1S35.] S/eve?ison's account of the P''h(wsigai s. 2G1 



Lakshmi ever obtained. The caste of Sldid gars hid is 

 said to have sprung from the union of a woman of the 

 Pdtrdivat (stone-cutter) tribe, and of a Kiihi or Kahir 

 (boat-man). Kah'ir Rlshi, the author or compiler of 

 one of the Fedas, taught the art of magic to some of 

 the first of this race, who have now lost the greater part 

 of their original skill. The deity which they conceive 

 chiefly entitled to their worship is the goddess CffowDi, 

 whose principal shrine is in Malabar, where, I under- 

 stand, the caste is most numerous. North of the 

 Krhlina they worship Kamakshika^ a goddess whose 

 chief pagoda is in Kandahar. 



The descendants of a Mahd purushci named Maf si- 

 DATA, a Jan gam of Parvati Malkdrgin on the Krishna, 

 are still looked upon by the Skudgarshids as their guru^. 

 It is related that two Shids Ling shid and Musem shid 

 used to sit in the burial-grounds at Delhi up to their 

 necks in the earth ; and that at night, by the power of 

 their incantations, they caused the dead to rise and to 

 wander as evil spirits through the . city. The Mahd 

 jmrushd, Malsidaya, famed for the strict observance of 

 all his religious and moral duties, and for the severity 

 of his penances, visited Delhi, and by the divine aid ac- 

 corded to him in reward of his piety, counteracted the 

 deeds of the Shudgdrshidfi, and finally cast out the evil 

 spirits. The Skids fell at his feet, acknowledged his 

 superior power, and bound themselves and their poste- 

 rity to consider and to obey him and his descendants as 

 their gurus. Up to this day, i\\Q SJiudgdrshi(h <iY& said, 

 once a year, to visit the descendants of jMat^sidaya at 

 their Matts in Parvati Malkdrgin, to make their ofier- 

 ings to the Jangams, and to recieve from them the small 

 bags in which they carry their charms. There is also 

 in Mir itch, in the southern Mahratta country, a shrine 

 much visited by the SJrudgdrshids. It is the tomb of a 

 Muhaminedan saint called Siieinna Mir YaiuambaKj 



