OF BHARATAVARSA OR INDIA. 
133 
by his beautiful daughter Rukmini, may perhaps be con- 
nected with the aboriginal Gond race. 
Klmnde Rdva (Kliandoba) or Khandoji is, like Bhairava, 
an incarnation of Siva and much worshipped by the lower 
classes in the Maratha country. In that district he is every 
where revered as a house-hold deity and numerous temples 
are erected for his worship. The shepherds claim him as their 
tutelary deity. He is most frequently represented as riding 
on horseback, attended by a dog and accompanied by his wife 
Malsara, another form of Parvati. As he generally carries 
in his hand a big sword, his name is popularly derived from 
hhande, sword. I regard this explanation as very problem- 
atic, and, taking him as a representative national deity, 
prefer to connect his name with the aboriginal Khand people 
of Khandesh and its neighbourhood. It is now perhaps 
impossible to ascertain whether his worship is connected 
with the existence of a deified Khand leader. No historical 
record on this topic has come to us. I explain the common 
term Khandoba as originating from Klmnda (khande) + 
a familiar Marathi form for hdpd, father ; compare Ganesa 
Ganobd, Mahisa Mdhsohd, Vitthala Vithohd, Vinayaka Vinobd, 
About "Xonda, a name common to Chandalas," see Rev, W. Reeve's 
Canareseand English Dictioimnj, revised by Dr. Sanderson, p. 326. Tbe name 
of Khande Rdva is in Molesworth's Marathi and English Dictionary (second 
edition), p. 193, explained as : " m. {^i^ Sword, and XX^"^ An 
incarnation of Shiva." The word is peculiarly enough not found in this 
Marathi dictionary in the sense of sword, though seven different meanings of 
this word are given on p. 191 and nine various renderings of jgj^ are 
contained on p. 202, without, however, mentioning that of sword. The 
Hindustani \^\^-khdndd, sword, is explained as a derivation of the Sanskrit 
^(^-khadga. Khanda in the Uriya language signifies a sword. Even if this 
etymology is correct, it is not at all necessary that the term khande in 
Khande Rdva has the same origin. Many Indian gods carry, like Khandoba 
a sword, but are not called after it. 
The Hindu Pantheon by Edward Bloor, F.R.S., Madras, 1864, contains 
on pp. 285, 286, an account of Khandoba: " What I have to relate of 
Kandeh Rao is gathered chiefly from Poena Brahmans ; who state, that Siva 
became incarnate in his personage for the purpose of destroying an 
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