Interlude

This interlude serves as a transition from the busy urban Chennai of the previous chapters to the rural quiet of Mātāpuram, a small village in inland Sivagangai District. It also marks the second part of the book, which follows the 2004 Asian Tsunami, only briefly mentioned. The village is the home of Dhanam, the woman introduced in the first chapter, a Dalit Roman Catholic and illiterate agricultural worker who was first possessed by Mary at the age of eighteen. The rural setting suggests a different experience by both Marian devotees and the author here than in Chennai, and hints of long-standing local caste conflicts. Families lie sleeping while a few women pray late into the night. References to the Rosary, to Caṇkam poetry, and to a cosmic mother goddess pervade. .