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Hindu Sites and Places of Interest ]
171 ruined shrines of the Hindus of which one is known as the shrine of Shrīmātā or Kanyākumārī. In it is worshipped an image of a goddess variously known as Shrīmātā (Mother-goddess Shri) or Kunvāri Kanyā (virgin lady).1 There is an inscription here dated in the year 1497 V. S. Just opposite to the small shrine of Shrīmātā is an open
1 A legend is current amongst people round about Ābu region that Rasio Vālama was a mystic well-versed in magic or taniric charms. He fell in love with the princess of a chief of Ābu but the parents of the lady did not give their consent to this match. Ultimately the king placed a seemingly impossible condition to the effect that if Rasio Vālama was able to construct twelve different roads ( passes) on the sides of Ābu (for people to reach its tops from the foot of the mount), before dawn when the cock crows, the lady would be given in marriage to Rasiyā. Rasiyā Vālama took up the challenge and with bis magic powers started the work in the evening. The mother of the Princess, who did not desire that such a union should take place, made an artificial sound of the cock sometime before daybreak, and Rasiyā, thinking that the time was over, left cff his work in sheer despair. He however, realised soon afterwards that he was cheated by the queen-mother and became angry. He cursed that both the mother and the daughter be turned into stone figures. He then broke the stone figure of the mother by throwing stones at it, the stones thus thrown formed a heap nearby. This heap of stone, is shown to believing pilgrims. The Princess, turned into stone, is worshipped as Shrimātā or the Kunvāri kanyā (virgin lady). Vālama took poison with a broken heart and died. The cup held by the figure of Rasiyā Vālama is supposed to represent the cup of poison. Some native people think that the figure called Rasiyā Vālama represents the sage (rşhi) Vālmiki.
(I am inclined to think that the figure of Vālama represents Vālināha, the Shaiva-monk who is said to have obstructed construction of Vimala Vasahi.Translator.)
