The great Tamil literary epics Sivagamiyin Sabatham, Parthiban Kanavu, and Ponniyin Selvan stand as monumental works that weave intricate webs of power, betrayal, love, and destiny. Set against the backdrop of ancient Tamil kingdoms, they bring to life a vast array of characters — kings and spies, warriors and poets — each entangled in conspiracies that often lead to their downfall or tragic fulfilment. These stories, with their grand historical scope and moral complexity, have long captivated generations of readers drawn to their depth and drama.

Yet, their dense narrative layers, historical detail, and philosophical undercurrents have also made them less accessible to children and young readers, who might find their weighty prose and intricate plots daunting.

A year ago, singer Suchitra Ramadurai took on the ambitious task of reimagining these three vast novels — each blending history and imagination — into a form that welcomes younger readers. The result is a retelling that introduces the timeless heroes, political intrigue, and cultural richness of Tamil history to a new generation, allowing them to engage with these classics.

As a child, the stories were told to Suchitra by her grandmother from memory. A few years ago, she says she realised that many children were drawn to the two-part film Ponniyin Selvan and that they reacted the same way she had as a child when those stories were told to her. Since the legacy is also carried by two more books, she decided to write all three books for children and young adults.

Suchitra says, “The writing by Kalki is very lyrical and ballad-like, and I first decided to opt for modern storytelling. The next question I asked myself was ‘What approach do I want to take?’” For condensing the story, she explains, “I decided to first lop off all the embellishments. I retained the story’s plot points in all three books and retained all the important characters. Though in Ponniyin Selvan, one big sacrifice I had to make was Vanathi. She is a very important character in the original text, but in my book, her presence is limited to being Kundhavai’s friend. I had to make the sacrifice because I wanted it to be an adventurous account, a very Pirates of the Caribbean-like storytelling, and Vanathi’s parts didn’t add up.”

While she wrote Ponniyin Selvan as a story that unfolds around Vandiyadevan and Sivagamiyin Sabatham around Paranjothi, she had to retain a voice-of-god narration for Parthiban Kanavu since she didn’t see any scope for a narrator.

Despite the omissions, she strongly believes that the books preserve the essence of the epic. She, however, justifies the absence of illustrations as a deliberate choice — to leave everything to the readers’ imagination. This, she explains, is especially fitting for the first book, since in most readers’ minds, the characters already take the form of the actors who portrayed them so convincingly in the 2022 film.

Published by Burnt Crumb Books, all the three books are available to read, free of cost, for Kindle Unlimited users. E-books are available for download worldwide, and the paperbacks are priced at Rs 887 each.