The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.41

v1.c11.41

become pure on being mixed with the remnants of offerings made to Viṣṇu.¹⁶ Ingenious as these explanations doubtless are, they cannot suffice to remove the suspicion, that Śiva was originally a god of the aborigines, and that the Hindus first hated him, then became indifferent, then tolerated him, and lastly, accepted him, as a great god; but, particular as they always have been regarding the use of food touched by the aboriginal races, the original repugnance to taste of food offered to the god by low caste people could not be got over, or at least the memory of it lasted so long that an explanation or reconciliation was called for.