The primary "Aadi festival" is known by several titles, including Aadi Perukku or Pathinettam Perukku, which celebrates the rising of rivers due to the monsoon on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Aadi.

 Ponniyin Selvan 

 Aadi Festival 

We welcome our readers to get into the boat of imagination and go sailing down the flood of 

source less, endless time. Let us travel a century for every second and quickly reach the times of 

a thousand and more years before the present. 

In the southern end of Thiru-Munaipadi, which lies in between the Thondai Kingdom and the 

Chozla Kingdom, about two leagues far to the west of Thillai Chittrambalam, (Chidambaram 

Town) there spreads an ocean-like reservoir. It is known as Veera Narayana Lake. It is about a 

league and a half long north to south and about half a league wide east to west. Time has twisted 

its name: for these days the reservoir is known as Veeraanatthu Lake. 

In the windy months of Aadi-Aavani (August), when new floods fill the reservoir to almost 

overflow, anyone who looks at the Veera Narayana lake will surely recall with pride and 

astonishment the splendid deeds of our ancestors in Tamil Nadu. Did those old timers do things 

merely for the welfare of themselves and the people of their own times? ... They fulfilled tasks 

that would benefit thousands of future generations in their sacred motherland. 

On the 18th day of the month of Aadi, in the early hours of the evening, a young warrior, 

mounted on a horse, was riding down the banks of this ocean-like Veera Narayana Lake. He 

belonged to the Vaanar clan which is famous in the history of the gallant Tamils. 

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan was his name. Having travelled a long distance and being worn and 

weary, his horse was walking along rather slowly. The young cavalier did not seem concerned 

about this. The sprawling reservoir had so enchanted his heart! 

It was common for rivers of the Chozla Kingdom to run with flood waters touching both banks 

during the Aadi month festival of Padhinettam Perukku. The lakes fed by these rivers would also 

be filled to capacity, with waves jostling and colliding upon their embankments. Waters from the 

river called North Cauvery by the devout, but commonly known as Kollidam, rushed into the 

Veera Narayana Lake, through the Vadavaaru stream and made it a turbulent sea. 

Seventy-four floodgates on the lake distributed the bounty via aqueducts to distant tracts of the 

country side. With these irrigation waters from the lake, activities such as ploughing, sowing and 

seed transplanting were being carried out as far as the eye could see. 

Here and there, the song of farmers who were ploughing and women who were transplanting 

created a pleasant and joyous music. Listening to all this, Vandiya Devan was riding quite 

slowly, without prodding his tired horse. As soon as he had climbed the embankment, he had 

started counting the floodgates with the intention of finding out if popular claims, which declared 

the lake to have seventy-four floodgates, were true! After having come about one and a half 

leagues along the bank, he had counted seventy gates. 

Aha! How huge is this lake? How wide and how long? Can we not say that the tanks built by the 

great Pallava monarchs in the Thondai Kingdom are mere ponds and pools compared with this immense reservoir? Did not Prince Raja-aditya son of King Paranthaka who conquered Madurai,

think of building this great tank to conserve the waters of the North Cauvery which were going

wastefully into the sea? And did he not execute his thinking into action? How great a genius he

must have been! Who can we compare to his brave nobility! During the battle at Thakkolam, did

he not, riding an elephant go to the forefront and single handed, enter combat? And in the course

of that confrontation did he not receive enemy spears on his chest and give up his very life? And

because of it did he not get the title ‘Deva who reposed atop the elephant’ as he departed for the

heavens meant for the brave? These kings of the Chozla Dynasty are remarkable! They were just

as just as they were brave! And as in justice they excelled in the veneration of their Gods.

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan's shoulders swelled with pride when he thought of his good fortune

in having received the friendship of a Chozla prince of such a dynasty. Just like the waves that

dashed against the banks of the lake because of the swift western breeze, his heart too bubbled

with gratification and pride. Thinking all such thoughts Vandiya Devan reached the southern end

of Veera Narayana Lake.

There he could view the panorama of the Vadavaaru stream separating from the North Cauvery

and falling into the lake. For a short distance inside the embankment, the lake shore was silted

forming a sandy beach. A number of casuarina trees and wood-apple trees had been planted on

the beach so that rising flood waters would not destroy the embankment. Naanal reeds had grown

thickly along the water's edge. From a distance, the scenic view of the rushing waters from the

tree lined North River merging into the lake in the south-west, seemed like a colorful, newly

created painting.

Vandiya Devan saw a few other things that increased the pleasing joyousness of this enchanting

scene. Was it not the day of the Aadi Festival? Crowds of people from nearby villages, dragging

their carts covered with canopies of sandal-colored, supple coconut-leaves, were coming. Men,

women, children and even several elderly folks all wearing new clothes and vividly dressed in

various ways had come. Bunches of fragrant flowers, such as thaazlai, the hearts of screw-pine

cactus, chrysanthemum, jasmine, gardenia, champaka and iruvatchi decorated the braids of

women.

Several had come with families bringing stewed rice and fancy picnic foods. Some stood by the

water's edge and ate their picnic rice-dishes from platters of areca palm leaves. Others, more

brave, had ventured further into the water to cross over to the bank of the Vadavaaru.

Some children threw the platters from which they had eaten into the floodgates and clapped their

hands with laughter to see the petals float through the gates to be rushed onto the canals. Some

mischievous young men plucked the flowers off the heads of their loved ones and threw them

into the water, merely to see them being cast upon the shore.

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan stood there watching all this for a while. He listened with an eager

ear when some of the girls with pleasant voices sang. They sang traditional boat-songs and flood￾songs as well as folk songs like Kummi and Sindhu.

 Come, oh ye young maidens,

 Look at the North river bubbling by! 

 Come watch, oh ye friends,

 Look at the White river rushing by!

 Come, oh come all ye girls,

 To look at the Cauvery tumbling by!

Such flood-songs pleasingly flooded the ears of Vandiya Devan. Others sang ballads about the

bravery and fame of Chozla kings. Some girls sang of Vijayala Chozla who had fought in thirty￾two battles and had worn his ninety-six body wounds like ornaments. Others sang acclaiming the

bravery of his son, Aditya Chozla, and how he constructed sixty-four Shiva temples all along the

Cauvery - from where it rose till it mingled into the sea. One girl sang the fame of King Aditya's

son, Paranthaka Chozla, who had not only conquered the Pandiya, Pallava and Chera kings but

had also sent an army to Lanka to raise his victory flag. When each girl sang, several people

stood around her listening with rapt attention. They applauded with loud shouts of "ah, ah" and

expressed their happiness!

An elderly woman noticed Vandiya Devan who was sitting on his horse and listening to all this.

"Thambi! You seem to have come from a long distance; you are tired! Come down from your

horse to eat this stewed rice," she said.

(Note: Thambi -- younger brother, mode of address for young men.)

Immediately several young girls noticed our youthful traveler. They whispered amongst

themselves about his appearance and laughed merrily. Vandiya Devan was overcome by a certain

mortification on one side and delight on the other. For a moment he considered dismounting and

eating the food offered by the old woman. If he did so, the young girls would surely gather

around to tease and laugh.

So what? Is it easy to behold so many beautiful maidens in one place? Even their laughter and

teasing would be heavenly music. In Vandiya Devan's eyes all those girls on the lake shore

appeared like the heavenly nymphs Ramba and Menaka!

At the same time, he noticed something towards the south-west along the flow of River

Vadavaaru and hesitated. About seven or eight large boats with white, spreading sails filled with

the breeze were coming swiftly like white swans floating with wide-spread wings.

All the people engaged in various merriments turned to avidly look in the direction from which

the boats were coming. One of the boats came forward more swiftly and reached the lake shore

where the embankment turned west. Several well-built footmen carrying sharp and shiny spears

were in that boat. Some of them jumped on to the lake shore and started shoving the people with

shouts of "Go! Move!" Before being pushed around too much, the people picked up their

containers and belongings and quickly started climbing upon the bank. Vandiya Devan could not

understand any of this. Who were these men? Who were coming in the sailboats behind them?

Where were they coming from? Perhaps they belonged to the royal household?

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan approached an elderly man leaning upon his cane by the bank. "Sir,

whose men are these? And whose boats are those coming behind like a school of swans? Why are these footmen chasing away the people? And why are the people hurrying away?" came his

questions, one upon the other.

"Thambi! Do you not know? There is a flag flying in the middle of those sailboats. See what is

embossed on it!" said the elder.

"Seems like a palm tree."

"It is a palm tree! Don't you know that the palmtree-flag belongs to the Lord of Pazluvoor?"

"Is it the great warrior, Lord Pazluvoor, who is coming?" asked Vandiya Devan in a startled

voice.

"It must be so. Who else could raise the palmtree-flag and come?" said the elderly man.

Vandiya Devan's eyes opened wide with immeasurable surprise as he looked towards the boats.

Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan had heard much about Lord Pazluvoor. But who would not have

heard about them? The names of the brothers - The Elder Lord Pazluvoor and The Younger Lord

Pazluvoor -- were renowned from Lanka in the south to the Kalinga Kingdom in the north.

Pazluvoor, situated on the northern banks of the Cauvery near the city of Uraiyoor was their

capital. Even from the times of Vijayala Chozla, the Pazluvoor Family had won heroic fame.

They had a lot of give and take with the royal family of the Chozlas. Because of this and also

because of their nobility, bravery and fame the Pazluvoor clan had all the distinguishing

characters of a royal family. They also had the right to carry their own pennant.

The elder of the present Lords of Pazluvoor had fought in twenty-four campaigns. During his

times he had won acclaim as having no equal in war in the Chozla Kingdom. Since he had now

crossed the age of fifty, he no longer entered the battlefield directly. Nevertheless, he now held

several eminent positions in the government of the Chozlas. In the Chozla Empire, he was the

head of finance; head of food supply. He had the authority to levy taxes according to political

needs. He had the right to call upon any princeling, nobleman or squire and order them thus:

"This year you shall pay this much tribute" and the powers to implement such orders. Therefore,

next to Emperor Sundara Chozla he was the most powerful man in the Chozla Kingdom.

Vandiya Devan's heart brimmed with an eagerness to meet this powerful, illustrious, and noble

Lord of Pazluvoor. At the same time, he recalled the words uttered in privacy by Prince Aditya

Karikala, at the new Golden Palace in Kanchi City.

"Vandiya Deva, I know you to be a brave man. At the same time, I trust you to be intelligent and

give you this immense responsibility. Of the two letters I have given you, deliver one to my

father the Emperor and the other to my sister the Younger Pirati. (Pirati is the term used to refer

to princesses of the ruling house.) I hear all sorts of rumors about even the senior officials of the

kingdom in Tanjavur. Therefore, the contents of my letters should not become known to anyone.

Even the most eminent persons should not realize that you are carrying letters from me. Do not

get into quarrels with anyone on the way. You should not merely avoid conflicts of your seeking;

but also, not be involved in disputes thrust upon you. I very well know about your courage. You

have proved it several times. Therefore, there shall be no loss of valor in escaping from duels forced upon you. Most important, you should be particularly careful about the Lords of Pazluvoor

and also my Young Uncle Madurandaka. I do not wish them to know even who you are! They

should definitely not know why you are going!"

The Crown Prince of the Chozla Empire and the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Armies,

Prince Aditya Karikala had told him all this. The Prince had repeatedly advised Vandiya Devan

about how he should behave. Since he recalled all this, Vandiya Devan suppressed his desire to

meet Lord Pazluvoor. He whipped his horse to move on quickly. In spite of the prodding, his

tired horse merely plodded ahead. Having decided to spend the night at the Kadamboor fortress

of the noble Sambuvaraya, he resolved to procure a better horse before resuming his journey the

next morning .