birds. In the Caṅkām Classic Kuṟuntokai this comparison is included and in the Tēmpāvaṇi Beschi uses it to describe the relationship between Joseph and Mary.⁴²

Certain primitive beliefs wove in the minds of the Tamils have been woven into the Tēmpāvaṇi by Beschi. That it will rain thrice every month and that the swan can separate water from milk when both are mixed together are time-old adages.⁴³

Some peculiar instances and certain supernatural events recounted by Beschi in the Tēmpāvaṇi are not new to Tamil readers. In Tēmpāvaṇi, tails of animals are lit with fire.⁴⁴ In the Rāmāyaṇam, Aṉumāṉ’s tail is lit. Civa in traditional belief is said to have destroyed all the three worlds and in the Tēmpāvaṇi God is supposed to have destroyed five.⁴⁵

Krishna danced on the five-headed hood of Kāḷi and forced him to emit his venom : so also in the Tēmpāvaṇi God compels the snake (Satan) to eject its posion.⁴⁶ Joshua is reputed to have ordered the sun to stop. Similar stories abound in Indian literature.⁴⁷ In a work like this, it is not possible to enumerate all such instances.

An indispensable part of an epic in Tamil is to narrate the rise and setting of the Sun and Moon. Beschi has succeeded beautifully in describing them.⁴⁸

C. M. Bowra in his “Virgil To Milton”, says, similes break the monotony of the narrative. Beschi’s Tēmpāvaṇi abounds in

43. Tem. Ch. 12, St. 55; Ch. 27, St.11; Ch.4, St.59

44. Tem. Ch. 17, St. 18

45. Tem. Ch. 11, St. 28

46. Tem. Ch. 8, St. 17