Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7Thurston, Edgar
History
Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 2 of 7
Thurston, Edgar
Caste -- India, South; Ethnology -- India, South; India, South -- Social life and customs; Tribes -- India, South
The legendary origin of the Devangas is given as follows in the
Baramahal Records. [88] "When Brahma the creator created the charam
and acharam, or the animate and inanimate creation, the Devatas or
gods, Rakshasas or evil demons, and the human race, were without a
covering for their bodies, which displeasing the god Narada or reason,
he waited upon Parameshwara or the great Lord at his palace on the
Kailasa Parvata or mount of paradise, and represented the indecent
state of the inhabitants of the universe, and prayed that he would
be pleased to devise a covering for their nakedness. Parameshwara saw
the propriety of Narada's request, and thought it was proper to grant
it. While he was so thinking, a male sprang into existence from his
body, whom he named Deva angam or the body of God, in allusion to the
manner of his birth. Deva angam instantly asked his progenitor why
he had created him. The God answered 'Repair to the pala samudram
or sea of milk, where you will find Sri Maha Vishnu or the august
mighty god Vishnu, and he will tell thee what to do.' Deva angam
repaired to the presence of Sri Maha Vishnu, and represented that
Parameshwara had sent him, and begged to be favoured with Vishnu's
commands. Vishnu replied 'Do you weave cloth to serve as a covering
to the inhabitants of the universe.' Vishnu then gave him some of
the fibres of the lotus flower that grew from his navel, and taught
him how to make it into cloth. Deva angam wove a piece of cloth, and
presented it to Vishnu, who accepted it, and ordered him to depart,
and to take the fibres of trees, and make raiment for the inhabitants
of the Vishnu loka or gods. Deva angam created ten thousand weavers,
who used to go to the forest and collect the fibre of trees, and make
it into cloth for the Devatas or gods and the human race. One day,
Deva angam and his tribe went to a forest in the Bhuloka or earthly
world, in order to collect the fibre of trees, when he was attacked
by a race of Rakshasas or giants, on which he waxed wroth, and,
unbending his jata or long plaited hair, gave it a twist, and struck
it once on the ground. In that moment, a Shakti, or female goddess
having eight hands, each grasping a warlike weapon, sprang from the
earth, attacked the Rakshasas, and defeated them. Deva anga named her
Chudeshwari or goddess of the hair, and, as she delivered his tribe
out of the hands of the Rakshasas, he made her his tutelary divinity."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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