Dewangan
Dewangan is a chattisgarhi caste of weavers of silk and fine cotton cloth. They belong principally to the chattisgarh divisions. Dewangans are also known as kosta. Kosta may perhaps have something to do with kosa silk. A texture that lends itself beautifully to printing and painting. The sturdy kosa yarn used in menswear is obtained from cocoons after the fully-formed silkworm moths leave them. The crisp, paper-like Kosa silk is popular not only in India but abroad too. Besides sarees and salwar suits, the fabric is used to create lehengas, stoles, shawls and menswear including jackets, shirts, achkans and sherwanis.
Theories of origin
The caste suppose themselves to be descended from The Famous saint Markandi Rishi, who they say, first wove cloth from the fibres of the lotus flower to clothe the nakedness of the gods. In reward for this he was married to the daughter of surya, the sun, and received with her as dowry a giant name bhavani and a tiger. But the giant was disobient, and so Markandi killed him, and from his bones fashioned the first weaver's loom.The tiger remained obedient to Markandi, and the kostas think that he still respects them as his descendants; so that if a kosta should meet a tiger in the forest and say the name of Markandi, the tiger will pass by and not [...] him. They also worship the Singhwahini Devi, or Devi riding on a tiger, from which it may probably be deduced that the tiger itself was formally the deity, and has now developed into an anthropomorphic goddess.