Ponniyin Selvan (பொன்னியின் செல்வன், English: The Son of Ponni) is a historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy, written in Tamil. In five volumes or about 2210 pages, it tells the story of early days of Arulmozhivarman (அருள்மொழிவர்மன்), who later became the great Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I. The book took more than three years to write; Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information for it. Ponniyin Selvan is widely considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written in Tamil literature. It was first published as a series in the Kalki, a Tamil language magazine, during...