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JUNX, 1025)
LEGENDS OF THE GODLINGS OF THE SIMLA HILLS
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(3) at the Rehall, when 11 images called the 11 müls are brought, the shepherds also bringing their sheep and returning to the Dhår at night. The pujárds feast the people and next day two images (kunartf) go to Kamali village to receive their dues", and two images go to Newri village for the same purpose. These two images are the Deo-ka-Mohra and that of Man Singh of Kullu :
(4) at the Nag Panchami in Bhadou, when the observances resemble those at the Salokri:
(5) at the Magh or Makkar Shankrant, when three goats are sacrificed, one given by the Kumhârsain State ; one by the zami ndars and a third by the people of Loli village. The deotd also gets alms. One of the temples at Tikkar belongs to the Kandard people and the other to those of Jadûn and Madhân.
It may be noted here that there is also a Någ deotd at Kandi kothi in Suket, who is an offshoot of the Kalwa Nag deota.
The legend is that a Brahman of Bharând village went to Charag, a village in Suket, and asked some women, who were husking rice, to give him rice as bhog (food) for his idol of the Nag. The women scornfully declined to give him any, so the image stuck to the okhal, and warned by this miracle they gavo him some rice. At this time a bhat, which dwelt in a large stone, used to devour human beings and cattle, so the people called on the Nag for help, and he in the guise of lightning broke the stone in pieces and killed the bhut. The people built the Någ a temple which had 11 rooms.
Another Nag's temple stands at Hemri in Bhajji. Crows destroyed the crops in this village, and so a Bharana Brahman brought an image of the Nag and established it at Hemri. Dum deota, who also lives there, made friends with the Nag. The place where they live is called Deothan.8
At Newri village Dhai Nag slew a bhût who used to kill cattle. It lived in a stone close behind the village and a Newri woman secretly worshipped it, but Kalwa Nag destroyed the stone with the devil inside it, and overwhelmed the house of the woman, who was killed together with her 3 sheep. When the Någ goes to this village, he sits on the spot and speaks to the people. Every third year the Någ goes to Bharana and there drinks milk from a vessel.
In Kelo, a village in Bhajji, there lived an old man and his wife who had no son, co they asked the Någ for one, and he told them to sit there one Sunday at a place which had been purified by cow's dung and urine, and there present a goat for sacrifice and think of him. This they did, and the Någ appeared in the sky in the form of a large eagle. Descending to the place he placed in the woman's lap a male child and bore away the goat. The old woman found her breasts full of milk and nursed the baby. This family is now called the Lud Parwar or Eagle's Family. This miracle is said to have occurred 700 years or 17 generations ago. Another miracle is thus described
Some people of Dhar, who were returning from the plains through Kunhi&r State halted at Kunhiar for the night. As they were singing the bar (songs) of the Nag, he as usual appear. ed in one of the men, who began to talk about the affairs in Kunhiêr. The Rand asked them about their deold and his power, and they said that their Någ deotd could work miracles. So the old Rand asked the Nag for a son and heir (tikká), and vowed that if by the Nag's blessing he had a tikkd he would invite the deota to Kunhiêr. The Rand was blessed with an heir, but he forgot his vow and the boy fell sick. When all hope of his life was lost, therBrâhmans said that some deota had caused his illness as a punishment for some ingratitude. The Rana, thus reminded of the vow, invited the Någ to Kunhiår, and it is said that one man from every house in his dominions accompanied the Någ to Kunhiår. The Rana, afraid to entertain
1 I.e., parach is the revenue which is equal to 4 pathae of grain. • Dootd and than a place, i.e., 'two Deotas' place.'
