Chasing a forgotten glory

Raghavan Srinivasan's book attempts to reconstruct brick by brick the grandeur of the Chola empire.

While author Raghavan Srinivasan’s tryst with words dates back to a long time ago, the stimulus behind his debut offering Rajaraja Chola: Interplay Between an Imperial Regime and Productive Forces of Society was the fact that the Chola reign is so sparsely covered in our history books. Excerpts from an interview

What prompted you to write this book?

Many novels and books have been written on Rajaraja, or Arulmozhivarman, as he was called before his ascension to the Chola throne. A popular film on Rajaraja Chola with thespian actor Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role was released in 1973 and received critical acclaim. It has been reported that director Mani Ratnam has completed the shooting for PS-1 which is based on Kalki’s magnum opus. Yet they are not enough, considering the colossal changes that took place in Thamizhagam during the 25 years of his reign from 985 CE and beyond. This prompted me to research this era.

If you were to sum up the essence of the book?

It is a scholarly work on how the glory of the Chola empire was crafted brick by brick by the ruler as well as the ruled.

Does the commercial success of a book matter to you, especially since you have penned an unusually themed one?

Yes, I was perturbed. Having decided to write a well-researched, historical non-fiction I was resigned to the fact that it would not be selling like parathas! Surprisingly, the initial reception to the book has been very encouraging. I have been told that the shelf life of such books is longer than regular fiction. I have taken comfort in this assurance! But I would say that commercial success is not a familiar term for most Indian authors.

What inspires you to write?

My passion for history is what inspires me to write, I suppose. I like to transport readers to a particular historical period and geography and make them
experience the life, economy and politics of that period, as they would in a well-conceptualised movie.

What next on the anvil?

Right now, I am trying to finish the manuscript of what I call a ‘historical-bio-fiction’ located in 20th century Madras and the turbulent politics of the period.

I also have plans to work on a book on the Bhakti movement in the south, as a prequel to Rajaraja Chola.