Aṇṇaṉmār
This folk epic of the Tamil Nadu region of India has been sung by professional storytellers at festivals since the fifteenth century. The narrative tells of a grandfather who leaves his famine-stricken home in search of work. When the man succeeds in gaining farm work for a Chola king, the king rewards him and his brothers with gifts of land. The brothers become jealous of their older brother and try to cheat him of his land—especially as his oldest son is childless and therefore weakened in the eyes of his peers. Although Śiva (see
Śiva
) and Viṣṇu (see
Viṣṇu
) provide a son for the childless man to ...