Kunnutaiya Part VII: The Pilgrim

• Kunnutaiya and Tamarai start their pilgrimage. Soon they find a she-boar sleeping on their path. Tamarai kicks it. In response, it vows to bear a son whose future destiny will be to kill the couple’s own twin boys-to-be!

• After a time Kunnutaiya tires due to this very long journey. He feels he cannot go on.
  

• So Lord Vishnu, who has been watching their progress, appears and offers to help the struggling couple.
  

• Despite Vishnu’s help Kunnutaiya soon tires again. Tamarai ends up having to carry him on her back.
  

• Finally Vishnu realizes Kunnutaiya cannot go on. So he gently takes the life-spirit from him.
  

• Vishnu turns Kunnutaiya’s body to stone, as a way of preserving and protecting it.
  

• But Vishnu also separates out Kunnutaiya’s life-spirit. He stores that in a special golden box for safe-keeping.
  

• Now Kunnutaiya’s body has become a stone. He will safely wait here, at the base of the staircase to Kailasa, for Tamarai’s return.
  

• Alone, Tamarai finally reaches Kailasa and enters Lord Shiva’s Council Chambers where she begs the Lord for the gift of children.
  

• Having been promised her wish, Tamarai returns to where she left her husband. Now Vishnu gives Kunnutaiya back his life.
  

• The couple make their way back to the land of Ponnivala as fast as their feet will carry them.
  

• Now the couple thank the magical wasps that have protected their palace and ask them to fly back home.  
  

• Once home, Tamarai gives out the magical water that Lord Shiva gave her in a golden pot, drop by drop. This water causes all the living creatures of Ponnivala to become fertile once more.
  

• Kunnutaiya and Tamarai then supervise the repair and cleaning their old palace. Now they begin to enjoy their new life there.

[Continue to Part 8==>]

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