Karikalan’s estrangement from Sundara Chozhar

Karikalan’s estrangement from Sundara Chozhar is a prolonged absence that has wounded the ailing king and reached beyond the father-son bond. In a confrontation with Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani, the absence is named, its cause is admitted, and the possibility of Karikalan’s return is set against his declared rejection of the crown.

A Prolonged Absence

Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani tells Karikalan that he has not visited Thanjai in three years or sought an audience with his ailing father. The estrangement is therefore concrete as well as emotional: he has remained away from the city and from the king at a time when the king is unwell. She describes the absence as a source of pain to Sundara Chozhar, making clear that Karikalan’s withdrawal is felt within the family, not only as a matter of court or succession.

The hurt, she says, is not confined to his father. She includes Kundhavai Devi and Arulmozhi Varman among those affected, while emphasizing that Sundara Chozhar suffers most from his son’s abandonment. Her account presents the distance as a family rupture whose consequences extend across the siblings, even as the father bears its deepest cost.

Responsibility and Blame

Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani also explains that someone has told Sundara Chozhar her presence is the reason Karikalan stays away. The report has shaped the king’s response: he refuses to pursue an acquaintance with her as well. She appeals to Karikalan not to let this allegation add to what she has already suffered on his account.

Karikalan does not simply dismiss the charge. He concedes that it may have merit and identifies her as the reason he has not set foot in Thanjai. The exchange thus gives the estrangement a personal cause while showing its wider effect: his absence has helped turn the king’s distance from Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani into another grievance between them. The conversation establishes the connection, but does not resolve the underlying separation between father and son.

The Crown as an Alternative

Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani proposes leaving the city so that Karikalan can enter with ceremony, ascend his father’s throne, and wear the crown. Her offer makes return sound like a transfer of place and power: she will remove herself, and he may take his position in the kingdom. Karikalan refuses that prospect as a goal. He says that the day will never come because he has no inclination toward either throne or crown, and he accepts the possibility of Madhuranthaka Thevar’s accession with goodwill.

This response marks the limit of what the confrontation can settle. Karikalan recognizes his part in the absence and speaks plainly about its cause, but he does not promise to return to Thanjai or seek his father’s audience. Instead, he separates his estrangement from any ambition to rule: the crown that Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani offers as the imagined outcome of his return is one he says he no longer wants.