Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism yg 



that she would be born as a daughter to him, took human form 

 and hid herself in a golden ant-hill near the palace. 



That night the king had a dream that a daughter had been born 

 to him in the ant-hill, and so vivid was the dream that in the 

 morning he called his servants and directed them to dig the ant- 

 hill out. After digging they found a golden net such as are now 

 made of ropes to hold ofiferings before the gods. At the side of 

 this was a muggu, and upon the muggu a golden lamp. This is 

 said to be the origin of the use of these articles in worship. Be- 

 side these sat a maiden, who was Parvati in the form of Sakti 

 with the name Renuka. 



The king ordered an elephant to be brought and sacrificed to 

 her. They also brought five hundred cart-loads of cakes, five 

 hundred cart-loads of cooked rice, and five hundred and fifty 

 cart-loads of minor offerings. After presenting these things to 

 Renuka they distributed them to the people who ate them. A 

 golden palanquin was now brought, and placing Renuka in it, 

 the procession started for the palace. After proceeding one foot 

 they stopped, poured out rice, and offered a sheep. This was 

 done at each foot of the journey until finally they arrived at the 

 palace. 



Renuka is said to have been changed into one hundred and one 

 Saktis, which have become the village goddesses. In this story 

 the deities are Parvati incarnate, wives of Siva, and so are on an 

 equal footing with Kali. This legend gives a very honorable po- 

 sition to the Saktis, and is an evident attempt to please the Dra- 

 vidians. The various features of Dravidian worship are repre- 

 sented in the story. The Dravidians have an occasional worship 

 of ant-hills, of which this legend of Renuka may be the origin. 



The idea that the goddesses are the wives of Siva is almost uni- 

 versal, and a favorite method of attaching a Dravidian goddess 

 to the Hindu pantheon is by a marriage with Siva or some one of 

 his incarnations. One of the important instances of this is that 

 of the goddess, Minakshi, of Madura.'^ 



■^ For the following interesting facts I am indebted to Dr. J. P. Jones, 

 author of India, Its Life and Thought, and other important works on India. 



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