozhas” 1949) in

Tamil. There is however disagreement between the tow historians on who murdered

Attitta Karikalan, the former maintaining that it was Maturrantaka and the latter disputing

this view. A recent writer of Cola history cites an inscription naming five commoners
 44

(including two called Ravidasan and Soman) as the murderers of Karikalan; this writer

also, after recording the above two and other theories about the murder (including one

about the possible involvement of Arulmolivarman himself or his sister Kundavai), points

the difficulties in accepting any of these views. (Mangalamurugesan : 45-48). From the

Utaiyarkuti inscription it is evident that Atitta Karikalan fell a victim to assassination and

that the murder remained unavenged during the reign of Cuntara Cola. Only in the reign

of Arulmolivarman, who ascended the throne as Rajaraja Cola, the murders were brought

to trial and punished. (Nilakanta Sastri K.A:150)

At the conclusion of the novel Kalki stated that according to Tiruvalankatu copper

plates the people of Cola Kingdom were undivided in their opinions about

Arulmolivarman (Ponniyan Celvan) being crowned as Emperor of Cola Kingdom who

was the heir- apparent to the throne after the death of Atitta Karikalan but

Arulmolivarman being “uttaman” means “good man” crowned Maturantakan Emperor of

Cola Kingdom, who was son to his grandfather and paternal uncle to him by accepting

his birth right as the next King after Cuntara Cola. (P.C.,V.:778)

As Kalki, a freedom fighter was always conscious of India’s independence and its

emergence as a powerful and prosperous country, Scott was always strongly moved by

everything that reminded him of Scotland’s past of the days of the country’s

independence and the relatively recent days when the Jacobites were appealing to that

very emotion to gain support for their cause. He grew up as the Jacobite tradition was

finally ebbing away, amid the first generation of Scotsmen committed once and for all to

the association with England and the Hanoverian dynasty.

 45

Scott’s conception of history is different from Kalki. In the regular historical

novels his practice is to create some private individual as his nominal hero, to send him

out on his adventures, and then to contrive that he shall so be caught up in the great

public movements of his time that his fortunes shall be involved in and determined by

them. Thus in his first novel W, Edward Waverley sets out to join his regiment at

Dundee in the critical year 1745, gets entagled in the Jacobite rising, meets the young

Pretender, and fights at Prestonpans and Culloden: his personal doings merging in the

great currents of history. In this way he was enabled to depict the past, not on its large

heroic side only, but also on its domestic and unheroic sides, and to make us feel its

substantial reality by linking its interests with individuals situated like ourselves. As

Carlyle said of his work:

These historical novels have taught all men this truth, which looks like a

truism and yet was as good as unknown to writers of history, and others till

so taught; that the by - gone ages of the world were actually filled by

living men, not by protocols, state papers, controversies, and abstractions of

men. (Hudson, W.H.:219)

It must not of course be supposed that Scott’s treatment of history is entirely

accurate. He often takes great liberties with facts and his anachronisms are numerous.

When these are anachronisms of detail only they are relatively unimportant; but

sometimes they are fundamental, and then they become serious, as in the case of Ivanhoe,

which, however brilliant as a romance, is totally untrustworthy as a picture of the life of

the middle ages. But in general he was marvellously successful in reproducing at least
 46

the externals of the periods which he describes, in giving us a vivid sense of their men

and manners, and in breathing life into the dry bones of history.

Kalki was interested in the political, religious and literary history (or the history of

the art) but not social and economic history, even when they had a bearing on those other

histories. But Scott was interested in the political, religious, social, literary and economic

history. David Daiches says that the ‘Scotch novels’ deal with Scottish history and

manners. His Scotch novels such as Waverly, The Bride of Lammermoor, The Heart of

Midlothian, Rob Roy, Guv Mannering, Redgauntlet and the Anitquary mirror the social

changes of the eighteenth century.

“ The present work”, Scott wrote in the Introduction to The Antiquary,

“completes a series of fictitious narratives, intended to illustrate the

manners of Scotland at three different periods. Waverlev embraced the

age of our fathers, Guv Mannering that of our own youth, and The

Antiquary refers to the last ten years of the eighteenth century...” Of the

three novels only Waverlev is built around important historical events-

those of the Jacobite uprising of 1745. The other two center primarily on

the private lives of the characters, although in The Antiquary the

Napoleonic wars are in the background, the mysterious Lovel is at one

point suspected of being a spy, and near the end there is a mistaken alarm

of a French invasion. Scott rightly claims, nevertheless, that all three reflect

the manners and the social history of their successive times. Waverlev

shows the last confused and broken effort of the clan chiefs to dominate
 47

Scotland...almost at spaced intervals - 1745, the 1770s,1795-the three

novels mirror the social changes of the second half of the century.

(Johnson, : 520)

Old Mortality deals with the politico-religious conflict in the later part of the

seventeenth century. The conspiracy of Richard Vere had been imaginary, although as

the novel indicates, there actually was a French expedition to restore the Pretender in

1708, which reached the Firth of Forth before it was forced to turn back. It centres

around a real historic event, the uprising of the Covenanters at Drumclog in 1979. The

issues of religious freedom that influenced their revolt were not to be resolved until

almost a decade later. In many ways, though, their uprising was a forerunner of the Great

Revolution of 1688, and Old Mortality, as Welsh says, a study of revolution (Johnson:

594) Breathing with the passions of men and women, it is at the same time a philosophic

construction of a historical pattern. (Johnson: 600)

Another kind of revolution, less violent but no less crucial, form the background

of Rob Roy. It is the revolution from the older world of the feudal landowner and the

clan to the new world of commerce. Since the time of Tudors, of course, merchants and

bankers had been growing in power. At the close of the seventeenth century their aid

weighed decisively in enabling the landed aristocracy and the religious opponents of

James II to bring in William and Mary. When Queen Anne died and George I was

proclaimed King, the financial support of the merchants standing behind the Whigs

established the Hanoverian dynasty and was powerful enough to crush the Jacobite

uprising of 1715. These historical facts determine the structure of Rob Roy.
 48

Rob Roy demonstrates, however, why Jacobitism never permeated

northern England as it did the Highland of Scotland. And even its Scottish

scenes reveal why Jacobitism ultimately failed there both in 1715 and 1745.

In Rob Roy Scott shows the ancient and traditional ways of life as

straitened and savage, and now dead or dying, and celebrates the new...

His analysis of the economy of the Highlands is penetrating. His

enthusiasm for the prosperity that has been brought about by the Act of

Union in 1707 is clearheaded and enlightened. (Johnson, Edgar: 603)

Rob Roy deals with the unsuccessful Jacobite rising of 1715. The Old Pretender,

James Edward (son of James II) made an attempt against the Hanoverian Government but

miserably failed.

Rob Roy however, is fundamentally quite a different kind of book from Waver ley.

The Jacobite cause does not in itself bulk large as a central interest, but functions rather

as a means of bringing together the Highland world of Rob Roy himself and the world of

banking and commerce.

£
Waverly depicts the failure of the Forty-Five Jacobite rebellion to reinstate in

Britain an older political order-the Stuart absolutist monarchy, overthrown with James II

in 1688. Charles Edward, the Young Pretendor, made a bid to get the throne from the

Hanoverian rulers: but the revolt was put down by the King’s (George II) second son, the

duke of Cumberland.
 49

The campaign of the Jacobites is of course, historical, and Scott recounts it with

accuracy-Prince Charles’s occupation of Edinburgh, his victory at Prestonpans the march

into England as far as Derby, the retreat, the skirmish at Clifton.

The battle of Culloden (16 April 1746), the last battle fought on British soil, and

the harsh measures that followed it were still in people’s minds. The Jacobite had lost

and their cause had been virtually destroyed. Scotland, with England, was thereafter to

look forward to prosperity under the Hanoverians. The defeat of Jacobitism had been

seen as a victory for rationalism and enlightenment. These were the values that were to

carry Scotland forward into a new era. What they replaced was semi-barbarism and

narrow nationalism, ways of life and thought unfitted to survive into the modem world.

The Jacobites represent the old, feudal way of life in Scotland, with its strong

passions, its fierce but limited loyalties; the Hanoverians are representatives of the new

order, rational and, at its best, generally benevolent-qualities illustrated by the unyielding

fairness of Major Melville and Colonol Talbot.

Wavcrty shows the withering - away of the old Highland order, and the

assumption of supreme authority by the forces of ‘progress’ forces set in

motion by the Union of 1707. we find also in that novel the virtual end of

the ancient Lowland aristocracy, for if the Baron of Bradwardine survives,

it is without his former standing (Robin Mayhead. : 72).

“The B.L. presents a panorama of Scottish life in the early

eighteenth century. It is a tale of love and family feud set in a socially and

politically unstable period of Scottish history. It depicts the conflict

 50

between feudalism and modernism shortly after Scotland’s Union with

England in 1707 ‘in naked, almost melodramatic terms’. (Daiches)

It highlights the conflict between the Ravenswoods and the Ashtons families in

Scotland who were the Tories and Whigs respectively.

In the novel’s account of Bothwell Bridge (1679) Allan Ravenswood led a group

of men in the Royalist army including the enthusiastic Caleb Balderstone and the

reluctant John Mortsheugh. Again Allan Ravenswood took part in Dundee’s rebellion

(1689), was convicted of high treason, and lost his title. Under William and Mary, Sir

William Ashton became a successful politician, a member of the Privy Council and Lord

Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. Allan Ravenswood had become tragically involved

in Scottish history and he had been victimized by the political influence of Sir William

Ashton, ‘a skilful fisher in the troubled waters of a state divided by factions’ (The

B.L.:22). Ashton had engaged the elder Ravenswood in a series of lawsuits over the title

to Ravenswood castle. Scott implies that Ashton’s membership and influence in the

dominant Whig party had much to do with his ultimate legal victory. In 1702 Allan

Ravenswood and the Marquis of Atholl (1659-1724) took part in a conspiracy to retain

the crown for James Francis Stewart (the old Pretender, James Edward).

The Porteous Riots of 1736 is the main historical event that takes place in the H.M

It combines two narratives both of which concern the Edinburgh prison, the Tolbooth

ironically known as ‘the Heart of Midlothian.’ One is the story of Jeanie Deans , the girl

who walked from Edinburgh to London to obtain a pardon for her sister; the other is the

story of Portious riot. Jeanie Deans’ father Davie Deans was a historical character who
 51

participated in the struggles of the 1680s. It was this figure, John Campbell, 2nd Duke of

Argyle (1678-1743) who linked the two main parts of the plot. The Duke of Argyle, a

soldier and politician, was remembered as a benefactor to his country. One instance of

his services was the way he resisted the punitive measures proposed against the city of

Edinburgh after the Porteous riot in 1736.

H.M. impressively brings together three of his main recurring interest: nationality,

religion and the nature of justice. The theme of the novel - human justice - is also

related to history. Scott gives us vivid pictures of a court of justice of the time. The

portrayal of Queen Caroline and the Duke of Argyle are historical. The Duke’s influence

in Sir Robert Walpole’s government, his valuable services in the year 1715, his military

calibre, his good relations with the Queen are all historical facts and are faithfully

recorded by the novelist. But the Duke’s role in saving Effie is fictitious and is Scott’s

own invention. In this role the Duke is represented as a highly cultured, very dignified,

extremely polite who shows due courtesy to his country woman Jeanie and goes out of

his way to approach the Queen on behalf of Jeanie’s sister Effie. His character conforms

to history.

History tells us that Queen Caroline was a shrewd woman who had certain

qualities of statesmanship which she showed particularly in maintaining good relations

with the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. She maintained her good relations with her

political opponents such as the Duke of Argyle. All this is in accordance with history.

Even George Staunton is a historical figure. In the novel Scott does not distort or alter
 52

history like Kalki, though he vivifies and vitalizes it. The Heart of Midlothian, the

prison, is no longer there, but its site can still be identified. It was a historical reality.

As Kalki deals with the conflict between the Colas and Pallavas during the seventh

century in P.K. Scott deals with the conflict between the Saxons and the Normans during

the eleventh century when Richard I the Lion’s Heart was the King of England in

Ivanhoe. He treated in this medieval novel as Kalki the same kind of themes examined in

his Scottish novels such as Rob Roy (1817), H.M. (1818), and other Scottish novels. In

those novels he wrote about the conflict between an old heroic ideal and modern

industrial society. He showed the struggle between the Scottish nationalists and the more

socially advanced English and then their ultimate co-operation in forging a new society.

I unfolds not upon the foreign political and religious territory of Renaissance Italy

or Spain, but in England itself-an England invaded and colonized by foreign war lords

namely the Normans. The action presents in clear outlines the conflict between the

Saxons and Normans, the turmoil and distress brought to the country by the struggle, the

losses suffered by both groups, and then the first step towards a unified England. The

end of civil strife and the beginning of a new national era are seen most clearly in the

destruction of Front-de-Beouf s castle. It is successfully stormed by Richard, (Who now

insists he is Richard of England, no longer Richard of Anjou) Robin Hood, the saxon

slave Gurth and many common men of England. It was also set on fire by the mad Saxon

captive Ulrica, apparently representative of the most ancient and barbarous element in the

Saxon culture, who perishes with Front-de-Boeuf. This transition and the coming

national unity are also dramatized in the victories of the Saxon-Norman Ivanhoe, the
 53

Saxon Athelstane’s remunciation of his rights to the English throne, and the marriage of

Ivanhoe, Richard’s favourite, and Rowena, the last descendant of King Alfred.

Critics have found many anachronisms in but they have tended to neglect the one

which Scott intended to present - the adherence to ideals that outlived their usefulness.

There have been complaints that Scott’s rendering of the twelfth century is

distorted by anachronisms. Historians have pointed out that Edward the

Confessor had no lineal descendants, that Cedric, Rowena, and Ulrica are

not genuine Saxon names, that Ultrica’s crazy death-chant reverts to

paganism a full four centuries after England had been completely

Christianized and that one of the deities she invokes, Zernebock, was not

even a Scandinavian god but a Slavonic idol. Scott well knew, of course,

that Athelstane’s ancestry was fictitious, but it may be questioned whether

any of these slips seriously misrepresent the nature of the age. And though

all the ballads of Robin Hood date from over two centuries later, can there

be any doubt that there were such bands of forest outlaws long before the

fifteenth century? (Johnson : 745)

Scott’s main concern, as in his best Scottish novels, was with the difficult but

necessary transition from a romantic, heroic era to a comparatively drabber period of

unity, peace, and progress.

Despite the many inaccuracies in Scott’s treatment of historical figures and

the medieval setting, he had a firm grasp of a fundamental problem during a

critical period of English history. He recognized that the reconciliation of

 54

Saxons and Normans was a permanent contribution, but he also recognized

that the impingement of the past on the present, as in Richard’s

irresponsible heroism, could have serious consequences. (Duncan : 147)

Having thus painted Mary almost at full length in “The Monastery”, it was perhaps

inevitable that Scott should be drawn to portray her great and powerful adversary

Elizabeth. This he does in Kenilworth and although she is not the central personage of

the story, her nature and her power are its dominant force, controlling the lives of all the

other as a star sways the movements of its planets. From her commanding position in her

world follows every significant action in the narrative. She is the embodiment of

sixteenth-century England, and Kenilworth is a masterly evocation of the time. It deals

with the death of Army Robsart, who, in the reign of Elizabeth was enticed into a

marriage with Leicester and was found dead under somewhat mysterious circumstances.

Most of the characters bear historical names, and the main events are distilled from

history.

A number of historical inaccuracies can be mentioned in K. The Earl of

Leicester’s marriage to Amy Robsart had taken place in 1550 in the reign of Edward VI

and had not been secret; Kenilworth was not his until long after Amy’s death; and it was

Leicester’s much later marriage to Lettice Knollys that Queen Elizabeth so bitterly

resented. There is evidence that the real Richard Varney and Tony Foster were not such

villains as Scott paints them when the splendid pageantry of Kenilworth took place in

1575, far from being a known a dramatist, Shakespeare was still a small boy in Stratford.
 55

Nor did Walter Raleigh rise in the Queen’s favour and receive his knighthood until years

later. But Scott magnificently captured the flavor , the colour and the clan of the age.

Kalki, on the other hand made a careful study of his sources and used them

skilfully in his novels and there is little deviation from historical facts. In C.C and P.K.

he deals with the history of the Pallavas. Regarding the origin of the Pallavas Kalki

rejects the foreign extraction of the dynasty based on the similarity of “Pallava” and

“Pallava”. Dr. Jouveau - Dubreuil was of the view that the ancient Pallava Kings of

Kanci belonged to the family of Suvisaka, the minister of Rudradaman (150 A.D.)

(Minakshi, C:4) Kalki strongly supported the Indian writers who supported these

theories. He says that it is a lie to say that the Pallavas who have contributed so much to

the glory of the Tamils and their country had a foreign origin (Kalki, C.C.:126) Kalki

says that a child had been given by the sea and as it was found in a boat placed on a bed

of Tontai creepers, it was called Tontaiman, and as it was brought by the sea it was called

Ilan tiraiyan. He says that according to Tamil poets Tontaiman Ilantiraiyan might be the

son of a Cola prince and Pilalai, the princess of Manipallavam or ancient Jaffna

(C.C.:125). Such an idea is corroborated by the Ceylon scholar Rasanayagain who says

that '‘the early Pallavas were the Tamils of South India, or of Ceylonese origin with Cola-

naga connection. (Minakshi, C:5). If the pallavas were of Tamil origin, then it is

surprising to find that they have used the florid “grantha” as their script and have had

Sanskrit as their court language.

ayc-
Some scholars^f the opinion that the changing of Mamallapuram into a temple of

art would have begun in the period of Naracimma Varman I and that of the monuments at
 56

Mamallapuram must have been built by Naracimma Varman. But Dr. M. Rasamanickam

Pillai says that Mahentra Pallavan who had constructed many rock temples from

Pallavaram to Putu-k-ottai would not have neglected Mamallapuram so near Kanci.

(105). Kalki also says in C.C. and P.K. that the work of converting Mamallapuram into a

temple of art was begun in the period of Mahentira Pallavan and was continued by his

son, Naracimma Varman I.

Pulikeci’s Aihole inscription says that Mahentira Pallavan was defeated by

Pulikeci and he ran away from the battle field and hid himself in his fort.

(Rasamanickam, M:91) But the Kaca-k-kuti plates issued by Nandi Varman II say that

Mahentira Pallavan defeated his enemies at Pullalur. (Rasamanickam, M:91). Kalki

states in C.C. that Mahentira Pallavan defeated Kanka Turnivitan at Pullalur and retreated

to Kanci allowing Pulikeci to besige it. Pulikeci’s army which had traversed a long

distance was very tired and could not get food in Kanci and the surrounding areas. In the

novel, the diplomacy of Mahentira Pallavan makes Pulikeci ask for peace with the

Pallavas. Further, according to history, when Pulikeci came on an expedition to Kanci,

the Ceras, Colas and Pantiyas were friendly to him (Rasamanickam, M:118). But Kalki

states that the Colas were not friendly to Pulikeci. (C.Cj 499)

Regarding the battle of Vatapi (642 A.D.) Kalki says that Naracimma Pallavan

took nine long years to recruit a large army and train it for the expedition to Vatapi. “after

Pulikaci’s retreat from Kanci of his first expedition. But the Kuram plates and

Utayacantira Mankalam plates prove that Pulikeci I came on an expedition for a second

time to Kanci and that he was defeated at Pariyalayafn, Manimankalam, and Curamaram
 57

and then he was pursued to Vatapi. Pulikeci’s second expendition was followed by a

terrible retribution. The Calukkiya country was invaded and Vatapi was captured and

destroyed by the Pallavas. (Rasamanickam, M. 112-13). According to the Velur

Palaiyam plated, a stone pillar of victory bearing the information about the victory of the

Pallavas over the Calukkiyas was erected there. (Rasamanickam, M:113) In these battles

Naracimma Varman was aided by Manavarman, the prince of Ilankai and he afterwords

helped Manavarman to regain the throne of Ilankai. The Periyapuranam refers to the

invasion and sack of Vatapi and the capture of abundant wealth from there by Parancoti,

the Pallava Commander who led the expedition and won victory in 642 A.D.

(Subramania Mudaliar C.K.: 589) After that battle he became Ciru - t - tontar, a saiva

saint. But Kalki refers to the battle of Manimankalam as having taken place during the

reign of Mahentira Pallavan. He does not refer to the battles fought at Pariyalam, and

Curamaram. The war between the Pallavas and Pantiyas also must have taken place

during the reign of Mahentiravarman as depicted by Kalki. With regard to the portrayal

of Parancoti, K.R. Rangaswami Iyengar says that the the Periyapuranam describes him

as the son of an anthanar, usually taken as synonymous with Brahmana, but Kalki takes

him as a Sudra - relation of a physician (C.C. introduction xxxv)”

The historical novels of both Kalki and Scott are known for their vivid narration

and fidelity to life. As K.V. Rangaswami says:

In a perfect historical novel nothing should be written which goes against

the facts of history. It should only state what can be proved from history,

though it might also state what cannot be disproved by history. Bad history
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may diminish the attractiveness of a historical romance, though the

imaginative creations might be so attractive as to balance this defect. It is

so with many of the famous novels of Sir Walter Scott, which are full of

historical errors but live by vivid narration and fidelity to life.

(C.C. Introduction: xxv)

The historical novels of both the writer*show an understanding of fundamental

A.

truths of life, the common possessions of humanity.

Both Kalki and Scott revived their national post. Kalki revived the glory of his

national past whereas Scott revived the events of the past and dealt with the customs and

manners of the people of his country. Kalki gave prominent position to the historical

characters and subordinate position to the fictitious characters whereas Scott gave

prominent position to the fictitious characters and subordinate position to the historical

characters. Unlike Kalki presents an ideal society where people have no social or

economic problems and they are portrayed as loyal citizens who are ready to sacrifice

their lives for their Kings. Scott portrays the great historical figures as ordinary human

beings with virtues and weaknesses, good and bad qualities but Kalki depicts only their

virtues. Unlike Scott Kalki glorifies the arts such as sculpture, architecture, dance, cave

painting and stone - temples.

Scott blends realism with romanticism in his historical novels like Kalki. But

Kalki’s attempt to re-create past history is to view it as psychological, but politically safe,

release for his and his races wounded pride as colonized subjects. As Meenakshi

Mukherjee puts it. “The framework of history afforded the novelist a way to glorify the
 59

past, and the past, however nebulous, meant the pre-British past: any tale of past bravery

or heroism vindicated present servitude. This was the safest a newly awakened

nationalism could take”[46]

Kalki thought that the colonized subject who had degenerated to klibatva

(“feminity in man”) should be restored to purushatva (“manliness”) (Nandy : 52). As

Kalki who was associated himself in some ways with the nation’s own psyche thought

that one way of raising both the individual and the national psyche to heroic heights was

through the presentation and recreation of past heroism.

According Thothadri Kalki was a dreamer. He dreamt of writing C.C. and wrote

it. His historical novels were written during 1941-51. During those days he inculcated

patriotism and the spirit of independence in the minds of the people through his novels.

He proved his patriotic fervour in P.K. in which his yearning for the freedom of his

motherland is revealed. Parthipan dreamt of conquering Pallavas with the real intention

of governing his own land i.e. Cola territory. So he declared that he would fight against

Pallavas in order to fulfil his dream. Like Parthipan the Indians dreamt of conquering the

Britishers who governed India for about two hundred years. Indian’s dream of freedom

is reflected in P.K. It is very difficult to ride on two horses of imagination and history.

But Kalki did it successfully by using his imagination and history of the past in order to

deal with the dynasty of Colas and Pallavas as if they belonged to our own time as Scott

did it in his historical novels. His historical novels depict Tamil Language, culture and

arts of Tamil Nadu.

Bharathlar Univarsity
Library

T697
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Kalki glorifies Mahentravarman and Naracimmavarman by portraying them as

ideal Kings. Naracimmavarman was acclaimed as “the great Wrestler”, Mah malla The

people of Kanci believed that there was no Emperor like Naracimmavarman and there

would not be any one like him in future. (P.K. : 77-78) Kalki praises Arulmolivarman to

the skies by saying that he reached the pinnacle of glory by giving up his crown in favour

of his paternal uncle MaturantaketUttamaColan. This event is described as ‘the Pinnale

of Sacrifice’ by Kalki. (P.C.:V.).

Mahentravarman who was known for his versatility and patronage of all arts had

made Kanci the most splendid city in the South. In this regards K.V.Rangaswamy says:

“Kalki makes him order the excavation of five shrines - to the triad of

Hinduism, the Buddhe and to the new God i.e. Jesus Christ. It is an

instance of the novelist’s including what cannot be disproved by history.

Christian tradition in India ascribes to the rise of a small Christian

community in Pallava territory long before the reign of Mahendra (C.C.

introduction xxx).”

Kalki glorifies Colas in P.C. As T. Sriraman says: Every-where in the novel there

are paeans of praise, in prose and verse, for the Cola empire: the noble lineage and

traditions of its Kings (V 87) which is acknowledged even by the Buddhist monks of Sri

Lanka who offer Arulmolivarman the Lankan throne (II. 35); their innumerable acts of

valour and heroism (1.30; IV.2); the services they rendered to God and religion by

building countless temples: Cuntara Cola recalls the golden roof that his grandfather

Parantaka I had raised over the shrine of Lord Nataraja at Thillai Ambalam
 61

(Chidambaram) and expresses his stem disapproval of his son Attita Karikalan building a

Golden palace for his father, instead of for God(I.26); the respect they showed

nevertheless for other religions; Arulmolivarman is praised for rebuilding the Buddhist

viharas in Sri Lanka (11.35); their strict sexual - ethical code; a Chola prince could marry

any number of maidens but not covet another man’s wife (IV.31); their stately palaces
TV

which were centres not only of power but of literature and the arts: Vatiyatevan is awe­

struck, on entering the Tanjavur fort, at the contrast it offers to the now-decaying
j>
erstwhile Pallava cabal, Kanci (1.25); the excellence of their craftsmen, as seen in the

chariot - cum-boat that Kuntavai and Vanati use just before the floods (v.12) and the rich

fertility of their land(P.C. Introduction xxxv- vi)

Kalki faithfully records a few historical details of the age. For instance, not

withstanding the dominance of a few queens and princesses (like Nandini or Kuntavai)

the position of most women even in the royal and noble families remained weak and

subordinate: Nantini points out to Manimakalai (V.31) how girls are given away in

marriages of political expendiency, almost always against their will. The Prime Minister

Aniruddha Brahmarayar resents women, even Princess Kuntavai, interfering in politics

(III.27). Kalki reports the power dynamics of the age, the feuds of minor Kings and

chieftains (IV.40) and intermarriages among the clan, often arranged in order to end the

feuds and secure power.

There are references to wars and ethics. Queen Cempiyanmadevi cites the Durga-

Mahishasura myth to establish the need for war to fight both kinds of demonic forces, the

brainless as well as the cunning (V.85). Kalki’s characters, living in a war-loving milieu,
 62

also adopt the practice of celebrating a hero by the number of battles he has fought-Peria

Paluvettarayar is honoured as one who has proved his valour in twenty-four battles (I.I)-

or by the number of scars he has sustained. In general, the Tamil society of those days

seems to have been a title-loving society. Parantaka I, was the holder of several titles

such as Veeranaryanan (in whose honour the Veeranarayanan Lake - now called

Veeranam Lake - was built by his son). Pandita Vatsalan (the lover of scholars), Kunjara

Malian (one who was elephant - like in strength), Soorasikhamani (Champion Warrior),

Conqueror of Maturai and Eelam(1.30)

Scott on the other hand is not primarily a historical romancer. He is not interested

in eulogizing the past. In stead he depicts the Jacobite risings of 1715 and ‘45 and

mirrors the manners and customs of the people of his country in his historical novels. He

is considered to be a realist rather than a romantic even-though he blends romance with

realism. As Edgar Johnson says:

It is a mistake to think of Scott primarily as a historical romancer. He is no belated

minstrel sentimentally eulogizing the past. Nor is he primarily a historian, though

a gifted historian he certainly is, with a superb grasp of the feeling and atmosphere

of the times he paints. But above all he is a novelist, outstanding in his talent for

dramatic narrative and penetrating in the vivid and accurate rendering of human

nature. Criticism falls far short of realizing his achievement when it repeats the

conventional image of him as the romantic glorifier of a merely picturesque past.

Although his materials are often those superficially thought of as “romantic”,

fundamentally he is an unfaltering and clear-sighted realist. But his realism was

 63

deeply permeated with the sense of history; that is his revolutionary significance

of a novelist. He saw history as more than causation, more than logic; it was the

struggle between opposing schemes of values. “He was the first artist”, Karl

Kroeber notes, “to conceive of history as the evolution of competing styles of

life.” In W his analysis of the entanglement of Jacobitism in Scotland’s feudal

past explores the intricate motivations and total tensions that clarify its tragic

failure. “And thus history,” Francis Hart sums it up, becomes...a process of

individual ordeal caused by personal involvement in the collision, Part of the

experience of collision is caused by the felt impingement of the past-any past-on

the present-all presents.” Such a past is in fact a symbolic present: not only do the

roots of the present reach down into the past, in essence its meanings reach up to

live in us and its passions are ours. (Johnson.: 530).

Scott sees in relationship to the history of the time, and for him “the great

transformation of history” are “transformations of popular life.” He thus becomes

Lukacs concludes, the “great poet of history, because he has a deeper, and more genuine

and differentiated sense of historical necessity than any writer before him.” (Johnson.:

521).

The Jacobite movement for Scott was not simply a picturesque historical event: it

was the last attempt to restore to Scotland something of the old heroic way of life... He

used it, and its aftermath, to symbolize at once the attractiveness and the futility of the old

Scotland. That Scotland was doomed after the Union of Parliaments of 1707 and doubly
 64

doomed after the battle of Culloden in 1746; the aftermath of 1707 is shown in “The

Heart of Midlothian” and of 1746 in “Redgauntlet”. (Daiches : 38).

Kalki deals with the religions such as Saivism, Vaishnavism, Jainism and

Buddhism and Kaapalikam in his historical novels whereas Scott deals with Catholicism,

Protestantism, Presby-terianism and Episcopalism in his novels. Kalki highlights the

religious conflict between Jainisim and Saivism, Vaishnavism and Saivisim and

Kaapalikam and Saivism in his historical novels CC, RC and P.K respectively whereas

Scott highlights the religious conflict between Presbyterianism and Episcopalism in his

historical novels.

Kalki had the distinction of blending historical and imaginary characters in perfect

agreement with the truth of the story as well as that of history.

Arangarasan observes:

Kalki’s three historical novels become virtually the grammar of historical

fiction for his successors. Till this day he remains unchallenged as the pioneer in

the art of characterization, choice of historical periods and narrative skill. He had

the distinction of blending historical and imaginary characters in perfect

agreement with the truth of the story as well as that of history’.

('Varalarru Navalkal : 47)

Scott actually influenced the writing of history in the nineteenth century.

Scott gave the novel tradition, however, more than an interest in the past, he gave

it a sense of history, that is, an awareness of the flow of history. His novels are the first
 65

in which we see people consciously conditioned by the historical and political

circumstances of their birth... the vividness with which Scott recreated earlier periods in

his fiction actually influenced the writing of history in the nineteenth century.

(Compton-Rickett.: 323)