Tamarai - Part X: The Final Days

• After their wedding Tamarai’s two sons leave the palace regularly on adventures of their own choosing. Their sister often welcomes them home with cooling water to drink.  
  

• The brothers love their horses and ride all over Ponnivala at full gallop. Tamarai and Kunnutaiya rarely know where their two sons are.
  

• Each time Tamarai’s sons return from an adventure they park their beloved horses with Shambuga, their loyal assistant. They know he will take good care of these magical blue steeds.
  

• Tangal mostly stays alone in the palace, while her parents keep to themselves and rest frequently. She knows that they are getting old.
  

• One day Tamarai and her husband call their sons for an important meeting.
  

• The king and queen each give instructions to their sons about how they must accept responsibility for the kingdom after their deaths. Tamarai, in particular, requests that they take good care of their unmarried sister and listen to her every word.  
  

• The boys touch their parents’ feet in a sign promising obedience. They promise that they will respect and honour the words they have just heard.
  

• In return Tamarai and her husband bless their two sons and wish them a good and prosperous future as they become the new rulers of Ponnivala.
  

• Soon after this Tamarai begins to feel weak.
  

• She lies down, worrying about the future.
  

• Then Kunnutaiya begins to feel weak too. It is clear that both parents will die soon. Their children gather around them to mourn.
  

• After a time the spirits of the kind but elderly king and queen leave their bodies. The two parents die together.  
  

• The god of death, Lord Yeman, is waiting outside the palace. He collects the two spirits as they exit the front door.
  

• Holding the two lives in a special little box, Lord Yeman now leaves Ponnivala. His job is to carry Tamarai and Kunnutaiya’s spirits back to the heavens.

[<==Back to Part 9]