| Ishta Devatas
or presiding deities for families are quite well known. So also is Ishta Devatas for many
of the erst-while ruling houses in India. A presiding deity for a particular part of the
country is also not unknown. Pauri Devi or Paudi Devi or Ma Paudi is the presiding deity
of the Singh- bhum district in Chotanagpur, a division of the State of Bihar. According to the Vamsa Prava Lekhana, Paudi Devi originally came
from Ceylon. Vamsa Prava Lekhana is a chronicle which has been faithfully recorded in palm
leaves by a family of Dogras, who have followed the Simha Dynasty of Rathors from
Rameswaram to Singhbhum, Kanjo, Rajputana and back to Singbhum through all the
vicissitudes of history and have recorded the chief events in each reign from generation
to generation.
The present palm leaf manu- script was copied out from the
original in the year 1700 of the Samvat (1643 A.D.), during the reign of Kashiram Singh
11, the 41st king of the Singh dynasty. Maguni Rout Dogra, son of Chitra Rout copied it,
and the dates of events are given in the Vikram Samvat or the Gajapati Era. The language
and the script are in Oriya. According to this important chronicle, when the Simhas were
installed by Lord Sri Ramachandra to keep guard over Rameswaram, this deity (Ma Paudi)
appeared before them in a dream saying that she had come to sustain them in their efforts
to keep -watch over the 14,000 Hara lingas. |
