Dear nanda the question was very specific Chola perasaipattriyum ezhudungal ...The empire was the later cholas and his response was we can only like fiction like PS
the question by Iraianbu IAS was something like why cant you write a tamil book on tamil like the muslim history book of yours "vanthaarkal vendraarkal"
translated to the best of ability.
Julius ceasar killed in 44 bc has commissoned/ written 7 volumes with details on his wars. plutarch has written a great book on the personal details of warriors of rome and greece- 3 volumes. babar has written about the hot climate of india and even mangoes. jahangir has a daily diary on what he even ate for breakfast
but.. only stone edicts and poems remain about tamil kings.This was as a result of the wine and gold the kings showered on the poets. the result was an excessive imagination and huge volumes of poetry praising the tamil kings. "karikalan had no countries to conquer so he went to the himalayas. because there were gods on the hills he laft after just carving a tiger on the hill sides" is an ancient poem. also the legend of karikalan and the legend of his burnt leg has no other evidence than poetry.this is all because poetry appeared much ahead of prose in tamil nadu.
with conditions like these with what evidences can we write tamil history? madan
Dear Venkat had he stopped there it wouldnnt be much of a problem but he went on to add 'We can only write fiction like PS' that is with reference to later cholas where there is abundance of material
Hi Sri madan perhaps added it like a punch dialougue and he was wrong. he shouldnt have genaralised. there is abundant materiel on the later cholas and pandyas. in some time periods there is a flood, though the last ten years or so of the later pandyas just vanishes. people delving into the last madurai pandyas as we can call them refer to wassaf and khusro who are delhi historians of that period.
Madan is a readable writer and has the western fixation 'on validity of history'; if anything is in a book form collated and referenced, it must be accurate. He has no faith in other sources. He does not know the current dictum 'availability of evidence can be used to prove events, but absence of evidence cannot be used to prove non-existence'. Let us hope, he gets what he wants to convince himself.
You youngsters are doing a wonderful job with enthusiasm and devotion. In these days of biased historians and archaeologists, enthusiasts like you are more likely to stumble on truth.
Please don't waste time and energy on Madan. The loss is his, not ours.