Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism 69 



to her activities. There are at least two stories of how this came 

 about. One is that they decided to kill her, but she heard of it 

 and drowned herself in a well. Then her spirit appeared in the 

 village and through a diviner demanded worship. 



The other story is that a man who had power with mantrams 

 brought it about by his arts that Mundla Mudamma should not be 

 able to pass beyond a certain limited area. She soon discovered 

 the restrictions placed upon her movements, and one day she sud- 

 denly vanished, while in her place a black stone appeared. When 

 the people saw this stone they were greatly terrified. They called 

 a workman and after having the stone graven into the form of a 

 woman, they built a temple for it. 



The stone appeared at the place where Mundla Mudamma 

 herded the cattle, and it was at this place that the temple was 

 erected. Many people thinking that this was a favored place 

 built their houses there, and a village has grown up which has 

 the same name as the goddess. Like Podilamma, the tutelary 

 goddess appears to have been the founder of the village. Her 

 worship usually lasts for nine days and includes all the charac- 

 teristic features along with much merry-making. 



The story of Ladothamma has some similarities with that of 

 Mundla Mudamma. It contains more pathos than is usually 

 found in these legends. Ladothamma was the little daughter of 

 parents of the Reddi branch of the Sudra caste. She was much 

 loved by her parents, but when she was five or six years old she 

 died. A short time afterward when the village children were 

 playing, Ladothamma appeared among them and played with them 

 as she had done before she died. The children told this to 

 Ladothamma's parents, and they came with great eagerness to see 

 her, but while the children saw her day by day, she was never 

 visible to the parents. 



At last her parents gave up any hope of seeing Ladothamma 

 again, but they built a temple for her and placed a stone in it. 

 This happened a long time ago, but the worship has steadily in- 

 creased in importance so that as recently as the year 1912 a new 

 image of the five sacred metals was made for her and fitted over 



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