‘Will you rid the village of the evil? Will you destroy the immoral god and his priest?’ demands Thimmakka, looking straight at Puttaswamegowda.

Ajji, drenched and shivering, now sees what is really happening. She moves towards Puttaswamegowda slowly, shaking her head, putting out her hand.

‘No,’ she cries. ‘Annaiah is good. His god is good. They have given us good crops, good rains. Thimmakka is lying! She is not Ooramma! She is trying to cause evil!’

At this, Krishnegowda whispers to Siddegowda and Venkatsamy, who come to Puttaswamegowda’s side. ‘Say yes to Ooramma,’ Siddegowda hisses. ‘Do you want to destroy the entire village?’ The panchas from the neighbouring villages too move towards Puttaswamegowda. They are entranced by Thimmakka-Ooramma. Puttaswamegowda can smell defeat. He is the one who decreed that one person cannot rule here. The will of the majority is always right.

Thimmakka roars again: ‘Will you finish that evil god and his priest? Will you come back to me?’

And Dasegowda choruses: ‘Yes, O Ooramma.’

‘Destroy them,’ shrieks Thimmakka.

And fear-crazed, the village folk chant: ‘Say yes, say yes!’ Their voices rise to a roar.

‘Say yes!’ says Dasegowda, holding Puttaswamegowda’s arm in a vice-like grip.

Chandru, shouting no, struggles under the tree. Ramappa starts to push him instead of trying to get himself out. Puttaswamegowda feels the grim stone walls closing in on him. With a violent movement, he shoves aside all the people around him, rushes out of the Ooramma temple and runs towards his house. The rain keeps beating down. The door stands open. He rushes in. Annaiah is still on the floor, motionless. He hears someone heaving and sobbing and runs down the corridor.

Parvati is sobbing in the arms of a strange girl. He has seen her somewhere before, but who is she and what is she doing in his house? Why is his daughter crying and why is Annaiah on the floor? Puttaswamegowda comes to the door just in time to see Honni pull her lustrous hair to cover her naked white-red body, while Sundru, his T-shirt torn off his body, has colours running down his face, arms, chest and hair in streams of herb-scented water.

As Sundru collapses in a heap on the stone floor, muttering, ‘Maadhi, Maadhi’, Puttaswamegowda looks at Honni. She cries and runs forward. ‘Your son! He, he … he tried to…’ She sobs against the ageing Puttaswamegowda’s chest. All strength goes out of him. Honni, feeling his body collapsing, puts her arms around him and, without a backward glance at the frozen Maadhi, the sobbing Parvati or the fallen Sundru, leads Puttaswamegowda to her room upstairs.

At the temple, Thimmakka-Ooramma continues to shout to the villagers. Now the thunder is being accompanied by the beat of the kahales and tamate, which have arrived to lead the procession for the destruction of Kamadeva. ‘Destroy the evil,’ cry the villagers, swigging the endlessly flowing paanaka. They are dancing, chanting, ‘Kamanna kattige, kattige ge kolu, kolige benki, benkige dahana.’