58 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



give a promised cloth to the gods, but as she had now renewed 

 the promise the sacrifice had been accepted. 



" Since the offerings were now acceptable to the goddess, the 

 washermen each seized a lamb and coolly cutting off the heads, 

 allowed the blood to flow out on the ground in front of the image. 

 Then each severed a forefoot from each lamb and hung them 

 up beside a lot of such feet of various animals which were already 

 dangling in front of the images. This seemed done with the 

 intention that the goddess should not soon forget their offerings. 



"When the worship was over the children received the food, 

 the worshipers the mutton, the washermen each a lamb's head, and 

 the poor Madiga received, I am told, about two thirds of a cent for 

 his pains. The reason for this worship was that chicken pox had 

 recently been in the village, and this was a thank offering for pro- 

 tection, or more probably the fulfillment of a vow to be paid if they 

 were protected. Just as I was riding away a young man of the 

 family ran up with the new cloth which had been promised, pre- 

 sented the cloth to the goddess, bowing low before her, and then 

 appropriated the cloth for his own wardrobe." 



CHAPTER VIII 

 Local Origins of Dravidian Deities 



The great majority of Dravidian deities are of local origin, and 

 in those cases where a local story cannot be secured it is very 

 probable that there was a local origin, the history of which has 

 been lost. In this chapter the local legends of a number of the 

 gods whose worship has been described will be given, together 

 with typical stories of other gods whose worship it is not necessary 

 to describe. 



These local stories are of the greatest importance in a study of 

 the Dravidian gods. With no writings and no systems of philos- 

 ophy or theology, these are practically the only sources from which 

 we may secure any light on the history and development of the 

 worship as well as upon the question of the fundamental reasons 

 for the development of the system. 



The legends of the Seven Sisters, while no doubt originally sim- 



58 



