Ponniyin Selvan, the novel itself was an epic golden treasure for people of all age. Not to mention the movie, which went viral satisfying its audience. 

It was a Tamil historical novel spotlighting the Chozha Dynasty. One of the long epic stories gathering too many characters, conspiracies, royal family, and badass villains with heart-filled emotions revealing surprising secrets from the past. In short, it was an imperfectly fascinating movie that revolved around the plot and its characters. 

That was a feast for many historical movie lovers.

View Personality from Ayurvedic Perspective

We are different from each other not because of our names, it’s our character that differentiates us. Too many characters in Ponniyin Selvan’s movie, yet we remember each of them and admired some. That’s because they played different roles under different situations expressing different emotions. 

Where do you think these emotions would have traveled from?

Emotions and reactions together form the personality of a person. People react based on what runs across their minds. Our body adapts itself based on our thoughts. But our thoughts are controlled by the constitution or the nature of our body, with which we were born. From an Ayurvedic perspective, Prakriti is the constitution of our body, whereas vikriti is the current state or the imbalanced state.

Both prakriti and vikriti constitute three doshas at different ratios. Vata, Pitta, and Kapha are the three doshas that make up a person’s prakriti. The different ratios of doshas determine the characteristics of a person. 

Let’s dwell in this blog to differentiate the characteristics of people taking Ponniyin Selvan as the stage.

Vata Prakriti – Vanathi

This character is one of the best fit for the phrase “Damsel in Distress”. Crowded with strong women characters like Kundavai, Nandini, and Poonguzhali; Vanathi appears to be a small rose bud surrounded by thorns. 

Vata prakriti builds energetic, enthusiastic, and very creative personalities. Their behavior always entertains people around them. So by nature vanathi stays cheerful and attractive. That can be shown by the way she interacts with Vandiya Devan in their first meeting.

“Asura kulathu kamsa mama, thannerai kandal bayama”, her tone and expression were quite admirable. Vata personalities attract people not by looks, it’s by their behavior and expression.

Though appearing in less number of scenes, Vanathi grabs the attention of the viewers/readers with her kind, soft and charming nature. She played the role of companionship with princess Kundavai and was present beside her most of the time. This reminds us of how kundavai boosts vanathi with courage and emotional strength as we all know the fragile and sensitive nature of vanathi, especially under stressful situations. This takes us back to the scene where she recites the death news of her beloved Prince to kundavai. With trembling feet unable to stand, a feeble voice suppressing her words, and heavy breath pushing back her blood; vanathi stands before kundavai giving her the news of prince Arunmozhi Varman.

Even though being so charming and admirable their vikriti state brings them into trouble. Their mind is always occupied with thoughts. Sometimes, they even presume things and start pondering about it in their heart of their hearts developing anxiety and fear. In the same way, vanathi was so nervous and anxious to know how they will be dealing with the kings and ministers of thanjai when she and kundavai were about to enter the meeting hall. She repeatedly loaded kundavai with questions that were running through her mind. That defines the vikriti state of the Vata people.  

Pitta Prakriti – Aditya karikalan

There was smoke all around, there appeared a fearsome warrior riding on horseback pulling out his sword from its case. A frowning face, eyebrows crossed looking straight into our eyes; oh my god that’s scary still powerful. 

Introducing the pitta prakriti of Aditya karikalan, the first prince of the Chozha kingdom. Pitta personalities are born rulers with exceptional leadership skills. Being a prince karikalan is bound by duty to expand and protect his nation. That’s not just an act of responsibility but also includes the pitta dosha that makes him move forward to conquer other dynasties. 

Pitta personalities are highly goal-oriented and practical thinkers. This nature is an inbuilt mechanism. Karikalan keeps his successful position alive with his pitta dosha. And not only that he never stays in a place after his success. He is automatically motivated to move out of his comfort zone to conquer other kingdoms. A pitta personality will always be insightful about the things happening around them. This keeps them successful in both their careers and personal life. 

But when pitta reaches its vikriti state from its ground level, then things change. 

“Intha 

kallum, pattum, reththamum, porkalamum, 

ellame athai marakathan,

Avalai marakathan”

Karikalan defines that he is taking an effort to forget the love of his life by the means of war. Karikalan’s love life hits tragedy and turns over in an unexpected method paving way for frustration and anger. Pitta at vikriti state tends to be frustrated with an irritating mood. 

Kapha Prakriti – Arunmozhi Varman

Coming back to our Ponniyin Selvan, the man whose name is chanted when we talk about this epic story. Arunmozhi Varman, the second prince of the Chozha Dynasty. An iconic ruler in Tamil history embossed with patience, kindness, and humble qualities. 

By nature, Kapha personalities never expect anything in return for their deeds. Let that be professional life – a prince’s life and its duty, or personal life – love and relationships. Then this goes without saying, the reason for rejecting the throne offered by Srilankan buddhist monks.

“Nan Chozha nattin kavalan,

Chozha makkalin velaikaran”

Just being neutral and taking in whatever comes their way. No complaints or pressures. That was a typical Kapha type answer.

These personalities stay loyal and steady with their decisions. Even in stressful situations, varman was so calm and composed. Going back to the scene where Vandiya Devan calls him together to meet kundavai whereas Parthiban calls him to meet Aditya Karikalan. But the prince will not move out of his place until he receives a call from the Chozha king, Sundara Chozhar. That shows his loyalty towards his father/king and stern decision making skill. This calm and steady state of Varman underlays the secret strategy for his victory in many wars.

Oops, we forgot to recall this scene where Alwar will push the prince to stay there in Srilanka, as the situation in thanjai is bad. Oh then, we can say that prince Varman was really loyal and steady in his mind to decline three offers at the same time.  

The above are all the prakriti states of a Kapha dosha. Calm, composed, kind, patient, no expectations, finding equality among people, and carefree situation handler are all the typical prakriti state of a person with high Kapha dosha. 

Then what could be the vikriti state of a Kapha personality?

Did you see any imbalanced state of prince Arunmozhi Varman in the movie? 

Prakritis and Vikritis of a person play a vital role in their life. Ultimately that differentiates us. Every one of us is different from the other. We do and undo things based on our dosha levels.

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