Very few of
such Godlings have a regular temple and mounds of earth mostly represent them. The
forest-dwellers and those who have to go to the forest for their work worship the Baghaunt
Godling. Naturally they are anxious to propitiate the God who controls the tiger. Here
also the legendary Lorik, the Ahir boy belonging to the cowherd class, who fought the
tiger single-handed, had won blessings from a Hindu God. The stories of Goreya Baba,
another Godling, are other instances. The base of most of the Godling-creeds is Hinduism
and the legends connected with the Ramayana and Mahabharata etc., have freely been
incorporated for such worship. The temples and
legends in a, particular State show how some of the cultural trends of different areas
have cut across the zonal barriers. As a matter of fact, when the communications had not
developed and travelling was not easy, it was the temples that, in a way, determined the
main routes of communications and the trends of thoughts and exchange of ideas. The
legends have never had any, geographical limits. |