90 Wilher Theodore Elmore 



gods mounted it and ascended into the skies to be out of reach 

 cf the Sakti. 



The Sakti wandered over the earth looking for water, and finally 

 found as much as could be put into a cow's track. She poured this 

 water over her head, and returned to where she had left Vishnu. 

 Not finding him she wept, saying that Vishnu had deceived her. 

 Suddenly the three gods appeared above her in the chariot. She 

 saw them and besought them to take her up to them. Vishnu 

 told her to come up to them by the help of the wonder-working 

 discus which he now threw down to her. This she did, but by so 

 doing lost her power as a Sakti. When she approached the chariot 

 she was unable to defend herself, and Vishnu took the discus and 

 cut her into three pieces. Brahma took the trunk, Vishnu the 

 head, and Siva the legs. These three parts became respectively 

 their three wives, Sarasvati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. They then 

 took the blood and with it created one hundred and one Saktis 

 which have in various forms become the village goddesses. 



This legend is a direct attempt to attach the Dravidian deities to 

 the Hindu triad. They are the blood and so the life of the Sakti 

 who became the three wives of the gods. The main features of the 

 legend are found in the Devi Bhagavatam. 



Legends of Korlapati Ankamma. In the story of Jamadagni 

 and Renuka, Korlapati Ankamma is the terrible form which Re- 

 nuka assumes.-'^ This Ankamma is an important character among 

 Dravidian gods and there are many legends about her. None of 

 these appear at all in the Puranas. They are of later origin, and 

 as Ankamma is the victor and the Brahmans the defeated, it is 

 probable that these stories are of Dravidian origin. They evi- 

 dently were composed to set forth the humihation of the Brah- 

 mans, a humihation consisting in their having departed from their 

 traditions to such an extent that they worship Ankamma. Here 

 we may see the modern fear which the Brahmans have of 

 Dravidian devils. The stage is past when the Brahmans good- 

 naturedly attempted merely to attach the Dravidian goddesses to 

 their own system. Attempting to conquer the Dravidian gods 

 they have been conquered by them, until, although they hesitate to 

 2^^ See page 85. 



90 



