Editing Chamunda (section)

==Origins==
[[Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar]] says that Chamunda was originally a tribal goddess, worshipped by the tribals of the [[Vindhya]] mountains in central [[India]]. These tribes were known to offer goddesses animal as well as [[Purushamedha|human sacrifices]] along with liquor. These methods of worship were retained in Tantric worship of Chamunda, after its assimilation into mainstream Hinduism. He proposes the fierce nature of this goddess is due to her association with [[Rudra]] ([[Shiva]]), identified with the fire god [[Agni]] at times.<ref>''Vaisnavism Saivism and Minor Religious Systems'' By Ramkrishna G. Bhandarkar, p.205, Published 1995, Asian Educational Services, {{ISBN|81-206-0122-X}}</ref> Wangu also backs the theory of the tribal origins of the goddess.<ref>Wangu p.174</ref>