Yavana Rani

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name = Yavana Rani
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author = Sandilyan
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country = India
language = Tamil
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genre = Historical novel
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"Yavana Rani" (Greek Queen. Yavana means Greek) is a Tamil language historical novel written by Sandilyan. The story is based on ancient Tamil poetry. It is a love story set around 2000 years ago, focusing on the Commander-in-chief of the Chola Army.

Plot summary

The story starts in Poompuhar, a port city. Ilanchezhiyan is the commander in chief of the eastern regiment of Cholas. The army includes both Yavana(Greeks)s and Tamils. When walking across the beach sands of Poompuhar, Ilanchezhiyan finds a beautiful Yavana woman gasping for breath on the bank of the Kaveri River. He rescues the Yavana woman by taking her to his palace. Ilanchezhiyan gets assistance from Hippalaas, the chief of the Yavanas, in rescuing the woman. Hippalaas is scared to go near the woman, and instead salutes her. Ilanchezhiyan learns from Hippalaas that the woman is of royal origin after seeing the royal emblem of a swan on her golden bracelet. Meanwhile, the Yavana chief of the fort hears of the queen's presence in Poompuhar. He sets out to capture Ilanchezhiyan and Hippalaas for taking the queen.

Ilanchezhiyan escapes the Yavana soldiers, using the queen as a hostage. With his sword on her back, he rides away into the thick forest on his white Arabic horse. Tiberius, a great naval commander of the time, joins the chase. The queen falls in love with Ilanchezhiyan and helps him escape Tiberius.

Illanchezhiyan flees with the queen and Hippalaas. Brahmananda, a monk and politician, helps them escape through a secret tunnel. The tunnel leads them into a temple. They disguise themselves as monks performing bhajans, and emerge from the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

Ilanchezhiyan learns from Brahmananda of the murder of Ilanchetchenni, the emperor of the Chola kingdom, by his enemies. He agrees to spy for Brahmananda in Uraiyur, the capital of the ancient Cholas. During the mission, Ilanchezhiyan is captured by the assassin and imprisoned in a cave. He escapes to see a palace burning on the other side of Amaravathi river. A beautiful youth in his teens is being chased by 7 soldiers with swords in their hands. Ilanchezhiyan rescues the youth from the would-be assassins.

Ilanchezhiyan helps the youth to a palace, where his lover, Poovazhagi, was imprisoned. It is revealed that the youth is the prince of the Chola kingdom. With the help of Ilanchezhiyan the prince escapes into thick forest.

Ilanchezhiyan and the Yavana queen run in the opposite direction, straight into Tiberius. Tiberius poisons Illanchezhiyan and crowns the Yavana queen as the Queen of Poompuhar on the day of Venus festival. The queen knows the ancient Venus festival occurs on the date of Indrathiruvizha of Poompuhar.

Ilanchezhiyan finds himself in a ship and learns that he was drugged. He is now being taken to Greece, where he will be thrown to the lions. Hippalaas rescues him from the ship by throwing him into sea. They survive a shark attack, and a powerful wave takes them to shore.

When Ilanchezhiyan opens his eyes, he finds himself being sold as a slave along with Hippalaas. Ilanchezhiyan and Hippalaas return to sea as slaves to be sold in Greece. The slave ship is then attacked and captured by pirates of Erythraean sea. The pirate captain is persuaded by Illanchezhiyan to invade Ghana (present day Yemen or Oman). The pirates are taken as prisoners by Iliasu, the King of Ghana.

Ilanchezhiyan is forced to become a disciple of the head priest by the King. He lures the priest on board the slave ship for a religious debate. With the help of Alima,the adopted daughter of Iliyasu a lady commander, and his slave friends, he voyages back to Tamil Nadu.

The political situation becomes tense when Illanchezhiyan arrives back in Tamil Nadu. Tiberius builds a fortress impregnable to anyone from sea or land. The fort has two mechanical towers which can throw spears for several miles.

Illanchezhiyan is in the dense forest of Guna Nadu, when he sees a huge army disguised as farmers. The army in disguise destroys tanks, ponds, farmlands and buildings under the orders of Illanchezhiyan. This forces the assassin of the emperor to wage war with them.

The assassin is defeated. Illanchezhiyan and the army enter the fortress of Poompuhar on the day of the Venus festival, and capture the signposts and mechanical towers. The key to the mechanical towers is given to Illanchezhiyan by the queen. Tiberius, his dreams of a Greek empire in Tamil Nadu shattered, stabs her. A commander kills Tiberius in a mortal combat.

Illanchezhiyan cries for his beloved dead queen.