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'''Mhasoba''', pronounced "MUH-SO-BAA", is a horned [[Domestic buffalo|buffalo]] [[deity]] of pastoral tribes in Western and Southern [[India]].<ref name=drury>{{cite book|last=Drury|first=Nevill|title=The dictionary of the esoteric: 3000 entries on the mystical and occult traditions|year=2004|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1989-4|pages=285|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-tVr09oq3IC&q=Mhasoba+deity+buffalo&pg=PA285}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fuller|first=Christopher John|title=The camphor flame: popular Hinduism and society in India|year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-12048-5|pages=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=To6XSeBUW3oC&q=Mhasoba+deity+buffalo&pg=PA144}}</ref> In [[Maharashtra]], many [[Gawli]]s (tribes making their living cow-herding and by selling milk and milk products) have been worshipping this deity for hundreds of years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Berkson|first=Carmel|title=The divine and demoniac: Mahisa's heroic struggle with Durga|year=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-563555-3|pages=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1x3fbEC3KnsC&q=durga+Maharashtra&pg=PA90}}</ref>

[[Polly O'Hanlon|Rosalind O'Hanlon]], Professor at the [[University of Oxford]] stated that Mhasoba is traditionally very popular in the [[Maratha]] caste. She quotes about the devotion of the [[Maratha]]s in the 19th century to Mhasoba as follows:{{quote|You will not find a single family among the Marathas who do not set up in the grounds around their village some stone or other in the name of Mhasoba, smear it with red lead, and offer incense to it; who without taking Mhasoba's name will not put his hand to the seed-box of the plough, will not put the harrow to the field, and will not put the measure to the heap of threshed corn on the threshing floor.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kMrsTj1NeYC&pg=PA155|page=155|title=Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India (Cambridge South Asian Studies)|author= Rosalind 'O' Hanlon| year=2002|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521523080}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/people/fellow/professor-rosalind-ohanlon |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619041644/http://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/people/fellow/professor-rosalind-ohanlon |archive-date=2013-06-19 |title=Professor Rosalind O'Hanlon {{!}} St Cross College}}</ref>}}
Mhasoba is also worshiped by the [[Bhonsle]]s. There is a shrine of Mhasoba at the [[Purandar Fort]] and there is also a beautiful water reservoir nearby that is named after him i.e. 'Mhasoba Taki'.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DF_af8_547EC&pg=PT86|title=Sacred Animals of India|year=2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9788184751826}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Deccan Forts: A Study in the Art of Fortification in Mediaeval India|page=37|author=J. N. Kamalapur|year=1961|publisher=Popular Book Depot|quote= A little further is a beautiful reservoir called Mhasoba Taki, a source of constant supply of water}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHA9SzLMj3EC&pg=PA65|page=65|title=Offbeat Tracks in Maharashtra|author=Milind Gunaji|year=2010|publisher=popular prakashan|isbn=9788179915783}}</ref>

Mhasoba's shrines are not Brahminical and there is nothing written about him in Sanskrit literature. He is considered a "kshetrapal" i.e. guardian deity worshiped by farmers. He is also considered a "guardian brother of the seven river goddesses termed as Sati-Asara"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/devdutt-pattanaik-the-forgotten-buffalo-king/19504155 |title = Devdutt Pattanaik: The forgotten Buffalo King| date=9 June 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/the-riddle-of-mhatoba-mhaskoba-and-mahishasura/|title=The riddle of Mhatoba, Mhaskoba and Mahishasura|date=28 March 2016}}</ref>

Mhasoba is sometime connected with [[Shiva]],<ref name=drury/> who may have been a pre-[[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic]] deity adopted by [[Hindu culture]]. In the Mhasoba cult of Maharashtra, Mhasoba (Mahisha/Mahesha, which is another name for Shiva/Shankar) is worshipped with his wife Jogubai ([[Durga]]).<ref>Berkson; pg. xiii</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kosambi|first=Damodar Dharmanand|title=Myth and reality: studies in the formation of Indian culture|year=1962|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7154-870-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12695/page/n106 90]|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12695|quote=Maharastra durga.}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.shrimhasobamaharaj.org/index.php www.shrimhasobamaharaj.org]
*[http://www.aghori.it/aghori_eng.htm www.aghori.it]

{{HinduMythology}}

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[[Category:Regional Hindu gods]]
[[Category:Forms of Shiva]]

Mhasoba - Revision history

ImportMaster: robot: Create/update articles in Category:Hindu gods.