In this deeply symbolic and visually lush film, as far as Tashbash is concerned, he's just a malcontent, a fairly ordinary hell-raiser who has gotten into trouble with the law in the past. Sure, he hates the village headman who is a toady to the region's oppressive landlord, and he dislikes the fact that everyone looks to the headman for help because they have no place else to turn, but he's just an ordinary guy and has no solutions for his fellow villagers. However, after one of them has a vision in which Tashbash is shown to be a manifestation of one of their more important local saints, the villagers unite as one in seeking him out for help with the upcoming visit of the landlord to collect rents which they can't pay. Their adulation and reverence is so persistent that eventually even Tashbash becomes a believer.
