Tribes in Ancient India c77.215

c77.215

**Parṇaśavaras** The Parṇa-śavaras, located in the right foot of the tortoise, in the Kurmaniveśa section of the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*,¹⁰ were undoubtedly a tribe of the Śavaras. Presumably this particular section of the Śavaras used leaves of trees as their wearing apparel. A girdle of leaves serves as clothing of many aboriginal peoples of today and we have representations of such individuals in ancient Indian sculptures and paintings. The Parṇaśavaras are incidentally mentioned in the early Bengali Caryāpadas and evidently these were the people from whom was derived the conception of the goddess Parṇa-śavarī in Vajrayāna-Buddhism.