________________
THE FOLKLORE OF GUJARAT
In the village of Chunval, a few miles to Persons anxious to attain heaven, bathe in the north of Viramgam, there is a kund the Mrigi kund on Mount Girnar; and a bath known as Loteshwar, near which stands a in the Revati kund, which is in the same pipal tree. Persons possessed by ghosts or place, confers male issue on the bather.5 devils, are freed from possession by pouring There is also a kund of the shape of an water at the foot of the tree and taking elephant's footprint Pagahein on Mount turns round it, remaining silent the while. Girnăr. It never empties and is held most
A bath in the Män-sarovar near Bahu- sacred by pilgrims. People bathe in the charaji is said to cause the wishes of the Gomati kund near Dwārkā and take a little bather to be fulfilled. There is a local of the earth from its bed, for the purificatradition that a Rajput woman was turned tiont of their souls. In the village of into a male Rajput of the Solanki class by a Bābara, Babhruvāhan, the son of Arjun, is bath in its waters, 1
said to have constructed several kunds, all of There is a kund called Zilāka near Zinzu- which are believed to be holy. wādā with a temple of Naleshwar Mahādev The Lasundra kund near Lasundra in the near it. The kund is said to have been built Kaira Districts and the Tulsi-shyama kund at the time of King Nala. It is believed on Mount Girnar contain hot waters. locally that every year, on the 15th day of There is also a hot kund called Devki-unai, the bright half of Bhadrapad, the holy about thirty miles to the south of Surat. Ganges visits the kund by an underground There the waters remain hot throughout route. A great fair is held there on that the whole of the year, except on the day, when people bathe in the kund and give fifteenth day of the bright half of Chaitra. alms to the poor. There is also another On this day, the waters cool, and people kund close by, known as Bholava, where the can bathe in the kund. Many pilgrims visit river Saraswati is believed to have halted and the place on this occasion, to offer money, manifested herself on her way to the sea. cocoanuts, and red lac to the unai mātā,
There is a kund in Baladāna near Vadh. whose temple stands near the kund. It is wan, dedicated to Hol, the favourite mäta! said that King Rāma built this leund while of the Chārans. In this kund, black or red performing a local sacrifice, and brought gagar bediuus-pieces of cotton thread-are water up from the pātāl ( nether regions ) sometimes scen floating in the water. They by shooting an arrow into the earth.10 appear only for a moment, and sink if any Other holy kunds are: the Bhim kund, the one endeavours to seize them. The appear- Gomukhi-ganga, and the Kamandalu lund ance of black pieces forebodes famine: but on Mount Girnar near the temple of Bhimthe red ones foretell prosperity."
nāth Mahadeo; the Rādhā kund, the Lalita In Bhadakon near Chuda there is a kund kund, and the Krishna-sarovar in Dwarka; called Garigavo. The place is celebrated as the Rāma sarovar, the Sitã kund and the the spot of the hermitage of the sage Bhrigu Devki-unai kund in Ayodhya (Oudb); 11 and and a fair is held there annually on the last the Suraj kund12 and the Hanumāndhāral day of Bhadrapad.
kund on Mount Girnār.
1 The Schoolmaster of Kolki. 3 Mr. M. S. Shah, ZinzuwĀda. • The Shastri of Jetpur Pathashala, 7 The Schoolmaster of Khirasari, . Mr. Jairam Vasaram, Jodia, 11 Mr. N. D. Vora, Rajpara. 13 The Schooimaster of Gondal Taluka.
? Mr. M H. Raval, Vanod. • Mr. N. M. Dave, Sanki, & Mr. L. D. Metha, Mota Devalia. • The Schoolmaster of Lewaria. 10 Mr. K. D. Desai. 12 The Schoolmaster of Moti Murad, • See P. 42.
