Mythological Trail of Manav Sangrahalaya
The depiction on the entry wall tells the story of the Gond origin. Badadev sat on the surface of Lotus leaf. He thought of creating the universe, as there was water around. He made a crow from the dirt of his body and sent him to find the earth. After a long search crow felt tired and sat on the claw of a great crab known as Kakramal Kshatriya. He explained to the crab the purpose of his search. The crab told him that the earth is diminishing as the Keechakmal (earthworm) was eating it slowly. Kakramal helped crow as he brought out Keechakmal and squeezed his neck so that he spat the earth out. With the clay carried by the crow, Badadev created all the creatures.
One day a man asked Badadev, “what he and his children should eat?” Then Badadev broke three strands of his hair and threw them on the earth, which turned into the Mango, Teak and Kasi trees. The man was given tools by Dev to make something out of the trees. Whenever the man struck the wood with the Kotela (pickaxe), Phadki (woodpecker) sitting above imitated him. He continuously got distracted and as a result, the wood became crooked. All three trees were cut down in this manner without anything getting made. The man in anger threw the Kotela at Phadki, which flew off, and the Kotela also disappeared into the sky. Once again the man went to Dev to tell his sorry tale. On hearing the story the Dev gave him ash to put in the roots of those trees and ask him to think seriously about the reason behind the wood becoming crooked. When he put the ash, the trees flowered. He began his work new but was unable to find the secret. Depressed, he hit the ground with the stick and then suddenly the Basin Kanya, the bamboo girl came out. Anna Mai, the grain goddess emerged from inside the Basin Kanya. The crooked stick became the first plough with which the man has been farming ever. Additionally, the Gond woman took inspiration from the anthill and made the Lillar Kothi or a mud granary to safe-keep the grain for a long time. The story on the Kothi describes itself how the inner arch of the granary is treated as the sky where the Kotela and the bird disappeared.
