94 Wilber Theodore Elmore 



knowing of her grief, took the place of the child, and was born to 

 Devakka. Soon, however, Krishna began to fear for himself, 

 and coming to his father, induced him to make an exchange, bring- 

 ing Papanooka, the newly born daughter of King Nandadu and 

 placing her beside Devakka, while Krishna took the place of the 

 baby girl. Krishna gave as his reason for the exchange that a 

 girl was more likely to be spared than a boy. 



Devakka's brother now came to slay that child also. The 

 mother pleaded with him, " Brother, the child is a girl. You 

 must not hurt it. There will be no profit to you if you kill it." 

 But he would not listen, and taking the child threw her into the air 

 to cut off her head as she fell. The girl did not fall, however, but 

 continued to ascend until she stood on the clouds. She then 

 turned and said, " O Kamsada, you are an evil man. You are try- 

 ing to kill me. I will not destroy you, but my brother (Krishna) 

 is living in another place and he will destroy you." She then 

 disappeared and became the mother of the earth. Krishna now 

 gave order that there should be a light in the world to represent 

 her. The Madigas now claim her as Mathamma or Matangi.^^ 



The above story makes Matangi to be the foster sister of 

 Krishna, and so directly connected with Vishnu. A variant of the 

 legend of the origin of Renuka in an ant-hill,^^ makes Matangi to 

 be Parvati incarnate, and so the wife of Siva.^^ According to 

 this variant, Parvati appeared to the king as a beautiful maiden, 

 and when he tried to capture her she evaded him, and disappeared 

 in an ant-hill. The king sent for men to dig out the ant-hill, but 

 the earth was as hard as stone and they made no progress. At 

 last the king grew angry, and struck his spear into the ant-hill, 

 piercing the head of the maiden. When he removed the spear, 

 brains and blood oozed out, and the king and his attendants, seeing 

 this, fell into a swoon. 



The maiden now came out of the ant-hill as a great goddess. 

 She held the heavens in her left hand, and the great serpent, 



31 The main points of this stor)' are found originally in the Sree mad 

 Bagavata, Decima skandhamu, Madras, 1893, pp. 4 f. The identification 

 of the deified girl with Matangi is a later addition. 



2- See page 79. 



33 E. R. Clough, While Sewing Sandals, New York, 1899, pp. 74 sq. 



94 



