Sometimes, great events arise from the smallest of incidents. Such a minor occurrence now befell Vandiyathevan. Was he not standing by the roadside, watching the retinue of the Periya Pazhuvettarayar pass by? His horse stood tethered a short distance from where he waited.

The eyes of a few men at the tail end of Pazhuvettarayar’s entourage fell upon that horse.

“Hey! Look at this mule!” exclaimed one of them.

“Don’t call it a mule, man! It’s a horse, I say!” retorted another.

“Let your scholarly debate continue; first, find out whether it’s a mule or a donkey!” quipped a third, a lover of jest.

“We can check that too!” said another, and with those words, one among them approached the horse. He tried to leap onto its back. But the clever beast instantly sensed that this was not its master. It stubbornly refused to allow this stranger to mount!

“This is a wicked horse, I tell you! It won’t let me get on its back! Only a true scion of royal blood may ride it, it seems. In that case, only the Mutharaiyar of Thanjavur, if he were to return, could mount it!” he said, his words laced with sarcasm, drawing laughter from the other soldiers.

For it had been a hundred years since the Mutharaiyar clan of Thanjavur was destroyed. Now, the tiger flag of the Cholas fluttered over Thanjavur.

“The horse may have its own opinions. But if you ask me, I’d say the living Tandavarayan is better than the long-dead Mutharaiyar of Thanjavur!” said another soldier.

“Tandavaraya! See if the horse refuses you as well! For all we know, it might be one of those false-legged horses brought for the Lord Perumal’s festival!” joked another, ever fond of mockery. “I’ll test that out as well,” said Thandavarayan, and as he prepared to mount his horse, he twisted its tail. The already irate horse immediately lashed out with its hind legs four times, then bolted away at a gallop.

“The horse is running! It’s a real horse, indeed!” shouted the warriors, raising a cheer of “Uy! Uy!” as they spurred the fleeing horse on even faster.

The horse plunged into the midst of the festival crowd. The people, in a flurry, scattered this way and that to avoid being trampled under its hooves. Even so, a few were struck and knocked down. The horse, losing its way, ran on in a frenzy.

All this happened before Vandiyathevan’s eyes in the blink of an eye. From the look on his face, Alwarkadiyan realized that it was Vandiyathevan’s horse.

“Did you see that, brother? The handiwork of those Paluvur henchmen! You came to show your valor to me, but it’s them you should have shown it to!” he said, pointing accusingly.

A surge of anger welled up in Vandiyathevan. Nevertheless, he clenched his teeth and maintained his composure. The Paluvur warriors were gathered in great numbers. There was no point in fighting so many at once. Nor were they waiting