2. Brāhmanical legends
The following tradition is related by the Pāsis themselves in Mīrzāpur and the Central Provinces: One day a man was going to kill a number of cows. Parasurāma was at that time practising austerities in the jungles. Hearing the cries of the sacred animals he rushed to their assistance, but the cow-killer was aided by his friends. So Parasurāma made five men out of kusha grass and brought them to life by letting drops of his perspiration fall upon them. Hence arose the name Pāsi, from the Hindi pasīna, sweat. The men thus created rescued the cows. Then they returned to Parasurāma and asked him to provide them with a wife. Just at that moment a Kāyasth girl was passing by, and her Parasurāma seized and made over to the Pāsis. From them sprang the Kaithwās subcaste. Another legend related by Mr. Crooke tells that during the time Parasurāma was incarnate there was an austere devotee called Kuphal who was asked by Brahma to demand of him a boon, whereupon he requested that he might be perfected in the art of thieving. His request was granted, and there is a well-known verse regarding the devotions of Kuphal, the pith of which is that the mention of the name of Kuphal, who received a boon from Brahma, removes all fear of thieves; and the mention of his three wives—Māya (illusion), Nidra (sleep), and Mohani (enchantment)—deprives thieves of success in their attempts against the property of those who repeat these names. Kuphal is apparently the progenitor of the caste, and the legend is intended to show how the position of the Pāsis in the Hindu cosmos or order of society according to the caste system has been divinely ordained and sanctioned, even to the recognition of theft as their hereditary pursuit.