Koshti, Koshta, Salewar. [615]--The Maratha and Telugu caste of
weavers of silk and fine cotton cloth. They belong principally to
the Nagpur and Chhattisgarh Divisions of the Central Provinces, where
they totalled 157,000 persons in 1901, while 1300 were returned from
Berar. Koshti is the Marathi and Salewar the Telugu name. Koshti may
perhaps have something to do with kosa or tasar silk; Salewar is said
to be from the Sanskrit Salika, a weaver, [616] and to be connected
with the common word sari, the name for a woman's cloth; while the
English 'shawl' may be a derivative from the same root. The caste
suppose themselves to be descended from the famous Saint Markandi
Rishi, who, they say, first wove cloth from the fibres of the lotus
flower to clothe the nakedness of the gods. In reward for this he
was married to the daughter of Surya, the sun, and received with
her as dowry a giant named Bhavani and a tiger. But the giant was
disobedient, and so Markandi killed him, and from his bones fashioned
the first weaver's loom. [617] The tiger remained obedient to Markandi,
and the Koshtis think that he still respects them as his descendants;
so that if a Koshti should meet a tiger in the forest and say the name
of Markandi, the tiger will pass by and not molest him; and they say
that no Koshti has ever been killed by a tiger. On their side they
will not kill or injure a tiger, and at their weddings the Bhat or
genealogist brings a picture of a tiger attached to his sacred scroll,
known as Padgia, and the Koshtis worship the picture. A Koshti will
not join in a beat for tiger for the same reason; and other Hindus say
that if he did the tiger would single him out and kill him, presumably
in revenge for his breaking the pact of peace between them. They also
worship the Singhwahini Devi, or Devi riding on a tiger, from which it
may probably be deduced that the tiger itself was formerly the deity,
and has now developed into an anthropomorphic goddess.