Chapter 43 — Tantuk's Shri Shailya Yatra on Maha Shivaratri

Literal. Tantuk, a weaver, is one of Shri Guru's devotees. On Maha Shivaratri, his family leaves for Shri Shailya yatra without him; he says his Shri Shailya is at Shri Guru's feet. On the day of the festival Shri Guru asks: do you want to see Shri Shailya? Tantuk says yes. Shut your eyes and hold my sandals firmly. Tantuk does; instantly they are at Shri Shaila Giri. Shri Guru says: go, do Kshour, see Mallikarjuna at the temple. Tantuk goes, sees his family, encounters Shri Guru being worshipped as the Linga in the temple. Returns to Shri Guru's side. Asks Shri Guru: I saw you in the place; how can you have come here? Shri Guru explains: God is everywhere; this place's significance is real; the king Vimarshan was once a dog who ran around the Shiva-temple chasing flesh and was reborn a king of the Kirat desh. Embedded narrative of king's previous lives. Shri Guru and Tantuk return to Ganagapur instantly. People wonder.

Symbolic. Instant pilgrimage by holding the teacher's sandals — the second-clearest example in the book (after Ch. 19) of spatial compression by yogic conveyance. The chapter also stages the seven previous-lives sequence (the king's seven births in different regions, married to the same queen each time, named).

Structural. Seven future births of the king and queen in seven named regions (Sindhu, Srinjaya, Sourashtra, Gandhar, Magadh, Awanti, Anart, Pandya, Vidarbha). The geography is a sweep of the subcontinent.