Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/32

MARAVAN "Some say the word Maravan is derived from marani, sin; a Maravan being one who commits sin by killing living creatures without feeling pity, and without fear of god." *

The Maravans claim descent from Guha or Kuha, Rāma's boatman, who rowed him across to Ceylon. According to the legend, Rama promised Guha that he would come back at a fixed time. When he failed to return, Guha made a fire, whereon to burn himself to death. Hanumān, however, prevented him from committing suicide, and assured him that Rāma would shortly return. This came to pass, and Rāma, on learning what Guha had done, called him Maravan, a brave or reckless fellow. According to another legend, the god Indra, having become enamoured of Ahalya, set out one night to visit her in the form of a crow, and, seating himself outside the dwelling of the Rishi her husband, cawed loudly. The Rishi, believing that it was dawn, went off to bathe, while Indra, assuming the form of her husband, went in to the woman, and satisfied his desire. When her husband reached the river, there were no signs of dawn, and he was much perturbed, but not for long, as his supernatural knowledge revealed to him how he had been beguiled, and he proceeded to curse Indra and his innocent wife. Indra was condemned to have a thousand female organs of generation all over his body, and the woman was turned into a stone. Indra repented, and the Rishi modified his disfigurement by arranging that, to the onlooker, he would seem to be clothed or covered with eyes, and the woman was allowed to resume her feminine form when Rāma, in the course of his wanderings, should tread on her. The