Adi Deo Arya Devata

Book excerpt: Even a cursory mapping of the spiritual-cultural landscapereveals a deep symbiotic relationship between tribalsand nontribals, which is amply reflected in ancient literature and inscriptions. Tribals have made an enormous contribution to India scivilization;all major gods of the Indic tradition have tribal links. Shiva was worshipped by forest-dwelling communities in large parts of the country, as were Vishnu s incarnations as Varaha (boar) and Narasimha(lion).Vishnu,in fact,evolved out of several distinct deities, notably Vasudeva, supreme lord of the Vrishni/Satvata tribe; Krishna of the Yadava clan;Gopala of the Abhira tribe; and Narayana of the Hindukush mountains. Similarly, Gautama Buddha hailed from the Sakya tribe; Vardhaman Mahavira was a scion of the Jnatrikas.There is, to this day,a close relationship between the Kurumba, Lambadi, Yenadi, Yerukula and Chenchu tribes and Shri Venkateshwar of Tirupathi. Lord Ayyappan in Kerala and MataVaishno Devi in Jammu also appear to have tribal links.