Karuthiruman, also known as Kari Thirumal, was a native of Thopputhurai, a village situated a little north of Kodikkarai on the seashore. He made his living by ferrying boats to the island of Eezham (Sri Lanka) from there. About twenty-five years ago, as he was returning from Eezham to Thopputhurai, a storm broke out and the sea raged violently. He struggled greatly to bring his boat to shore without capsizing. As he neared the coast, close to the lighthouse at Kodikkarai, he saw a woman floating amidst the tumultuous waves. Moved by compassion, he pulled her into his boat. At that time, she was unconscious. He could not even tell whether she was alive or dead.

He tried to land the boat right there, but could not. Steering the boat in the direction of the wind, he finally managed to reach the shore near a place called Thirumaraikkaadu. Carrying the unconscious woman onto the shore, he laid her down and watched over her anxiously. Just then, several important men arrived on horseback. The woman did not speak. Karuthiruman did not even hear what the others were saying. One of them remarked, “She must have been born mute and deaf.” The man who seemed to be their leader called Karuthiruman aside and told him a strange thing: once the storm subsided, he was to take the woman back to Eezham and leave her either in that land or on a nearby island. For this, he would be paid a large sum of money.

Karuthiruman agreed and received the payment. When the sea calmed, he took the woman in his boat and set out. In the middle of the sea, he saw a man clinging to a log, floating, utterly exhausted. He took him too into the boat. At first, the woman was frightened by the new arrival, but soon she ignored him. Karuthiruman took them both and left them on an island near Eezham.

On that island lived a distinguished elder, who claimed the woman as his daughter. He said that she had always been mute, and now she did not even recognize him. Karuthiruman then recounted how he had saved her from the sea.

The man who had boarded the boat in mid-ocean handed Karuthiruman a palm-leaf letter and asked him to deliver it to the king of Lanka. From this, Karuthiruman concluded that the man must be a person of great importance. After delivering the letter to the king of Lanka, from the king’s words, he realized that… He came to know that the man who had been rescued was the king of the Pandya country. The king of Lanka sent his attendants to bring the Pandya monarch to him. Karuthiruman, being greatly exhausted, did not go with them. After a few days, the Pandya king arrived at the palace of the king of Lanka. The two monarchs together journeyed to the land of Rohana, surrounded by mountains in the southern part of Lanka. They stayed there for several