This unique kutcheri will witness discourse instead of music

Come December, every year, thousands of rasikas, practitioners, scholars and other curious onlookers from all over the world visit Chennai to experience the annual music and dance season. Most of the sabhas are packed with dance and music performances. To add to the flavour of Margazhi season, Tamil Heritage Trust (THT) has created a parallel ‘concert’ experience called Pechu Kacheri. It's a two-day talk session that will focus on the history and heritage of Pandya dynasty. THT is an organisation that works towards creating awareness and appreciation of Indian heritage, art and history.

“The Pandyan kingdom was one of the three ancient Tamil kingdoms (Chola and Chera being the other two) that ruled the Tamil country from pre-historic times until the end of the 15th century. Pandyas were the longest reigning dynasty and have outlasted Pallavas and Cholas by many centuries,” says Ravishankar Thyagarajan, one of the members of THT.

Talking to us about the reason for selecting Pandyas as a topic of discussion, he says, ‘‘Sangam literature and Pandyas are always spoken of together. The influence of Sangam literature is evident even in modern literary works and thought process in Tamil. However, there is a strong feeling among the learned and laymen alike that Pandyas are not being spoken of today in the same breath as Cholas and Pallavas. That was the reason for us to focus on Pandya kingdom for this year's discussion.’’

If you see the history texts, scholars have given more attention to Pallavas and Cholas but not to Pandyas. The event to be held on December 14 and 15 at Tamil Virtual Academy, Kotturpuram, will be covering topics ranging from political history to the inscriptions and the literature of the Pandya period.

‘‘Dr G Sankaranarayanan, a polymath with expertise in history and epigraphy, will be talking about the Pandya dynasty's contribution to the development of Tamil language and literature. He will be combining diverse interpretations and clarifies historical confusions that we have over medieval Pandyas. Another speaker, Pradeep Chakravarthy will be sharing his insights into topics including irrigation, water management, dispute resolution, taxation, politics, and economics during that period. All these discussions will be supported by inscriptions of other dynasties,’’remarks Ravishankar.