The Portuguese were established in India, but it is not probable that the
Krishna stories of that class were even known in the Peninsula (or perhaps
anywhere else) in the time of the author of the Periplus, 1450 years
before; and 'tis as little likely that the locality owed its name to
Yasoda's Infant, as that it owed it to the Madonna in St. Francis Xavier's
Church that overlooks the Cape.
Fra Paolino, in his unsatisfactory way (Viaggio, p. 68), speaks of Cape
Comorin, "which the Indians call Canyamuri, Virginis Promontorium, or
simply Comari or Cumari 'a Virgin,' because they pretend that
anciently the goddess Comari 'the Damsel,' who is the Indian Diana or
Hecate, used to bathe" etc. However, we can discover from his book
elsewhere (see pp. 79, 285) that by the Indian Diana he means Parvati,
i.e. Durga.
Lassen at first[1] identified the Kumari of the Cape with Parvati; but
afterwards connected the name with a story in the Mahabharata about
certain Apsarases changed into Crocodiles.[2] On the whole there does
not seem sufficient ground to deny that Parvati was the original object
of worship at Kumari, though the name may have lent itself to various
legends.]
[Illustration:
