Kunnutaiya Part IV: Becoming A King

• After days of walking, Kunnutaiya finally spots the two temples he remembers from childhood.
  

• Kunnutaiya and Tamarai’s first task is to visit the goddess attached to the family lands. The couple commit to cleaning Celatta’s temple and worshiping her daily.
  

• Next Kunnutaiya and Tamarai build a modest home and begin to settle down on his ancestral lands.
  

• Kunnutaiya next begins to plow the one field his clansmen are willing to let him have. They try to keep the rest for themselves.
  

• But when Kunnutaiya goes to get seeds, his clansmen trick him by secretly roasting them first. But his wife figures this out.
  

• Kunnutaiya tries to plant the seeds anyway, in his one rocky, thorn-filled field.  
  

• Fortunately Lord Vishnu sees the problem and uses his magical powers to help the seeds sprout.
  

• Later, after still more tricks played by the clansmen, the couple finally discover that their crop has ripened.
  

• But Kunnutaiya thinks there is something wrong. He can not find any harvest-ready grain.
  

• It is only when Tamarai investigates that she finds not maize but jewels in each plump corn cob.
  

• The couple harvest their jewels in private, fearing their jealous clansmen might intervene.
  

• But then Lord Vishnu tests the couple’s generosity, sending a thousand beggars to their doorstep. Only Tamarai is willing to give away all their new wealth as alms.
  

• Fortunately, Vishnu is pleased with Tamarai’s compassion and refills the harvest baskets in secret.
  

• Kunnutaiya then takes a small gift to the Chola king. He politely informs him of the bountiful harvest just reaped on his lands in Ponnivala.
  

• The couple build a palace with their new wealth. Soon the Chola king pays a visit and rewards Kunnutaiya with gifts and a small crown.

[Continue to Part 5==>]

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