Kamadeva, Visnu and all the gods watch in wonder as the ground transforms into green, fertile beauty, the kind of which none of them have ever seen. That is how Deyi Baidethi’s garden comes about. As the gods look on, Deyi Baidethi, whose other name is the flower suvarnakedige, graciously inclines her head in acknowledgement. The swetasanchari and suryavamsi bloom, the parrots fly around in dizzying circles as the kogile begins to sing. Kamadeva strings his veena and follows the highs and lows of the kogile’s song in the aahiri raga as the gods dance around Siva and sing, ‘You have given the earth such bounty and such beauty. Your love is so generous. May the children born here learn to love and give to all.’

The villagers smile.

‘But,’ says Annaiah, ‘though the gods will this, the humans don’t allow it to happen. The divine Deyi Baidethi’s own children, the sun and the moon, who were twins called Koti and Chennayya, are denied her flower garden and a field to plough by the king. Deyi Baidethi dies saving that king, but her sons have to fight and even die for land, because the upper castes will not give it to them.’

The villagers look uncomfortable. Annaiah looks at Ajji and says, ‘This land belongs to all. No one has rights to it. Siva has blessed it and Kamadeva has given it fertility. The spirits of Koti and Chennayya are still fighting for it. Who are we to say who should have it and who shouldn’t?’

And Byregowda has his way.

The next crisis, though, comes from Annaiah himself. He is becoming more querulous and obsessive with every passing day. One day, out of the blue, he declares that his Ramani stories should be given life. During the Kamanahabba, apart from the colour-play and the enacting of Siva burning Kamadeva, a girl should play Ramani and his tale should be enacted.

The village is at a loss. They would be happy to add Ramani to Kamanahabba; she is such a big part of their lives. But how can any respectable girl be asked to play a role in public? Annaiah does not agree that a young boy whose voice is not broken can play Ramani. The villagers go around looking worried even as Dasegowda smirks. This is what happens when you leave me and go to a man like Annaiah, he says to whoever will listen.

Annaiah is adamant. The villagers, conditioned to agreeing with everything that he says, are also fearful of going against him. From the day he returned to live in the Kamadeva temple and tell his stories, the rain has arrived promptly every year. With plentiful water and the implementation of Sannegowda’s ideas on irrigation, their crop has grown abundantly. The word in the market town is that the rice from their village has a rare quality and taste. Their produce gets sold even before it reaches the town.

The children of the village are healthy and happy. The ragi grown here tastes extraordinary, be it as mudde or as buttermilk-ambli. The cattle flourish and give several litres of milk a day. And the mutton from their village has to be tasted to be believed. Indeed, villagers from neighbouring areas often visit the village to study their techniques but find that nothing is significantly different.