| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "Pattinidevi (queen of goddesses)" | Hindu / Singhalese / Sri Lanka | Mother goddess. A deification of Kannaki, the consort of Kovolan who, according to ancient Tamil tradition, journeyed to the town of Madurai to sell a gold anklet. Through trickery she was convicted of theft and executed, but was canonized. According to another tradition, she was born from a mango pierced by a sacred arrow. In southern India and Sri Lanka a goddess of chastity and fidelity in marriage. Also a guardian against diseases, including measles and smallpox. She is åśśociated with fire-walking rituals. Attributes: cobra-hood behind the head, and a lotus.... |
| Goddess name "Pele" | Polynesian / Hawaii | Volcano goddess. According to tradition she arrived in Hawaii in a canoe, having sailed from Tahiti. She may derive locally from the more familiar Polynesian moon goddess, HINA, since one of her alternative names is Hina-Ai-Malama (Hina who devours the moon).... |
| King name "Perieres" | Greek | A son of Aeolus and Enarete, king of Messene, was the father of Aphareus and Leucippus by Gorgophone. (Apollodorus) In some traditions Perieres was called a son of Cynortas, and besides the sons above mentioned he is said to have been, by Gorgophone, the father of Tyndareos and Icarius. Greek |
| God name "Pharies" | Greek | Primordial Sun god. The first god to emerge from the cosmic egg engendered by KRONOS, he personifies light emerging from chaos. According to one tradition, his daughter is NYX, the night.... |
| God name "Pluto" | Roman | God of the underworld. Derived from the Greek model of HADES, he abducted the daughter of CERES, PROSERPINA, to reign as his queen. The three-headed dog Cerberus was set to guard the gate of Hades and through the kingdom flowed the two rivers of death, the Cocytus and the Acheron which could be crossed only by the ferryman Charon. According to Roman tradition, the entrance to the underworld was at Avernus in Rome where the Christian church of St. Maria del Inferno was built.See also HADES.... |
| God name "Polydeukes" | Greek | horse god. One of the Dioskouroi twins; the other is Kastor. According to tradition, they are together åśśociated with a Spartan cult whence they originated. The pair probably derive from the Indo-European model of the ASVINS in Vedic mythology. Kastor is mortal while Polydeukes is immortal. Thus, during battle, Kastor is mortally wounded but, even in death, the two brothers remain inseparable. They rescue individuals from distress and danger, particularly at sea, and are thought to be embodied in the electrical discharges known as St. Elmo's Fire. Also Castor and POLLUX (Roman).... |
"Polymela" | Greek | 1. A daughter of Peleus, and the wife of Menoetius, by whom she became the mother of Patroclus. In some traditions she is called Philomela. |
| God name "Pryderi" | Celtic / Welsh | Chthonic god. The son of PWYLL and RHIANNON. According to tradition, he was abducted as an infant from his cradle by a huge talon or claw, with the implication that the abduction was instigated by an adversary from the underworld, perhaps the family of Gwawl, a rejected suitor of Rhiannon. Pryderi was found in a stable and rescued by Teirnyon, who brought the child up as his son. Eventually the true parents of Pryderi were identified and he was returned to his family. His consort is Cigfa and he succeeded Pwyll to the title Lord of Dyfed.'... |
| Goddess name "Pusan (nourisher)" | Hindu / Vedic / Puranic | Sun god. The original Vedic list of six descendants of the goddess ADITI or ADITYAS, all of whom take the role of Sun gods, was, in later times, enlarged to twelve, including Pusan. He is the charioteer of the Sun and a guardian deity of journeys and pathways. Color: golden. Attributes: four lotuses.... |
| God name "Pwyll" | Celtic / Welsh | Chthonic god. The so-called Lord of Dyfed who, according to tradition, brought the pig to Wales having received it as a gift from ARAWN, the underworld god. He earned the reward by substituting for Arawn and fighting his enemy Hafgan, in payment for an unintended slight to Arawn, whom he met one day while out hunting. His consort is RHIANNON and his son is PRYDERI.... |
| Goddess name "Qamai'ts" | Bella Coola Indian / British Columbia, Canada | Creator goddess. Said to live in the upper heaven, Atsa'axl, from where she controls the earth. According to tradition the mountains were once malevolent beings who made the world uninhabitable, until she conquered them and reduced them in size. She is never invoked or prayed to. Also Tsi Sisnaaxil (our woman); Ek Yakimtolsil (afraid of nothing).... |
"Quetzalcoatl" | Aztec | A great teacher, according to the traditions of the Toltecs, who came to them from Tullan or Yucatan and dwelt for twenty years among the people, teaching them to follow a virtuous life, to cease all wars and violent deeds of any kind, to abolish human and animal sacrifices and instead to give offerings of bread and flowers. Aztec |
| God name "Quiahuitl" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Creator god. The Sun deity representing the third of the five world ages each of which lasted for 2,028 heavenly years, each heavenly year being fiftytwo terrestrial years. Assigned to the element fire and presided over by the Rain god TLALOC. According to tradition, the age ended in a cataclysmic destruction caused by a great fiery Rain. The human population perished and in doing so were transformed into dogs, turkeys and butterflies. Illustrated by the Stone of the Four Suns [Yale Peabody Museum]. Also Quiauhtonatiuh; Tletonatiuh.... |
"Quinanes" | Central America | A race of giants whose traditions were prevalent at the time of the conquest of Central America. |
| Demon name "Rama (pleasing)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Incarnation of the god VIS NU. The seventh avatara (sun aspect) of Vis nu. Rama began as a comparatively minor incarnation who became one of the great heroes of the Ramayana epic, as well as featuring in the Mahabharata. The son of Dasaratha and Kausalya, he was a king of Ayodhya who, in the Ramayana, slew the demon Ravana that had captured his consort SITA and was upheld as a deity par excellence in respect of manhood and honor, though his subsequent treatment of his wife might be regarded as cavalier (see Sita). The Ramayana epic was composed by the poet and sage Valmeeki during the reign of Ramachandra and it gave form to a story that had been in existence for many centuries as an oral tradition. Valmeeki portrayed Rama not as an incarnate deity but as a great mortal hero. The saga is strongly political and serves to unite a vast and fragmented people in a common focus, irrespective of caste and language. It defines the historical schism between the Hindu culture of India and the largely Buddhist tradition of Sri Lanka. Rama rides in a chariot and is depicted in human form with two arms, typically holding a sugar cane bow and with a quiver at his shoulder. Also Ramacandra.... |
| God name "Rongomai" | Polynesian / Maori | Whale god. He is the son of TANGAROA, the creator deity responsible for the oceans and the fish, and the father of KAHUKURA, the deity responsible for the appearance of the Rainbow. He is also regarded as the ancestor of several Maori clans. Various traditions are åśśociated with Rongomai. In some regions of New Zealand he is also regarded as a god of war and is thought to have discovered the magic arts during a visit to the underworld, including the power of kaiwhatu, a preventative charm against witchcraft. Rongomai is sometimes mistakenly identified with RONGOMATANE, or Rongo, though the latter is generally considered a distinct personality. As the god responsible for the well-being of whales Rongomai may take the form of a whale, a guise in which he once challenged MARU, a more widely recognized New Zealand war god. Separate mythology places him in the heavens in the form of a comet.... |
| Goddess name "Rongomatane" | Polynesian / including Maori | God of Agriculture. He is the father of cultivated food and the special gardener of the kumara or sweet potato which is a vital crop in Polynesia. In New Zealand the first sweet potatoes are offered to Rongomatane. In the traditions of the Hervey Islands, Rongo is one of the five sons of the moon god, Vatea, and the mother goddess, Papa.... |
| Goddess name "Ruamoko" | Polynesian / Maori | God of volcanoes and earthquakes. According to tradition, Ruamoko is the youngest son of RANGINUI and PAPATUANUXU and is possessed by a formidable temper. When his older siblings set about separating the prime parents from their eternal lovemaking in order to allow light into the space between sky and earth, he was enraged and his boisterous tantrum became revealed in the violence of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Ruamoko is of less importance than PELE, the chief volcano goddess of Polynesia, who is revered mainly in Hawaii.... |
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