Arulmozhi Varman’s presumed drowning

Arulmozhi Varman’s presumed drowning is a false belief with real consequences: his supposed death inflames political suspicion, while his father’s conviction that he is lost drives Kundhavai Devi to disclose that he is alive and sheltered at Choodamani Viharam. The gap between public rumour, Sundara Chozhar’s fearful interpretation, and the concealed truth makes the prince’s disappearance a crisis of both succession and trust.

The Disappearance Amid the Storm

The belief that Arulmozhi Varman drowned takes hold in the wake of a violent storm and a sea disaster. That year, the monsoon had been delayed; rivers were running low and newly planted fields were wilting. Then storm clouds gathered abruptly, and a drizzle grew into a destructive downpour. The storm’s immediate effects included the destruction of a great banyan tree, which trapped two horses and several men beneath its broken branches. The damage on land underscored how little was known about the storm’s effects along the coast.

At Aniruddhar’s audience with Kundhavai Devi, the scale of the coastal disaster remains unconfirmed. He reports that the sea may have surged inland and submerged towns between Kodikkarai and Nagapattinam, while cautioning that the account is still rumour and that reliable messages have not yet arrived. In this unsettled aftermath, Arulmozhi Varman’s disappearance at sea is readily treated as a death, even though the information available to the court is incomplete.

Rumour and Political Consequences

The presumed drowning becomes more than a question of the prince’s safety. Aniruddhar warns that people already believe Sundara Chozhar is imprisoned in his own castle and are furious with Madhuranthakan and the Pazhuvettarayar lords. They know ships have been sent to arrest Arulmozhi Varman, and many conclude that the lords arranged for him to be drowned. This is a popular accusation, not an established account of what happened, but it is potent enough to threaten rebellion.

The rumour lands in a kingdom already close to armed conflict. The Pazhuvettarayar faction is preparing to unleash its forces, while Kodumbalur Periya Velaan is marching toward Thanjavur with a large army. Aniruddhar fears that if the people learn Arulmozhi Varman is in the country, their anger could boil over into an uprising to crown him. His survival therefore cannot be disclosed without political risk: the same news that would correct a false report of death could intensify the succession crisis.

A Father’s Fear

Sundara Chozhar does not receive the news of his son’s disappearance as a matter of uncertain fate. His mental state worsens after the storm, and he remains awake, distressed by the suffering of people exposed to the cyclone. Kundhavai Devi explains that he has become convinced that the spirit of a woman he believes died by suicide is haunting him and taking revenge on his family. In his fearful account, she has drowned Arulmozhi Varman and will not stop until she has also taken Karikalan.

The king’s belief gives the presumed drowning a private, supernatural explanation, but the evidence recounted to Aniruddhar does not establish that explanation as true. Kundhavai Devi remembers that Vanathi once saw a figure resembling Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani near the king’s bed. She also recalls what Vallavarayan Vandhiyathevan and Arulmozhi Varman had told her, and begins to suspect a connection between the young queen and the mute woman Sundara Chozhar remembers. The account leaves the relationship as a question at this point; it does, however, show how the king’s fear of a ghost shapes his understanding of his son’s supposed death.

The Concealed Truth

Kundhavai Devi tells Aniruddhar that Sundara Chozhar’s condition became so alarming that she had to disclose Arulmozhi Varman’s safe residence. Her father had insisted on bringing his sons to him, believing that the kingdom itself was endangering them. She revealed that Arulmozhi Varman was alive at the Buddhist viharam in Nagapattinam, where he was recovering and could not yet travel. The disclosure briefly answers the immediate question of whether the prince survived, but does not resolve the king’s distress: Sundara Chozhar initially refuses to believe the news and accepts it only after Kundhavai Devi says Aniruddhar has met his son.

The account also supplies a clue to Arulmozhi Varman’s earlier survival. Aniruddhar recalls learning that Mandhakini had given birth to twins in Sembian Maadevi’s garden and had sometimes returned secretly to see them. He had suspected that she, rather than the river goddess, saved the young Arulmozhi Varman when he fell into the Kaveri. Kundhavai Devi says Arulmozhi Varman confirmed that suspicion after meeting Mandhakini in Ilankai. This history does not explain the later sea disappearance in full, but it establishes a pattern in which the prince’s survival depends on information and acts of rescue hidden from the court.

Significance

The presumed drowning exposes how uncertain knowledge can become a force in its own right. The public interprets the disappearance as a political killing; Sundara Chozhar interprets it as supernatural vengeance; Kundhavai Devi knows that Arulmozhi Varman is alive but must weigh that truth against the danger of revealing his location. Each account produces different consequences, from popular anger to a father’s panic to the careful concealment of a recovering prince.

The false report also sharpens the conflict between family protection and the stability of the kingdom. Keeping Arulmozhi Varman’s presence secret may restrain an immediate rush to crown him, while continuing to treat him as dead leaves the accusation against the Pazhuvettarayar lords unchecked. His survival therefore does not end the crisis: it makes the truth itself politically hazardous.