Solanki is our branch or clan. This is a kind of subcaste or lineage: the group of people we think of as our close relatives, a cluster of Kshatriyas who live in certain villages—five villages, to be precise—and with whom we share rituals and sacraments. It is this group for whom Bimal Barot and his family serve as record-keepers.

The first migrants in our community were women: they traveled from their homes to their husbands' villages upon marriage. Mala's mother and her mother-in-law had both made the journey, as had all their female forebears, and now it was Mala's turn. An ancient tune still sung at weddings acknowledges the path: "Stranger, do not weep as you go to

Such is the relationship between Īśvara and oṁ; it is not a culturally agreed upon designation. Īśvara was known by the syllable oṁ in previous creations, and will be for all eternity; it is an eternal designation not assigned by human convention or socially agreed upon usage