Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism 1 1 1 



rid of me so easily. I have come to take you for your mother's 

 sin." Soon the son died, and a little later a son-in-law died under 

 similar circumstances. Kotamma was in great fear, and to escape 

 the consequences of her sin, built the temple and began to feed 

 the Brahmans. 



It is a fact that Kotamma had some trouble with her cook, and 

 that her son and son-in-law died. The temple was not built for 

 the dead Brahman, but as a work of merit. There is undoubtedly 

 some connection between the misfortunes and her desire to pacify 

 the gods. It will be interesting to watch this case. It is prob- 

 able that the story will grow, and perhaps in time the temple will 

 be said to have been built for the dead Brahman. There seems to 

 be an innate desire in the Dravidian people to have a local legend 

 about their gods. 



The legend of Aranjothi^ involves apparently the adoption of 

 a Dravidian goddess by the Brahmans. The story commonly 

 known among the people runs thus. There was once a woman of 

 high birth who married, but remained with her parents. One 

 night her husband came unannounced and lay down beside her. 

 She did not recognize him and kicked him. Her husband then 

 cursed her and said that she should be born a Madiga. When her 

 father heard of the matter, he called a great council of kings, and 

 as a result the son-in-law was cursed because he had not recog- 

 nized the virtuous act of his wife. The curse pronounced was 

 that he should be born as the son of a prostitute. 



In process of time the two curses were fulfilled. Aranjothi 

 was born a Madiga woman. At that time there was a guruvu 

 named Visva Brahma. His worshipers came to him and said, 

 " You are always away on your pilgrimages, so make us an image 

 of yourself which we may worship when you are not here." He 

 agreed, and a five-faced image was made. It was decided that 

 the image must have a wife, so a prostitute was brought and 

 placed before it. By continually looking at her the image caused 

 her to bear a son. This boy was the reincarnated husband of 

 Aranjothi. 



8 Sometimes written Aranzodi, Sanskrit Arundhati. 



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