Kamakshi Amma, from six feet below the ground to a shrine

I did not plan this one either. It came the way the Lingam came, over months, as something I could not put down, and when we asked Shiva the answer was not ambiguous.

Filling six feet of ground

The ground was six or seven feet below where it needed to be, so it was the same work again. Stone carried in and packed until the level came up, then red soil dug out and spread over it. Three months.

A hole that deep needs stone bigger than anything you can carry to it, so we climbed the hill above and threw it down from the height.

The iron, and the footings in rock

Then the iron. The pipes came in on our shoulders, and as far up as an auto could get them. We dug the holes deep and poured concrete. That site is solid rock, so the footings were the worst of it and took far more concrete than they should have. The cement, the water, the sand, all of it came in by hand and was mixed on the spot. Then the roof, and steps up so people could reach her.

Then we brought her

Then we brought her.