Chutti’s Inheritance

The stolen land and Chutti’s true inheritance of love and family.

Denzil Jayasinghe

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Amarried farmer, Simon, who combed his hair in a tail, lived in a small village with his wife, Cecilia, whose voice rang like a bell. She was wiry and slim, just like their daughter, Juliet. Simon and Cecilia longed for another child, but after a decade of trying, they decided to adopt Chutti, the daughter of a poor relative twelve years younger than Juliet.

Everyone loved Chutti. Her voice was different and lovely, and she was kind and easygoing. But after Juliet married Tennakoon, hard times befell young Chutti. Tennakoon, with his eyes on Juliet’s vast inheritance — land, house, and paddy and coconut fields — aimed to steal it from Chutti’s inheritance from Simon and Cecilia. He began mistreating Chutti, and shockingly, Juliet sided with him.

Chutti endured this abuse for a long time. Since she was adopted and young, she lacked the courage to stand up for herself. Finally, she felt strong enough to travel to her relatives as a young woman. There, she confided in them, crying about her helpless situation.

The relatives’ children enjoyed her company. Chutti’s loving nature made it easy for her to befriend them. She shared her knowledge of flowers, bees, and honey, played with them, told stories, carried them when tired, and mediated their quarrels.

However, at night, while talking to the children’s parents and her cousins, Chutti would cry. She was approaching marriageable age, and Tennakoon and Juliet were deliberately obstructing potential suitors. They readily shared the news that Chutti was adopted, making it difficult to find suitors in a society that valued properties and dowries.

While Simon and Cecilia treated Juliet and Chutti equally, Tennakoon became a poisonous influence in the family, hindering Chutti’s future. Further complicating matters, Juliet, deeply entrenched in Tennakoon’s influence, renounced her Christian faith and became a Buddhist. Both, now teachers, continued to harass Chutti.

When it was time for Chutti to be married, Tennakoon and Juliet ensured all properties were in their names, leaving Chutti with nothing. Chutti refused to return to the family home and left for Colombo. There, she stayed with relatives, met a kind young man, and married him. He wasn’t interested in her wealth but in her kindness and beauty. Together, they built a new life, facing many hardships.

Years flowed by like water in a stream. Juliet and Tennakoon aged, their youthful cruelty a distant memory. Tennakoon succumbed to heart failure, leaving Juliet adrift in a sea of regret. Her eldest son once envisioned as inheriting their vast lands, lay paralysed after a work accident. The dream of a powerful lineage had fractured. The remaining sons, lacking education, remained tied to the land, their lives mirroring the peasants they once looked down upon.

Meanwhile, Chutti’s life blossomed. With her husband, they built a loving family; their daughter was raised with the opportunities Juliet’s sons denied. Educated in Colombo, she returned with a fire in her eyes, her children following in her footsteps. Chutti, once ostracised, now watched with quiet satisfaction as her family thrived, a testament to kindness and resilience.

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