Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism 141 



would seem to connect them with the Hindu Saktis. It is quite 

 probable that the same causes have developed female deities in 

 both cults. The reason for the Dravidian deities being female is 

 probably nothing very profound, and is not especially compli- 

 mentary to the female sex among the Dravidians. The quahties 

 which bring these goddesses the worship of the people are their 

 most undesirable ones. These qualities are quarrelsomeness, vin- 

 dictiveness, jealousy, and similar attributes. 



It is a generally admitted fact in South India that it is the 

 Dravidian women rather than the men who are adepts in the use 

 of bad language and vigorous terms of defamation. Aryan and 

 Mohammedan influence has somewhat suppressed the Dravidian 

 women, yet it is commonly known that these women usually se- 

 cure their own way, and that by methods not always pleasant. 

 Their curses, too, are not unknown, and are much feared. When 

 such a woman attains the freedom and power of a spirit, and 

 there is reason to believe that she has returned to the scenes of 

 her life, it is considered wise to propitiate her. The entire ex- 

 planation is in all probability simply that the feminine character- 

 istics of the Dravidians are such as to make their ghosts more 

 feared than those of the men.*^ 



The fundamental conception of the Dravidians with regard to 

 the origin of their gods is without doubt that they are the spirits 

 of departed people. The basis is the primitive belief in ghosts. 

 The Dravidians have a great fear of ghosts of all kinds, regard- 

 less of what their earthly career has been.^° 



*8 The worship of the female Dravidian deities is very commonly spoken 

 of as mother worship. This is the term used by Monier-Williams (Brah- 

 manism and Hinduism, pp. 222-229). He admits that many of their func- 

 tions are anything but maternal. Hopkins {The Religions of India, p. 

 415) uses the same term and then proceeds to describe local demons. At 

 times the people will call a beneficient deity a tali or mother, but this is 

 unusual. The perantalu often seem to be considered as benevolent to 

 some extent. The general idea, however, which the Dravidians have of 

 their gods is not at all maternal, and I believe that mother worship did not 

 originate with them either as to the name or the conception. It comes 

 from the Hindu idea of the Saktis who are the wives of the gods, and so 

 may properly be considered to be mothers. 



5° Census of Madras, 1891, III, p. 60, remarks that there is very little 



