Vel Pari: The Tamilakam War. Legend to Realism. Were the legends surrounding Pari true? Are there rational explanations to his outlandish deeds? Did he gift his chariot to a jasmine vine? He did not have an heir. Why did he not remarry? Did Pari succumb to the treachery of the Cholan, Cheran and Pandyan kings? The three kings were renowned for their code of chivalry and dharma. How did Pari die? Was he murdered by his own courtiers who then blamed the three kings? Historians found little common ground. But they agree that Pari and the influential poet, Kapilar, were fast friends. Kapilar wrote his ground breaking work, Song of the Kurinji. What was the genesis of this work? Why did Kapilar commit suicide? This is the story of Pari as told by Kapilar and one other, a man who lurked in the shadows; a man who did not lend his name to written history: Kachagan, Raj Guru of the Cholan Empire. Written in the first person, Kapilar and Kachagan relate the events they witnessed and lived. Who narrates the truer version of history? You decide.