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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JULY 1925
Seventh Group.-Independent Deotas. 32. The Deota Manun or Magneshwar.-At a village called Jalandhar in Kulla lived a Brahman, whose wife gave birth to a girl. When she was 12 years old, the girl, though a virgin, gave birth to twin serpents, but kept it secret and concealed her serpent sons in an earthen pot, and fed them on milk. One day she went out for a stroll, and asked her mother not to touch her dolls which were in the house, but unfortunately her mother, desiring to see her child's beloved dolls, uncovered the pot, and to her dismay the two serpents raised their hoods. Thinking the girl must be a witch, she threw burning ashes on them and killed one of them, but the other escaped to a ghard full of milk, and though burnt, turned into an image.
Meanwhile the virgin mother returned, and finding her loving sons so cruelly done by, she cut her throat and died on the spot. Her father came in to churn the milk, and in doing so broke the ghana in which, to his surprise, he found the image which the living serpent had become. Distressed at his daughter's suicide, he left his home, and taking the image in his turban he roamed from land to land.
At last he reached Sirmûr, whose Raja had no son. He treated the Brahman kindly, and he asked the Raja to give him his first-born son, if he wanted more children through the power of his image. The Raja agreed, and by the grace of the image he was blessed with two sons, the elder of whom was made over to the Brahman together with a jagir, which consisted of the parganas of Rajana, Mathiana, Shilli, Sheol and Chadara, now in Phägu Tahsil in Keonthal. It was called Rajana, and its former Thakurs have a history of their own, as their family had ruled there for several generations.
Hither the Brahman brought the Raja's elder son and settled at Rajána village, commonly called Mal Rajana in Shilli pargana. The Brahman settled at Manon, a village to the north-west of Rajana, where another deotâ was oppressing the people. But the Brahman revealed his miraculous image and people began to worship Magneshwar as a greater deota. He killed the oppressor, and the people burned all his property, certain mavis who resisted being cruelly put to death by the devotees of the new deota. Deori Dhar village was set on fire and the people in it burnt alive.
Later on when the Gesù family of the Kumhârsain chiefs had established themselves in the country, the deotá helped the Thakur (now the Rånå of Kumhårsain) to gain & victory over the Sirmûr Raja. The Kumharsain) State gave a jagir, now worth Rs. 166, to the Magneshwar deota of Manûn. He has a large temple, and the chief among his kardars is the bhandari who keeps the jágir accounts.
Sada barat (alms) are given to sådhús, faqirs or Brahmans. He is worshipped daily morning and evening by his pujaris. A meld is held annually at Manûn on the 17th or 18th Baisakh and another at the Diwali at night. Every third year another meld called the shilaru pitja is held. A big půjå meld is performed every 7th or 8th year and a still bigger one called shang every 30 years. When a new Rånå ascends the gaddi, the deord tours the country belonging to him. This is called rajdoli jatra.
The Nagar-Koția or Dum Deota of Sharmallâ was on friendly terms with this deotá, but they quarrelled while dancing at Shamokhar in Rånå Pritavi Singh's time, and so a dispute aroge about the right to hold a meld at Shamokhar. This quarrel lasted for a long time and the parganas of Sheol and Ubdesh (devotees of Dum and Manûn) ceased paying revenue to the State, until the British Government decided that the Daro Jal and Dagrot zamindars should pay Rs. 30 as chershi to Magneshwar deotá every third year, and that no deotá should be allowed to hold any meld at Shamokhar. This deotd is not duda dhari, and goats are sacrificed to him.
33. The Deota Melan or Chatar Mukh in Kotga, h. This deota is believed to be one of the most powerful gods in these hills. He is the family god of the Kot Khai and Khaneti chiefs and also of the Thâkur of Karangla. More than 3,000 years ago, when there were no
