Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/361

Rh edict contained in it was, according to Dr. Hultzsch, probably issued about 1086 A.D., and records the grant of certain honorary privileges on the descendants of a family of merchants belonging to the Teliki family. That about the end of the 14th century A.D., the story of Kanyakamma was popular is obvious from the Telugu version of the Markandēya Purāna, which was composed by the poet Mārana, the disciple of Tikkana, the part author of the Telugu Bhārata. In this Purāna, the following episode, which bears a close resemblance to the story narrated in the Kanyaka Purāna, is introduced. A king, named Vrushadha, while on a hunting expedition, killed a cow, mistaking it for a "bison." He was cursed by Bhābhravya, the son of a Rishi, who was in charge of it, and in consequence became a Sūdra, by name Anaghakāra. He had seven sons, a descendant of one of whom was Nābhāga, who fell in love with a Kōmati girl, and asked her parents to give her in marriage to him. The Kōmatis replied much in the same manner as Kusuma srēshti and his friends did to the ministers of Vishnu Vardhana in the Kanyaka Purāna, Their answer will be found in canto VII, 223, of the Markandēya Purāna, which contains the earliest authentic literary reference to the name Kōmati. In effect they said " Thou art the ruler of the whole of this universe. Oh! King; we are but poor Kōmatis living by service. Say, then, how can we contract such a marriage? " The king was further dissuaded by his father and the Brāhmans. But all to no purpose. He carried off the girl, and married her in the rākshasa form (by forcible abduction), and, in consequence, in accordance with the law of Manu, became a Kōmati. He then performed penance, and again became a Kshatriya. It would seem that this episode, which is not found in the