"Baby 81," the infant claimed by nine couples after he miraculously survived the tsunami, was reunited with his parents today in the joyous conclusion to an agonizing custody battle.
Smiling with relief, Jenita Jeyarajah took the baby, dressed in blue, from a doctor's arms in a courtroom packed with onlookers after the judge said DNA tests confirmed the baby is her 4-month-old son Abilass.
"Look how happy he is! He knows the scent of his parents!" gushed the father, Murugupillai Jeyarajah. "After returning to us, he still hasn't cried."
The couple went straight from the court to a Hindu temple to give thanks for their son's return and smash a coconut in ritual fulfillment of a vow. Relatives joined them, chanting prayers and raising their hands in worship as the father carried the child around the shrine.
The baby was found on a beach among bodies and debris and taken to the Kalmunai hospital.
Baby 81, so-called because he was the day's 81st admission, was quickly claimed by nine couples, including the Jeyarajahs, symbolizing the anguish of thousands of families who lost children in the disaster.