Chapter Four
O lord of Villiputtur,
where graceful swans wander,
how I ache to gaze upon your golden feet
Nacciyar Tirumoli 5:5
On a night more than twelve hundred years ago, Visnucitta woke from a dreamless sleep. His wife, Varaji, slept soundly beside him, her arm pillowing his head. He was restless. Though there was just the two of them in their house, he felt the hovering of another. He slipped from his wife’s embrace and stood at their bedroom window. Through lattice the shape of deer eyes he watched the moon appear, an arc of saffron light riding the mist. Clouds wrapped the mountains, zephyrs of wind from the west were coaxing them closer and closer each day. Visnucitta took a deep breath, smelling the portent of rain.
He tiptoed downstairs. There were enough hours before dawn
