Note 62 — Chapter II · HEROIC GODLINGS

Near the western gates of Zinzuwada is seen the celebrated shrine of Rājbāi Mātā. In old times Zinzuwada was only the nehado62 of a Bharvād called Zunzā. At that time the queen of the reigning prince of Pātan could not be delivered of a child even though two years had passed since the time of conception. Once while on tour the queen’s party encamped near the nehado of Zunzā Bharvād. The latter, when he learnt of the queen’s misfortune, said that the co-wives of the queen had bewitched her by the kāman art, i.e., by passing an earthen pot round her and by burying the pot underground with a live frog hanging with its head downwards in it. He added that the queen would not be delivered unless the frog was brought out by some stratagem. He asked the queen and her followers to stay there for some time, and sent word to Pātan with a messenger that the queen was delivered of a son. The co-wives of the queen, dismayed at the unexpected news and at the futility of the kāman art, went to look at the buried frog, which instantly jumped out and at the same moment the pregnant queen gave birth to a son. As the child was brought to birth by the instructions of a Siddha-purusha (a magician), it was named Siddharāj. The town of Zinzuwada was built in memory of Zunzā Bharvād, and a temple of Rājbāi Mātā was erected in honour of the queen. A large lake named Sensāsar was also constructed in memory of Sensā, the brother of Zunzā.63