der-working cow, in
order to repel the aggression of Vishwamitra. Local tradition traces
their origin to the celebrated Seori of the Ramayana, who is supposed
to have lived somewhere near the present Seorinarayan in the Bilaspur
District and to have given her name to this place. Ramchandra in his
wanderings met her there, ate the plums which she had gathered for
him after tasting each one herself, and out of regard for her devotion
permitted her name to precede his own of Narayan in that given to the
locality. Another story makes one Jara Savar their original ancestor,
who was said to have shot Krishna in the form of a deer. Another states
that they were created for carrying stones for the construction of
the great temple at Puri and for dragging the car of Jagannath, which
they still do at the present time. Yet another connecting them with the
temple of Jagannath states that their ancestor was an old Bhil hermit
called Sawar, who lived in Karod, two miles from Seorinarayan. The
god Jagannath had at this time appeared in Seorinarayan and the old
Sawar used to worship him. The king of Orissa had built the great
temple at Puri and wished to install Jagannath in it, and he sent
a Brahman to fetch him from Seorinarayan, but nobody knew where he
was except the old hermit Sawar. The Brahman besought him in vain
to be allowed to see the god and even went so far as to marry his
daughter, and finally the old man consented to take him blindfold to
the place. The Brahman, however, tied some mustard seeds in a corner
of his cloth and made a hole in it so that they dropped out one by one
on the way. After some time they grew up and served to guide him to
the spot. This story of the mustard seeds of course finds a place in
the folklore of many nations. The Brahman then went to Seorinarayan
alone and begged the god to go to Puri. Jagannath consented, and
assuming the form of a log of wood floated down the Mahanadi to Puri,
where he was taken out and placed in the temple. A carpenter agreed
to carve the god's image out of the log of wood on condition that
the temple should be shut up for six months while the work was going
on. But some curious people opened the door before the time and the
work could not proceed, and thus the image of the god is only half
carved out of the wood up to the present day. As a consolation to the
old man the god ordained that the place should bear the hermit's name
before his own as Seorinarayan. Lastly the S