Note 139 — K (continued 4)

Popular versions of the story here related from the Purāna are told all over Southern India, where Kōmatis live. One of the most singular of these is narrated by Bishop Whitehead.139 “The story,” he writes, “goes that, in ancient days, there was a bitter hatred between the Kōmatis, who claim to belong to the Vaisya caste, and the Mlechas or barbarians. When the Kōmatis were getting worsted in the struggle for supremacy, they requested Parvati, the wife of Siva, to come and deliver them. It so happened that about that time Parvati was incarnate as a girl of the Kōmati caste, who was exceedingly beautiful. The Mlechas demanded that she should be given in marriage to one of their own people, and the refusal of the Kōmatis led to severe fighting, in which the Kōmatis, owing to the presence of the avatar of Siva among them, were completely victorious, and almost exterminated their enemies. After their victory, the Kōmatis entertained doubts as to the chastity of the girl, and compelled her to purify herself by passing through fire. This she did, and disappeared in the fire, resuming her real shape as Parvati, and taking her place beside Siva in heaven. Her last words were a command to the Kōmatis to worship her, if they wished their caste to prosper.”