Tamarai - Part VIII: Raising Children

• Tamarai loves her daughter and treats her well. Here she is feeding her breast milk from a small teapot.
  

• Tamarai carries her young daughter with her everywhere. She is very precious.
  

• Soon the couple go to their local temple for their daughter’s naming ceremony.
  

• Kunnutaiya chooses the name “Tangal” meaning little sister. He pronounces this name in her ear three times.
  

• After the ceremony is over the couple thank the two priests and give them the appropriate gifts.
  

• Now the couple venture outside with their new daughter. They take her to see Ponnivala’s beautiful river.
  

• Tamarai and Kunnutaiya have a beautiful swinging cradle made for their daughter.
  

• But then something terrible happens. The clansmen come and beat Tamarai up. They want to force the couple out. Their excuse is that they have no sons to inherit the lovely lands of Ponnivala.
  

• Tamarai suffers a lot from this. Her husband’s clansmen beat her. Kunnutaiya is treated with disrespect too. They want the family to leave their lands and go live elsewhere.
  

• The couple are first taken to the Ganesh temple and then told to get out of Ponnivala entirely.
  

• They have no choice but to leave. Soon Tamarai has to beg in a strange village just to get milk to feed her baby daughter.
  

• She manages to get just enough milk from strangers to be sure her baby survives.
  

• After days of wandering Tamarai and her husband finally find a little hut in the forest where they decide to stay.
  

• The family is very poor and Tamarai is forced to do hard labour to earn enough money for them to make ends meet.
  

• Tamarai and Kunnutaiya are far from their beloved lands in Ponnivala. They are now living in a very a humble home. But somehow this little family manages to survive.

[Continue to Part 9==>]

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