Ponniyin Selvan (The Son of Kaveri) is a historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy, written in Tamil. In five volumes, or about 2400 pages, it tells the story of early days of Arulmozhivarman, who later became the great Chola king Rajaraja Chola I. The book took more than three years to write;[citation needed] Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information for it. Parthiban Kanavu novel, written by Kalki, is considered as prequel and Udayar, written by writer Balakumaran, is considered as sequel to Ponniyin Selvan novel.Ponniyin Selvan (English: The Son of Kaveri) is a historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy, written in Tamil. In five volumes, or about 2400 pages, it tells the story of early days of Arulmozhivarman, who later became the great Chola king Rajaraja Chola I. The book took more than three years to write;[citation needed] Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information for it. Parthiban Kanavu novel, written by Kalki, is considered as prequel and Udayar, written by writer Balakumaran, is considered as sequel to Ponniyin Selvan novel.