Chapter Sixteen
I have kept my vow—I bathe before dawn,
offer kindling without thorns or insects to the holy fire.
Now take from your quiver one flower arrow
shoot it for me from your sugarcane bow
Nacciyar Tirumoli 1:2
All night Andal had smarted from her father’s anger: her life finished.
Visnucitta brushed a ringlet of hair from her bloodshot eyes. ‘Lord Tirumal came to me in a dream,’ he said, ‘and spoke of you.’
He leaned close and whispered, ‘Choodi K Kodutta.’
‘This is how he described you, my daughter.’
Andal felt the heat of her father’s breath on her cheek. The remorse and doubt she had harboured until dawn, all the tears—they were for nothing. Her whole body flushed at the sound of Tirumal’s name.
‘These six syllables we must keep secret,’ Visnucitta said, ‘as secret
