Sannegowda dies around the same time, just a year after he comes back. A year for which his daughter gives up her life and her dreams. A year in which his beloved nephew Byregowda never talks to him, and his daughter-in-law Gowra serves him food and looks after his needs without a smile or a word. Even baby Puttaswamegowda never plays with him.

Numbed by the deaths of her husband and daughter, neither of whom she could save from the gumma over the wall, Ajji quietly tells Doddegowda that Gangi’s children cannot be allowed to die without any care in the temple. She gives the example of a child born to one of the lower-caste girls who died at the Ooramma temple. She ignores village whispers and Annaiah’s mild opposition and brings Nagegowda and Bangari home. They are her solace, but perhaps she also remembers Annaiah’s prophecy and wants to keep the children, who have mixed his blood with theirs, away from him. These children grow up with Byregowda and Gowra’s children, Puttaswamegowda and Thimmakka, who is the same age as Bangari.

10

MAYISA’S STORY

fter Gangi’s death, Annaiah is no state to sing or spin tales. He keeps the Kamadeva temple open and whoever wants to offer water or flowers can do so. He does not do anything himself. He has been brooding, wondering what he did wrong by Gangi, Putti, Chikthayi. He has not given the women who loved him anything but pain in return. No other woman will suffer like them because of him, he vows; he will give up kama. He now drinks from his goatskin almost round the clock.

Ajji is his only real contact with the world outside. Since Gangi died, all cooking at the Kamadeva temple has stopped. Ajji revives the custom of bringing food to Annaiah every night and spends a long time talking to him, mostly about Gangi and Sannegowda. She seems to derive some kind of comfort from this, even when Annaiah is in a stupor and barely able to respond.

Dasegowda, still nursing the humiliation that Gangi and Annaiah handed out to him, decides that this is the best time to step in and beat his enemy. Who is this Kamadeva really? A vulgar god. Why should the village be in his thrall? It is only because of Annaiah and his stories that the villagers are even aware of Kamadeva. There had been no Kamadeva or his temple in that village before Annaiah. True, the Kamanahabba is celebrated a week after Ooramma’s jathre every year, but that is to worship Siva’s might, not to honour Kamadeva. His own deity, Ooramma, is a powerful, profound and elevated being. And it is his duty to ensure that the people of the village see her as supreme.

Villagers, he calls out, come this evening to Ooramma’s temple. I will tell you all her tale and you will see her greatness. Everyone is surprised; this is the first time anyone has mentioned Ooramma’s story. To tell the truth, none of the villagers has even wondered what it is.