No debates and opinions in 2003? Lets start again shall we....
Who's death did you find very disturbing during the story...
1.Aditya Karikalan...the cursed crown prince who falls in love with the girl who he cant marry..earns her wrath by killing someone close to her heart...tries to make up and eventually...gives his life.
2.Manimegalai..the young innocent princess with dreams of a sundarapurushan builtup by her brother..caught betweeen the rivalry between her brother and her beloved..loosing her mind in the bargain eventually dying in the arms of her beloved.
3.Periya Paluvettarayar...The kingmaker who gets dissillusioned by his young new wife..betraying his king and plotting against him amd his children fooling himself that he was doing it for the good of the kingdom.....Realising that he was harbouring traitors in his own household...takes his own life in his hands after saving the country from a disaster.
4.Mandhakini...The deaf mute girl who loves a prince...bears a twins she doesnt raise..safegaurding her lovers child like a guardian angel..finally giving her life to save her beloveds and gains immortality in the eyes of everyone.
What do think folks.
looking forward for more veiws especially from our freinds who have been spectators for long now welcome to the discussion.
In my opinion each one of them is disturbing, the relative degree varies.
1. Mandhakini's death is predictable somehow right from where she gets importance in the story. Especially, in the later stages when she finds somban sambavan in the pokisha nilavari, anybody might have guessed it. I think, otherwise the pathos might be missing if she is not killed. And lot more problem if she is going to be alive. Thanks to kalki he saves, Sundara Sozhar from an embarassment, leave alone his condition during her death. She died purely out of love for her beloved.
2. Adithya Karikalan's death is history. So we know that he need to be killed in a plot which definitely involves Nandhini. Infact during the stages at which he gets killed (the athiyayam is "kaarirul soozhnthathu", the conversation between Nandhini and him), I infact I sided with Nanthini than him, while reading. He died because of his sheer love for her. He couldn't resist the temptation of meeting her, knowing well that he is in danger. Infact I was bit happy that he is relieved of his pain, he was carrying for three years.
3. Periya Pazhuvettarayar's death is tragic. He dies because he doesn't want to get a bad name for his kulam. Infact he has failed in his duty grossly. His senses clouded by Nandini's love or his lust clouded his senses. He ignores his brother's information about the aabathudavigal. Infact, he sides with the conspirators. To absolve of his badname he has earned, kalki decides to kill him. Infact, when I read the first time, I had some hope that he is going to be alive after being saved first by Arunmozhi.
4. Manimegalai's death is the most disturbing one. Kalki leaves everybody in utter sorrow by killing her. There is no other way. She goes insane because of her love for Vandhiadhevan & for her brother (very subtly described ). She very well knows that, Vandhidhevan is not going to marry her. The only way kalki can do good justice to her character is by killing her. He killed her exactly where he ends the story. So that Manimegalai's death remains as a great impression on the mind's of his readers.
That's an interesting thread, Sridhar. Here's my two cents worth:
>1.Aditya Karikalan...the cursed crown prince who falls in love with the >girl who he cant marry..earns her wrath by killing someone close to her >heart...tries to make up and eventually...gives his life.
To tell the truth, Aditya Karikalan seems to have had a tough time handling relationships. He falls in love with Nandini- he's attracted to her, yet is repelled by her, he's afraid of her, but sometimes he wants to wring her neck! It seems to me that when he killed Veera Pandian, he sealed his fate. Not that he could have done anything else, since he was the Crown Prince and was expected to win battles, rather than women. His death happened because he was caught between powers he couldn't judge or overthrow. Sad- but not heart-wrenching.
>2.Manimegalai..the young innocent princess with dreams of a sundarapurushan >builtup by her brother..caught betweeen the rivalry between her brother and >her beloved..loosing her mind in the bargain eventually dying in the arms >of her beloved.
Now that's a real waste of a life. Manimegalai was a sweet girl, not letting herself be bothered with being a princess and living a great life. Her life and dreams were simple. Her decline must be laid at her brother's door- left alone, she wouldn't have built so many casles in the air that eventually destroyed her. Her death, I think, is the most tragic- mostly because she wasn't responsible for what happened to her.
>3.Periya Paluvettarayar...The kingmaker who gets dissillusioned by his >young new wife..betraying his king and plotting against him amd his >children fooling himself that he was doing it for the good of the >kingdom.....Realising that he was harbouring traitors in his own >household...takes his own life in his hands after saving the country from a >disaster.
PP fell into the oldest trap of all- falling for a young beauty and then spending an eternity in doubt,anger,love and hate. A very confusing existence. In the event, its a surprise that he actually realised what his wife was doing right under his nose. But he did, and made a valuable attempt to salvage his and his family's pride- so I think his death was one of honour, not tragedy.
>4.Mandhakini...The deaf mute girl who loves a prince...bears twins she >doesnt raise..safegaurding her lovers child like a guardian angel..finally >giving her life to save her beloveds and gains immortality in the eyes of >everyone.
Mandhakini is the ideal Thyaagi of Thamizh yore:-) loving children because they were her lover's; giving her life for a man she hadn't seen in years, treasuring his memories and being faithful right until the very end. She was a simple soul-full of loyalty and courage. She believed in what she loved- and that saved her being disillusioned. her death was peaceful- she died in her lover's arms, saving him from death. That was an honourable death too.
This thread is turning out to be more interesting. I was quite surprised when no one included "pinagapani's" death. IMHO it is the most disturbing death in PS.
folks, listen to the following arguements patiently :-)
1) Pinagapani is sort of presented as a comic figure from the start - that sort of comic figure, who gets beaten up often ( slapstic variety?). Its disturbing to see the comic relief done away with unceremoniously.
2) He is the ultimate fodder to vandiyathevan, we "know" everytime pinagapani turns up, he is going to get into a mess and the story will take a hilarious turn
3) There is no need for pinagapani to die. he could have been easily made a lunatic ( to fill up the void karuthiruman leaves?) or a recruit of "abathudavis". Death was the last fate i expected for him.
4) the nature of his death - sudden and stunning. we expect someone to die in that episode ("aiyo pisasu"?), but not pinagapani. It was really pathetix to see the villainous/comic sidekick to die with his dreams unfulfilled ( the lines do mention something about his unfulfilled dreams)
3) Coming to why other canditates for "most disturbing death" dont measure upto pinagapani,
Aditha karikalan: - we know he is going to be bumped off sometime since thats a historical fact and he has got to clear the way for aruLmozhi
Manimegalai - same as above, since vandiyathevan can have only one heroine and poor manimegalai ahem.. is sort of "underdog" in the race, so has to die (Otherwise she would have to suddenly call vandiyathevan "aNNa" at the end or give him a "bulb" ;-))
periya pazhuvettaraiyar: till the very start of fifth part, he ranks high in the villain pantheon ( although somewhat pathetic). So most of us who werent moved by his transformation in the beginning of the fifth pagam are more or less convinced he has to go.
mandagini : aha.. i would call her the most bumpable character. No way out for her except death (cmon, guardian angels have to walk the path of "the ultimate sacrifice" sometime in the story)
So once again folks - pinagapani's death is the most disturbing death in PS. (come on guys, that dude deserved a break ;-))
I'm a member from Bangalore. Though I would love to join the yaathirai, I'm sorry I couldn't because of my examinations. I wish you a great and fruitful trip. And eager to know the status of the places about which I have dreamed for a long time now..
About the most disturbing death, I would rule out Karikalan because we knew from beginning that he would die, due to historical facts. And Kalki established clearly that Nandhini will cause it, So nothing majorly disturbing about that.
I don't consider Pinagapani's death disturbing in any way. I mean, it did not affect me as a reader, neither did it affect the story line or flow in any major way.
Mandhagini's death was a result of her love for the King. And from the time she saw the assassin in the ragasiya nilavaRai, it is easy to deduce that she will give her life to save the king. It was an emotional death, but certainly not a disturbing one, considering that the king too recognised her love by holding her on his lap in her dying moments. This death proves that pure love is always rewarded, and pure love is worth giving one's life for. These are certainly not disturbing thoughts, are they??
The two other deaths of Pazhuvettaraiyar and Manimegalai are the most tragic. And most disturbing for me because they are closely linked to my favourite character Vandhiyathevan. What Manimegalai had for VT is the purest of all love, at times even better than what Kundavai showed for VT. Because VT has already lost his heart to Kundavai, he couldn't reciprocate to Manimekalai. Pazhuvettaraiyar, on the other hand, though he killed himself for failing in his duty and committing serious mistakes, he gave his life also to clear VT from the charge of killing Karikalan. If he hadn't owned up responsibility for Karikalan's death, then VT would not have been able to lead a peaceful life. So that justifies Pazhuvettaraiyar's death to some extent.
But Manimekalai's death was most unfortunate and most tragic and unexpected for me. Further she did not get her love reciprocated (for no fault of nobody though.) And the fact that Kalki chose this death to end the story also makes it poignant. I was expecting the climax to be a scene in the aranmanai nandavanam describing a romantic conversation between Vandhiyathevan and Kundavai. Kalki was there in the middle of the romance but suddenly introduced Kandhamaaran's letter about Manimekalai, making me very miserable.
By these acounts, I would say Manimekalai's death was the most disturbing one.
That Was a very beutiful analysis I didnt find Pinagapanis Death that significant hence didnt include him in the original question...But manimegalai and periyapaluvetayar were unexpected..