Chapter I –
Journey begins
Varman and Aagalya both working in Software Company got
married before 6 years. Both native of Kanchipuram met in Vaikunta perumal
temple, Kanchipuram. Varman met Aagalya behind one of the Pillars in
1000-pillared hall of that Temple. Their love grew in that Temple. After some
years of struggle they got married and settled in Chennai. Now they have kid
named Nandu.
It was a very smooth life for Varman. Though Varman was happy
with his life he always wanted to achieve something big in his life. 7 years of
routine software work frustrated him.
During a Diwali vacation Varman with his family went to Kanchipuram to
celebrate with his parents. Varman father Mahendran lives in Kanchipuram for
more than 55 years now.
During the vacation Aagalya wanted to show Varman’s
childhood photos to Nandu and forced Varman to claim the store room slab. Varman
passed the photo album box to Aagalya and noticed an odd box next to it. When
he opened it he saw a very old diary with title 1952 and few torn palm scripts
(Olai chuvadi) in it.
Varman started reading it. It was about his grandfather Narasiman.
From the diary Varman learnt that his grandfather spent his life time trying to
find the art of making Gold. Varman
understood that his grandfather found all the ingredients of Gold except the
rare glittering leaf (Pon ilia) which can be found in Poocaud Hills near
Yeacaud and left in search of that. Varman was very much surprised reading the
diary. He knew from his father that his grandfather was lost in a forest and he
never came back.
Varman got very much motivated reading his grandfather
diary. He felt may be this is what he wanted to achieve in his life. He wanted
to do something which no one has ever done and now he has got a chance which
his grandfather already tried and failed. Varman went back to Chennai along
with the box. After few days of thought process, Varman lied and convinced Aagalya
for 4 days Trekking Trip to Yercaud with his office mates in his car.
Chapter II –
Poocaud forest
Varman reaches Poocaud alone on a Saturday afternoon, 6
hours’ drive from Chennai via Kanchipuram. Varman has no plans, even not sure
what to do next. He parked his car on a dead end road which takes you to
Poocaud Hill top and decided to trek along with his Bag which had food, water
and cloths. Decides to come back to his Car for his night sleep.
Poocaud is a very dense forest with no inhabitants. Varman
walks the entire afternoon not knowing what to search. When Sun about to set he
decides to go back. As he walks, realizes he lost his way. Forced to stay there
he decided to sleep beneath a tree. When he woke up he saw leeches in his legs
and shouted for help.
On hearing the sound a lady came towards him. When she saw
him she stood like a statue. When he shouted for help she came back to her
world. Took a liquid bottle which she had with her, poured some on his legs.
Immediately leeches fell from his legs. Varman saw her thankfully. She applies
these liquid on her when she comes to grab fruits near specific trees where
leeches will be more. She understood Varman needed some food and rest. Took him
to her Place where there were few huts surrounded by big trees such that
outside people can’t see them.
On the way Varman asked so many questions. She gave just a
smile as reply. When they reached her hut she offered him some fruits. Once he
finished she opened a small box, took a dairy with one photo on its cover which
resembled Varman. She gave the diary and said ‘I am your Aunty’. Varman got
shock of his life. She looks very young (may be because she only eats fruits
and inhales pure oxygen from the forest).
Chapter III
- Diary
She asked Varman to read the diary for all his questions. He
started reading the diary. His grandfather continued from where he left in his
previous diary. His grandfather came to Poocaud in 1952 in search of glittering
leaf (Pon ilia). When he was searching for the leaf day and night a strange
thing happened one day in the forest.
When he was searching he entered an area in forest where he
lost his mind. That area in forest is called Mathi mayanki vanam (place where
you lose your mind). It’s a place full of trees which gives you a strong smell,
making you feel like drugged heavily. When he entered the place, the smell made
him lose him mind though he is conscious. He felt like he had taken a high
dosage of drug. He walked with nothing in mind. Suddenly he was a Lingam below
a tree. He was just focusing on the shape of the lingam which made him to get in
to a sex feel. Next to lingam he saw a girl sitting with eyes closed. She also
lost her mind but seeing the lingam she started praying. As soon as he saw the girl he went close and had
sex with her. She never knew what was happening.
It happened when both were out of their mind and control.
The pleasure they got in the end made them come back to their mind. Only such an extreme pleasure which is
stronger than the pleasure of the tree’s smell can bring back your mind in such
a place. At the same moment a baby was formed. Since the baby was formed in Mathi
mayanki vanam (place where you lose your mind) it’s not a normal baby. It has remarkable
memory power. Now both came back to their mind and realized their position.
Both felt guilty. She explained him about this place and told it’s not their
mistake.
After some talk he accepted to live with her and started
walking out that place. Suddenly he saw something very strange. He saw
something in gold colour on one of the Tree leaf. Look like he found the Pon illai
(glittering leaf). He took some and went back to her hut and lived there. One
day he collected all the ingredients of Gold and decided to mix with the
glittering leaf. He made everything ready and went to an open place in the
forest and tried mixed the glittering leaf powder with other ingredients.
When he poured the powered, an enormous amount of light and
smell came out of it. He was too close and observed the full light and smell of
it which made him lose his eyes and fell unconscious. His wife came in search
of him and found him lying unconscious. When she woke him up she was shocked to
see he lost his eyes and also paralyzed with some gold around him.
She took him to her hut and treated him. He was in bed for
long. He came to know from her that there was some Gold near him where he was
lying. He was happy but couldn’t enjoy his achievement. He was in bed for long
and died in the same hut. He couldn’t note the way he made Gold in his diary
because he was paralyzed. But before dying he requested his wife to bury him
near the tree where he found the glittering leaf. She buried him in the same
place as per his request.
Chapter IV
– Gold
Varman’s aunty remembered all these from her childhood. Also told
him whatever she remembered about Varman’s grandfather and her mother. Varman
wanted to see the place where his grandfather buried. He thought he will get
something out of it. He went to the
place where his grandfather buried but couldn’t make out anything. Varman asked
his aunty why his grandfather was buried at this place. She told he wanted him
to be buried below this tree. Varman checked the tree leaf and surprised to see
gold shade inside it which was shining. He believed this should be the leaf
which his grandfather came in search of.
Varman decided to try the same experiment which his
grandfather tried. He also collected the ingredients of Gold as specified in
his grandfather diary and powered the glittering leaf from the tree. He knew
his grandfather lost his eyes when the leaf powder was mixing with other
ingredients. So he decides not to see the experiment. So he went to an open
place similar to the one which his grandfather tried. He set up everything and
went behind a tree from where he setup a pipe connecting the ingredients. From
behind the tree he passed the glittering leaf and turned back and closed his
eyes. A powerful light came during the process which he dint see but he fell
unconscious because of the smell it created. He heard someone shouting near him
before he fell unconscious.
After sometime Varman aunty came in search of him, found and
took him to hut for. Nothing happened to
him, he became very normal immediately. He rushed back to the same place and
was very happy to see the Gold. He felt he has achieved something big. Slowly
he remembered that he heard a noise when he was trying to make Gold. He went behind
a tree and found a guy lying. With the help of his aunty Varman took him to the
hut and treated him. But sadly he lost his eyes and was paralyzed
.
When he inquired he said his name was Manikandan and he came
to this forest in search of rare medicinal value leaf. Manikandan request Varman
to take him to his house which is 2 hours ride from the forest. Varman thanked
his aunty for all the help she did and requested her to come along with him.
But she is not ready to come and face the outside world. Varman took some
glittering leaf and his grandfather dairy along with him. He dropped Manikandan
in his house on that way to Chennai.
Chapter V –
The Temple
Varman was very happy with the way things went. He told
everything that happened to his wife. She couldn’t believe whatever he said.
Also she got scared listening all these. Asked him to concentrate on work. But Varman
felt he is on top of this world on what he found and decided to do something
out of it. For the next 2 weeks he went to office but with his full mind on
what to do next. Varman is a smart guy. He knows if he tells this to the
outside world he will be in news for couple of weeks after which everyone will
forget him. Also many people will be behind him to know the secret ingredients.
They may also threat him to kill. And mainly government will take over
everything he found from him. So he wanted to do something useful for the
people.
When he was thinking
about this he came across an article on the Gold Treasure found in Kerala Sree
Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Suddenly he got an idea. His remember his schoolmate
close friend Shankar talking about the secret room in Vaikunta perumal
temple, Kanchipuram. Shankar father is a famous priest in that temple and
Shankar knows in and out that temple. Also Varman likes the temple personally
because it’s where his love started. Varman
takes out his phone and calls Shankar and enquired about the secret room of the
Temple. Shankar tells him that it’s been closed for more than 40 years and only
his dad has gone there. Also tells him
it’s an empty room and of no use.
Varman goes to Kanchipuram on a weekend and meets Shankar
personally and request him to make him a duplicate key of the secret room.
Shankar hesitates first but somehow Varman convince him saying he is doing some
kind of research on Temples and needed a photo of a wall in temple which nobody
has ever seen. Also promises that neither his name nor anything about that
temple will come out. Shankar makes him a duplicate key.
On the same day, late night Varman goes to the temple and
enters the old secret room whose door just resembled like a wall with Tamil
writings on it. When entered it was full of dust and completely dark. He
switched on the torch on his mobile camera and fount it’s completely empty and
it’s the right place to keep the pure gold which he is going to make. The room
is surrounded by walls and there was no other way in or out. He saw some
writing on one side of the wall in Tamil but he couldn’t understand. They were
in different style. He took photos in his mobile.
He came back to Chennai and tried finding the meaning of the
words. He got one of the Tamil professors through his friend who could
translate these photos in to meaningful words. The Professor helped him convert
those and asked him from where he took these photos. He said he downloaded them
from internet but doesn’t know the source. According to the translated words it
says “The only way to open the pride of Pallava’s is to make a Key which is in
two states”.
Varman understood that there is a big Pallava’s secret room
somewhere inside that secret room which no one has ever tried opening it
because there is no key for it. After
couple of days he decides he will make some small portion of gold and keep it
in Temple secret room. Varman plan is to make small quantity of Gold every time
and keep it in secret room and after a while when room is full with gold, he
will spread a rumour about the treasure in the Temple. Decides to make Gold
with the leaf he brought. He sets up everything in his store room and make sure
he neither sees it nor smells it. Everything
goes well and small quantity of liquid gold is made. When he stored it in a cool temperature slowly
it turned in to a Gold bar.
On seeing this Varman got a thought. May be this is the key
to Pallava’s secret room as this metal changes to two states based on
temperature. He thinks he can give a try and goes back to the temple secret
room in Kanchipuram with the Gold he made. After spending few hours in the dark
room he managed to find a small hole in the floor at one end. He heats up the
gold he made and pours the liquid gold inside the hole. Nothing happens. When
he decides to leave, suddenly a stone on the floor moves slightly. He
understood that it took time for the liquid Gold to turn solid at that room
temperature and the solid would have touched some point inside which made the
stone to move.
Chapter VI
– Secret Pride of Pallavas
Varman pushed the stone to one end which showed him a passage
to another secret room. As soon as he pushed the stone the Gold key which he
created fell down to the secret room. When he went down he got the shock of his
life. There was a big hall just below the Temple which is almost equal to area
of the complete temple. The entire hall
is full of Gold, Diamonds, Ruby and other expensive stones. When he moved on he
saw many items used during war, unique weapons, elephant tusk etc...
He can’t believe whatever he saw there. He moved ahead with
his eyes and mouth open. He saw many palm scripts (Olai chuvadi) each
one telling different secrets. He tried reading couple of them. One of them
talks about how to prepare medicine for some rare disease. The other talked
about their spying technique used during wars.
Everything sounded very logical and interesting. When he turned around
he was shocked to see his name on one of the Gold statue. When he went close it
was a statue with name Pallava King Nandivarman II. He thought he might be the
king who built this Temple and secret room.
Entire hall was filled with painting which looked very fresh.
It looked like those were painted a day back.
He saw few paint cans before him. He understood those were some kind of
rare paints which doesn’t fade (azhiya varnam) for any number of years, by
reading a palm scripts. It also mentioned the ingredients used in the paint. He
thought whatever he found is the world’s most valuable treasure.
At the end of the hall he could see some sunlight falling
inside the hall and when he went near he could see a small Tree alive inside
that closed hall. That sunlight was designed to fall exactly on the tree. It
came from centre hole of Gold flag post (Kodi kambam) which is in the temple
above him. It was very well planned. Varman thought it should be some kind of
rare tree. He took a leaf out of it and got shocked. It was glowing. He was amazed to think that whatever
he thought was his biggest achievement was already found by Pallava’s some 1000
years back. In order to save this rare tree they have passed sunlight in to the
secret room.
There were many other interesting things in that secret room
which Pallavan’s found. But he couldn’t understand them or he felt he already
had too much and he is exhausted seeing these wonders. He left everything in
the secret room except a bundle of Palm scripts (oolachuvadi). He closed the
secret stone which created way to the pride of Pallava’s.
Chapter VII
– Still a Secret
Varman came back to Chennai and started reading all the Palm
scripts. Few of them talked about the tactics they used during wars. It also said
before each war most of the Pallavan kings they themselves goes to enemy place
by changing the looks(Maaru vesam)and spy the enemy’s army and power for
certain period of time and does strategy based on that. Many other interesting
facts about war were told in it.
After few Palm scripts, Varman came across few Siddha
medicines in them. Most of them he couldn’t understand but one of them talked
about a sexually transmitted disease and its cure. He understood it’s about
AIDS and its cure. Also solution for few more disease was given.
On reading each one of them Varman was amazed. Pallava‘s
solved the mystery for most of the disease and found lot many wonders like Azhiya
varnam(unfading paint), glittering leaf and many more. He couldn’t believe they
did all these before 1000 years but we are still not using it.
Now Varman has handful of solutions for many unsolvable
problems and many wonders which world wouldn’t have imagined. He decides to
give priority to each of them based on people needs. According to him the
Siddha medicines given in the Palm scripts for many disease like AIDS, Cancer,
Asthma etc. will be more useful to people than any other wonder he found.
He decides to reveals the palm scripts in front of the media
saying that his grandfather found all these long time ago and he found this
recently from his grandfather secret box when he went to Kanchipuram. After
planning everything well Varman calls a Press and informs that he found the
cure for AIDS and wants to have Press conference the next day for revealing it.
As soon as he told, this become a hot topic and become
headlines in many channels and the news spread the entire country, even outside
the country. More than expected Press people gathered waiting for Varman. But
he never turned up because he was already dead.
Chapter VIII
– The Mystery
When Varman started in his car along with Palm scripts toward
the place where Press people gathered he met with a major accident and died on
the same spot. Police did Post-mortem to find if it’s a murder, but nothing was
found. Police closed the case saying it’s an accident. But truth is Varman was killed. Let’s go back
to the Time when Varman announced the news to Press. Once the news is spread in
TV, Manikandan who saw this in TV thought Varman is going to disclose the art
of making Gold before Press.
Manikandan called his
son Kumar (Manikandan was able to talk because he was paralyzed below the neck
portion) and told that he was in Poocaud forest for few weeks in search of a
rare medicinal leaf. During that time he saw a strange guy roaming in forest.
While searching those rare leave he also followed him. One day he saw Varman
trying to make Gold with few ingredients and he saw everything standing behind
a tree. And when Varman mixed the Leaf he took from a tree some powerful light
and smell came from it which made him to lose his eyes and made him paralyzed.
Manikandan also told his son Kumar that he knows the
ingredients Varman used and also knows the Tree from where he picked those
glittering leaf. Only he and Varman know
this secret and if he goes to media to reveal this, they will miss the chance
of becoming rich. Manikandan motives Kumar to do something to stop Varman by
telling him what and all he can do with the Gold.
Kumar comes with a plan to stop Varman. Kumar takes some of
the leaf which Manikandan found from Poocaud forest, whose smell will make
anyone unconscious and puts it in Varman Car engine bay the night before Varman
attends Press meet. When Varman switched on his Car AC he slowly got some smell
in his car which made him unconscious while driving on the main road.
Manikandan and Kumar see the news next day and feel very
happy. Manikandan tells Kumar all about the ingredient he saw while making
Gold. He also tells how to reach the glittering leaf in Poocaud forest. Kumar leaves
to Poocaud the next day. When he almost
nears the tree he enters the Mathi mayanki vanam (place where you lose
your mind) and loses his mind and himself.
Manikandan waits for Kumar to comeback for few months after
which he fell sick and dies. Again the
secret of making Gold becomes a Secret. And the Pride of Pallava’s still hidden
below the Temple. After 20 years Nandu, son of Varman somehow gets the diary of
his grandfather and at the same time Kumar comes out of the Mathi mayanki vanam
somehow.
