The performance and narration process often differs from deliberate dictation for documentation purposes. The oral epic, performed over a few nights in the 1960s, was transcribed much later into Tamil, which ran into 2400 pages. Soon after the performance recording, Brenda Beck also requested the lead bard to dictate the performance for a textual reproduction. This resulted in the bard re-narrating the performance in dictated form outside of the performance setting. We find that though the story, narrative, and main events are all intact, more than 70% of what is in the performed version is not found in the dictated text and is much shorter, and this opens up a whole new world to discuss, compare and contrast the differences between, what Brenda Beck calls, the performed text and the dictated text.

This section explores the finer facets as revealed from a close reading of the epic. The geographic region of the oral epic, the usages of contemporary English phrases, the importance of the number seven throughout the epic, Udukkai (hour-glass drum) inscriptions, and some interesting details about markers of prosperity and of bad omens are described here.