Lingo the Culture-Bringer
Gondi · demigod · mythic founding age of Gond society · Recorded classification
Gondi pen 'god'. Culture-hero/demigod (half-divine founder). Modern Koitur revival venerates him as Pari Kupar Lingo; Kachargad cave is a pilgrimage site. Hislop's 1866 transcription of a Pardhan bard is the earliest recorded Lingo epic.
Domains
- culture and civilization
- agriculture
- music
- law
Powers
- frees the imprisoned clan-gods from the cave by music
- organizes the Gond into the clan-and-phratry system
- institutes the ghotul youth-dormitory
Epithets
- Pari Kupar Lingo The culture-hero who freed and ordered the Gond clans and founded their law and songVerrier Elwin; W. V. Grigson, on Gond tradition (secondary)
- Pahandi Pari Kupar Lingo the culture-hero founder of Koya Punem, the 'way of nature', and the 18 Gond clansWikipedia, 'Gondi people'; Forward Press, 'What about Pari Kupar Lingo...' (secondary)
Relations
- ally: Mother of the GondsIn the Kachargad charter-myth Lingo frees the imprisoned Gond children of mother Kali Kankali and founds the clan order.Motiravan Kangali, Pari Kupar Lingo Gondi Punem Darshan (Nagpur 1997); cf. S. Hislop, Papers Relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces (1866) (secondary)
Sources
- Pari Kupar Lingo (Lingo Pen) is the great Gond culture-hero who frees the clan-gods from the Kachargad cave by music, founds the Koya Punem religion and Saga clan system, and brings agriculture, marriage, music and the ghotul; his deeds are sung by Pardhan and Ojha bards.: Hislop, S. (1866). The Legend of Lingo, in Papers Relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, ed. R. Temple. Nagpur. (scholarship); Elwin, V. (1947). The Muria and their Ghotul. Oxford University Press. (scholarship); Elwin, V. (1949). Myths of Middle India. Oxford University Press. (scholarship)