Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
---|---|---|
Goddess name "Matara" | Hindu | Mother goddess. Applied collectively to groups of deities, the Divine mothers, also more specifically to the consort of the god KASYAPA. As Divine mothers they are also regarded as SAKTIS. The numbers vary according to separate traditions and they are therefore identified as the SAPTAMATARAS (seven), ASTAMATARAS (eight) and NAVASAKTIS (nine). Less commonly there may be up to fifty mataras in a group. Their images are normally carved in stone (very few exist in metal) and they are depicted seated, often upon a corpse, and may be of terrifying appearance.... |
Goddess name "Mater Matuta" | Roman | Goddess of the dawn, the sky and seafaring Roman |
King name "Math fab Mathonwy" | Welsh | A king of Gwynedd who needed to rest his feet in the lap of a virgin unless he was at war, or he would die. Welsh |
King name "Matholwch" | Ireland | A king of Ireland, is a character in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi |
Goddess name "Matlalceuitl aka Matlalcueje" | Aztec | Goddess of Rainfall and singing. Identified with Chalchiuhtlicue. Aztec |
God name "Matsuo" | Shinto / Japan | God of sake brewers. Celebrated annually in a festival in Kyoto, when the presence of the god is carried on a palanquin. It is rowed down the river prior to a general celebration, during which sake is drunk liberally.... |
Demon name "Matsya" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Incarnation of the god VIS'NU. In this first avatara Vis'nu appears as a fish which, according to one legend, tows a ship carrying the law-giver MANU to safety after the primal flood. Matsya engages in an epic battle with the demon HAYAGRIVA who stole the Vedas from a sleeping BRAHMA. Usually depicted with a human torso carrying symbols, e.g. wheel and conch, on a fish's body.... |
God name "Maturaiviran" | Hindu | Locally worshipped god with an interesting story Hindu |
"Maugys" | Britain | A giant who keeps a bridge leading to a castle by a riverside, in which a beautiful lady is besieged. Sir Lybius, one of Arthur's knights, does battle with the giant; the contest lasts a whole summer's day, but terminates with the death of the giant and liberation of the lady. Britain |
Goddess name "Maui" | Polynesian / Maori / New Zealand | Tutelary god. Not a creator god but one who åśśists mankind in various supernatural ways. According to tradition he was aborted at birth and cast into the sea by his mother, who thought he was dead. He was rescued entangled in seaweed. He is the deity who drew the islands of New Zealand from the floor of the ocean in a net. Maui caught the Sun and beat it into submission, making it travel more slowly across the sky so that the days became longer. He also brought fire from the underworld for mankind and tried, unsuccessfully, to harness immortality for him by entering the vulva of the underworld goddess HINE-NUI-TE-PO while she was asleep. She awoke and crushed him to death. Though a deity, he had been made vulnerable to death by a mistake during his rites of birth (see also Balder). Also Mawi.... |
Goddess name "Mawu" | Fon / Benin, West Africa | (1) moon goddess. The sister of the Sun god LISA. She is also considered to bestow fertility and motherhood and is generally benevolent in nature.(2) sky god. Ewe [Togo, West Africa]. Among the tribe neighboring the Fon. Mawu is perceived as male and a creator deity. He favors the color white and is also benevolent and generous in nature.... |
"May Molloch" | Irish | May Molloch or The Maid of the Hairy Arms. An elf who condescends to mingle in ordinary sports, and even to direct the master of the house how to play dominoes or draughts. Like the White Lady of Avenel, May Molloch is a sort of banshee. Irish |
Goddess name "May-day" | Roman | Polydore Virgil says that the Roman youths used to go into the fields and spend the calends of May in dancing and singing in honour of Flora, goddess of fruits and flowers. The early English consecrated May-day to Robin Hood and the Maid Marian, because the favourite outlaw died on that day. Stow says the villagers used to set up May-poles, and spend the day in archery, morris-dancing, and other amu√åǧïñåts. |
Goddess name "Mayahuel" | Aztec / Mesoamerican / Mexico | Minor fertility goddess. One of the group clåśśed as the Ometochtli complex åśśociated with the maguey plant from which pulque is brewed. She may be depicted seated upon a tortoise beside an agave plant in bloom. According to legend she was abducted by QUETZALCOATL and subsequently dismembered by wild animals. From the fragments grew the first agave plants.... |
God name "Mayon (the black one)" | Early Dravidian / Tamil / southern India / Sri Lanka | Creator god. Animistic high god of the pastoral regions, found in Sangam literature and thought to reside in trees. Perhaps equating with VIS'NU or KRSNA.... |
Demon name "Mazikeen or Shedeem" | Arabian | A species of beings in Jewish mythology exactly resembling the Arabian Jinn or genii, and said to be the agents of magic and enchantment. When Adam fell, says the Talmud, he was excommunicated for 130 years, during which time he begat demons and spectres; for, it is written, "Adam lived 130 years and (i.e. before he) begat children in his own image". Genesis v |
Spirit name "Mazzikin the" | Jewish | These are rather evil spirits that like to make things rough for humans |
Deities name "Mbongo" | Ngbandi / Democratic Republic of Congo, central Africa | River god. One of seven deities invoked at Sunrise each morning. The creator god of all black people, said to reside in black waters.... |