DEIIWAR, also written Dewar and Deehwar, in Northern India, the village deity, the deity under whose care the village is placed ; the genius loci, to whom, at each harvest, a portion of grain is set apart. The corresponding term in the north west is rhanapati, the lord of the place ; in Buudelkhand, Gram deota or Gramma-deva. In Saugor the deity is styled Miroyea, from the fact of his being the guardian of boundaries. The Dehwar is also very commonly, and even where these local names prevail, styled Bhoomia, from Bhoom, land. The occupation of the Dehwar is very much like that of the Roman Lares rurales, qui compita servant, Et vigilant nostra nipper in urbe Lares.' The Dehwar deities have various local names, such as Kutesuree, Burnaichu, Hunwut, Bhoom Scn, Chanwur, Casheenath, Munsa Ram, Hurdour, Rutnoo, Huree Ram, Jharkhund Eesoor, Kall Sen, Bisharee ; ofttimes they are the spirits of good men, of Brahmans or village heroes, but who, when they become objects of worship, come to be generally considered very malicious devils ; and ofttimes they are nothing but mere epithets of the Dii majores. In ,some places their images are of male,in others of female, figures. In many places
the villagers, for fear of misrepreseiating their Gramma deota, erect a stone without form or feature, like the si Deo si Dem of the Romans, which ambiguous expression was addre,ssed to their tutelary gods, to obviate all chance of mistake. The worship of these village gods is fixed to no stated day. In some places it occurs on the 14th of every month ; in others, on the full moon of Cheyt ; at others, on the full moon of Katik, and so on. The unshapen stone or log of wood is a common form of the village deity of the Penin sula ; but Hanuman is a frequent form between the Nerbadda and the Kistna rivers ; and to the south is the Ai, the Amman or Amma, or some deified hero, or a shapeless stone from the bed of a river. These Dehwar or Gramma deota are ante-Brahmanical ; and with respect to the gods of the south of India there are many circum stances of their worship which are not of Hindu origna.—Elliot, quoting Bombay Literary TAMS actions • Journal B. A. S., Nos. ix. and x. ; Buch anan's 'East Ind. ii. pp. 138, 352, 178 ; Wilson's Hindu Theatre, i. p. 21, ii. p. 64.