Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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Deities name "Adibuddha (the primeval buddha)" | Buddhist | The original BUDDHA. The primordial force in the cosmos from whom the five DHYANIBUDDHAS arose. The embodiment of the concept of emptiness. He is considered by some authorities to be identical with Vaharaja and Vajrasattva. His image, sitting on a lotus leaf, is often carried by other Buddhist deities. Epithets include Svabhava (self-creating), Svayambhu (self-enlightened).... |
Goddess name "Anunnaki" | Mesopotamian / Sumerian / Babylonian - Akkadian | Children and courtiers of the god of heaven. Known from at least 2500 BC until circa 200BC (in Babylon). The Anunnaki originate as chthonic fertility deities but later feature as the seven fearsome judges of the underworld who answer to Kur and ERES KIGAL and who are responsible for påśśing sentences of death including that placed on the goddess INANA. They are often closely identified with the IGIGI.... |
Deities name "Arapacana" | Buddhist | God. A BODHISATTVA or spiritual meditation buddha. Originally a DHARANI of MANJUSRI who became deified. Accompanied by four minor deities. Also a collective name for the five buddhas. Color: yellow or red. Attributes: standing wearing a monkish garment and carrying Book and sword.... |
Deities name "Baa! Samin (lord of heaven)" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Head of the pantheon. Probably originated in Canaanite culture as a god of Rain and vegetation, but became extensively revered in places as far apart as Cyprus and Carthage. Epithets include bearer of thunder. Baal Samin is first mentioned in a fourteenth century BC treaty between the Hittite king Suppiluliuma and Nigmadu II of Ugarit. He had a major sanctuary at Byblos, according to inscription, built by Yehemilk. Josephus confirms that his cult existed at the time of Solomon. At Karatepe his name appears at the head of a list of national deities and on Seleucid coinage he is depicted wearing a half-moon crown and carrying a radiate Sun disc. Other epithets include lord of eternity and he may also have been god of storms at sea, a patron deity of mariners. By Hellenic times he equated with ZEUS in the Greek pantheon and the Romans identified him as Caelus (sky). Also Baal-Samem.... |
Deities name "Baa! Sapon" | Western Semitic / Phoenician | Local tutelary god. Probably of Canaanite origin and closely equating with BAAL SAMIN. According to Ugaritic texts he lives on a mountain in the north of Phoenicia known as Saphan, which may have served as a beacon for mariners. Other local variations of mountain deities include Baal Hermon and Baal Brathy.... |
Goddess name "Brigantia" | Roman / Celtic / British | Tutelary goddess. The goddess of the Brigantes in the West Riding of Yorkshire. She became identified with CAELESTIS. At Corbridge, Northumberland, there is an altar inscribed to various deities, including Caelestis Brigantia. In a carved stone relief at Birrens, on the Antonine Wall in Scotland, she is depicted with the attributes of MINERVA. She may also bear links with the goddess BRIGIT. She is frequently åśśociated with water and herding.... |
Deities name "Deva (the god)" | Hindu / Vedic / Puranic | Generic name of a god. Originally, in the Rg Veda, thirty or thirty-three devas are indicated, divided into three groups of eleven. In later Hinduism, the term deva is generally applied to deities not included in the chief triad of BRAHMA, VISNU and SIVA.... |
Deities name "Heruka" | Buddhist / Mahayana | God. One of the most popular deities in the pantheon, though probably owing much to the influence of the Hindu god S IWA. Originally an epithet for another Hindu god, GANESA, but in Buddhism seen as an emanation of AKSOBHYA. His SAKTI is NAIRAMATA and the product of their liaison is nirvana (eternal bliss). Typically he stands upon a corpse. In northeastern India, Heruka is worshiped as a compåśśionate god. Attributes: club, flayed human skin, image of Aksobhya, jewel, knife, fifty skulls, sword, staff and teeth.... |
Goddess name "Izanagi-No-Kami (his augustness the one who invites)" | Shinto / Japan | Creator god. One of seventeen beings involved in creation. His consort is IZANAMI-NO-KAMI. They are strictly of Japanese origin with no Chinese or Buddhist influence. Jointly they are responsible to the other fifteen primordial deities to make, consolidate and give birth to this drifting land. The reference, in the Kojiki sacred text, is to the reed beds which were considered to float on the primal waters. The pair were granted a heavenly jeweled spear and they stood upon the floating bridge of heaven, stirring the waters with the spear. When the spear was pulled up, the brine which dripped from it created the island of Onogoro, the first dry land, believed to be the island of Nu-Shima on the southern coast of Awagi. According to mythology, the pair created two beings, a son HIRUKO and an island Ahaji. They generated the remaining fourteen islands which make up Japan and then set about creating the rest of the KAMI pantheon. Izanagi's most significant offspring include AMATERASU, the Sun goddess, born from his nose and SUSANOWO, the storm god, born from his left eye, who are the joint rulers of the universe. Also IzanagiNo-Mikoto.... |
Deities name "Manes" | Roman | Hearth deities. Technically souls separated from the body, these objects of ancestor worship became clåśśed as guardian divinities in Roman households. Celebrated in the feast of Parentalia. Origin of the title on graves: Dis Manibus.... |
Deities name "Riiki and Rigi" | Micronesia | deities who held up the sky. Micronesia |
Deities name "Sura" | Hindu | Originally solar deities. Used in the Vedas for gods in general, equivalent to devas. Hindu |
Goddess name "Tara (power of hunger)" | Hindu / Vedic, Epic / Puranic | (1) Goddess. May originally have had astral connotations, since the word can be interpreted as star. One of a group of MAHAVIDYAS personifying the SAKTI of SI IVA. She may also be the consort of CANDRA (SOMA). Aspects include Krodharatri. Attributes: knife, skin, skull, snakes and sword. Three-eyed.(2) Goddess. Buddhist (Mahayana and Vajrayana). An epithet of the mother of the BUDDHA, Maya. Also one of a series of female deities, the DHYANIBUDDHASAKTI considered to be aspects of the Sakti of AVALOKITESVARA or of AMOGASHIDDHI. She may also be the Sakti of ADIBIDDHA and of the various DHYANIBUDDHAS, in which case she is characterized by their colors. These Taras thus become White Tara and so on.See also BHRKUTI, EKAJATA, KURUKULLA, SITATARA and SYAMATARA. In Tibetan Buddhism she is known as sGrol-ma.... |