________________
244
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XII.
because it is of him that the stories of possessing 9 lakh archers and other extraordinary things are told. The confusion is accentuated by the fact that both the kings were conquered by Musalmāns, and as Antamaraja fled through fear of the Muhammadans, he is wrongly relegated to the times of the most celel rated of the Prataparudras instead of the weaker one. If Annamaraja be identified as brother of the earlier Pratapa udra whom the Musalman historians call Luddardēo,1 the period of 400 years (13023 to 1702 A.D.) would have to be allotted to 10 generations with about 40 years cach, which is improbable. Unfortunately the name of the king whom Ahmad Shah ousted is not given, but apparently it was Prataparudra, which has been a favor rite name in the family. Annamaraja was apparently the brother of this latter. Prataparudra, on whose defeat he fled towards Bastar. The story of 1 is flight as told by the people of Bastar recounts how he prayed his household goddess to assist him, whereupon she directed him to advance saying that she would follow him; as long as he heard the tinkling of her anklets behind him, he was to proceed, and he was certain of overcoming all who stood against him, but if he looked behind himself once, fortune would desert his arms. A Nagavarsi Raja was at this time in possession of the Bastar country, and Annamaraja proceeded against his chief towns Bhairamgarh and Barsur and took them. He then marched forward, when, in crossing the Dankini river, the goddess's feet sank deep in the sand: not hearing the tinkling of the anklet Annamaraja turned round; upon this the goddess became angry and reproached him with his want of faith. At last she relented and sa'd that he might go and conquer all the country within 5 days' journey, but that she could not further accompany him and would remain where she was.
Annamaraja went forward and the goddess, who from this time was called Dantesvari, took the form of a poor beggar girl and worked with Bhandari Naik, to whom she afterwards revealed herself, and to this iny the descendants of the Naik hold office about her temple in Dante wārā. Annamaraja conquered the whole of the Bastar territory and selected Madhōta as his capital, while he built a temple at Dantewarà for the goddess. His successors further improved it by making additions and repairs and endowing it munificently. There is a free grant estate consisting of 138 villages for its maintenance. Such was the influence which the goddess exercised on the minds of her devotees that Colonel Glasfurd writing in 1862 noted, 'Nothing is done, no business undertaken without consulting her; not even will the Raja or Diwan proceed on a pleasure party or hunting excursion without consulting "Mai" (mother). Her advice is asked in matters of the most trivial nature; flowers are placed on the head of the idol and as they fall to the right or to the left, so is the reply interpreted as favourable or otherwise.' It is notorious that human sacrifices were offered to her until about 1842 A.D., and that when the Raja was once summoned to Nagpur, as many as 25 grown-up men were offered to ensure safe journey. It is however singular that our inscriptions, which mention the unusual ceremony of kutumbayātrā, an occasi n of profuse spilling of blood, should no: at all refer to any human victim being sacrificed at the time. It is indeed the bloody aspect of this goddess which seems to have given her the name of Dantesvari, as one of the fierce forms of Devi is Raktadenti or bloody-toothed. Her representation in the temple is merely that of Mahishasuramardini, killing the buffalo demon. The folk etymology cornects her with Draupadi, of whom she is said to be an incarnation. According to the legends of the Raja's family she has changed her name several times. When the family ruled at Delhi, she was called Dillyéśvari, when they removed to Mathura, she became Bhuvanesvari, and when they migrated to Warangal, she assumed the
1 Briggs, Firishta, Vol. 1, p. 371.
Duff's Chronology gives 1294 A.D. as the date of Prataparudra's necession to the throne; see p. 208.
it may be noted that this is only a surmise on the assumption that the genealogy given in the inscription is corr. et and does not omit any names. Mr. Krishra Sastri suggests that the Prataparuda of cur inscription may be another person belonging to the Gajapati dynasty of Orissa, who is believed to have been powerful in Telingana in the sixteenth century A.D. Report, p. 98.
Elliott's Report, 1856, p. 22.
