Thyaga Vidanga Karaiyar

Thyaga Vidanga Karaiyar is the lighthouse-keeper at Kodikkarai and the father of Poonguzhali. Though he appears only through his words and other characters’ recollections, his caution about political intrigue and his testimony concerning Mandhakini help shape both his daughter’s fears and the history behind a consequential false report of death.

Identity and Family

Thyaga is identified as the lighthouse-keeper and as Poonguzhali’s father. When she calls him her father, she describes herself as his beloved daughter. Aniruddhar’s surprise at learning this suggests that he had not known the family connection, despite his earlier dealings with Thyaga at Kodikkarai. The passage also identifies Mandhakini as Poonguzhali’s aunt, though it does not specify the precise relationship between Mandhakini and Thyaga.

Counsel Amid Conspiracy

Thyaga warns Poonguzhali that unfamiliar men have been coming and going, and that the kingdom is full of conspiracies. He urges restraint and reminds her that their family owes its loyalty to the Chozha royals. His words are not merely a general expression of caution: Poonguzhali connects them to her sister-in-law’s mysterious movements and begins to fear that the strangers may be searching for Arulmozhi Varman’s hiding place. She worries that her own carelessness might expose him. Thyaga’s warning therefore reaches beyond the household, making family loyalty a source of vigilance in a kingdom where private movements may intersect with political plots.

Mandhakini’s Apparent Death

Aniruddhar later recalls that, twenty-five years earlier, he went to Kodikkarai at the emperor’s command to find the karaiyar woman. There, he says, Thyaga recounted that Mandhakini had plunged from the top of the lighthouse into the raging sea. Aniruddhar remembers Thyaga as visibly shaken and struggling to speak as he told the story. The report seemed to establish her death, but Aniruddhar’s confession reveals that she survived: a fisherman rescued her, and Aniruddhar himself arranged for her to be taken to Ilankai before falsely informing the emperor that she had died. The evidence presents Thyaga as the distressed source of the account, not as a participant in Aniruddhar’s deception; his testimony nevertheless helped make Mandhakini’s presumed death part of the accepted history.