| Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
|---|---|---|
| Goddess name "Ayurvasita (control of life)" | Buddhist | Minor goddess. One of a group of twelve VASITAS or goddesses personifying the disciplines of spiritual regeneration. Color: whitish red. Attributes: image of Amidabuddha and jewel.... |
| Goddess name "BAAL (lord)" | Western Semitic / Canaanite / northern Israel, Lebanon / later Egypt | vegetation deity and national god. Baal may have originated in pre-agricultural times as god of storms and Rain. He is the son of DAGAN and in turn is the father of seven storm gods, the Baalim of the Vetus Testamentum, and seven midwife goddesses, the SASURATUM. He is considered to have been worshiped from at least the nineteenth century BC. Later he became a vegetation god concerned with fertility of the land. From the mid-sixteenth century BC in the Egyptian New kingdom, Baal enjoyed a significant cult following, but the legend of his demise and restoration was never equated with that of OSIRIS. In the Greco-Roman period, Baal became åśśimilated in the Palestine region with ZEUS and JUPITER, but as a Punic deity [Carthage] he was allied with SATURNUS, the god of seed-sowing.... |
| Supreme god name "Bagisht" | Kafir / Afghanistan | God of flood waters and prosperity. The son of the supreme goddess DISANI, conceived when she was raped from behind by an obscure demonic entity in the shape of a ram who violated her while she was milking cows by a lakeside. Bagisht is said to have been born in the current of the Prasun river whereupon the turbulent waters became smooth-flowing and parted to allow the infant to reach the bank. There seem to have been no elaborate sanctuaries but rather an abundance of simple shrines always placed close to water. The god was celebrated at the main festivals of the Kafir agricultural year and received sacrificial portions of meat. Also Opkulu.... |
| Goddess name "Bala (girl)" | Hindu | (1) Mother goddess. (Epic and Puranic). Of vague affinity but generally of youthful appearance. Seated upon a lotus throne. Attributes: Book and rosary. 2. Messenger goddess. Jain [India]. One of the twenty-four SASANADEVATAS.... |
| Goddess name "Bala-Sakti" | Dravidian / Tamil / southern India | Goddess. Youthful deity who presides over six CAKRAS or prayer wheels. Often accompanied by a geometric magical diagram or yantra. Attributes: Book, hook, noose and rosary.... |
| Goddess name "Balarama (strength of Rama)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Incarnation of the god VIS'NU. May have originated in Vedic times as an agricultural fertility deity. He is the son of VASUDEVA and DEVAKI, though born from the womb of ROHINI. Jointly with KRSNA (his brother), he is identified as the eighth avatara (incarnation) of Vis'nu, or, with RAMA, as the seventh. Legend describes how Vis'nu impregnated the belly of the goddess Devaki with two hairs, one black, one white. To ensure their safety against a demon king, they were transferred before birth to Rohini. Krsna grew to be dark-skinned, and Balarama light. The latter enjoys similar characteristics to Krsna but fails to attract the same popularity. He is usually depicted on the right side of Krsna, rarely standing alone. The consort of Balarama is REVATI and his sons are Nisatha and Ulmuka. Epithets included Ananda (joy). In Jainism he is known as Baladeva. Attributes: arrow, club, drinking cup, fan palm, honey pot, lotus, pestle, pitcher, plough, prayer wheel, shield and sword.... |
| Goddess name "Bariebdjedet" | Egypt / Lower | Ram god. Possibly concerned with arbitration, his consort is the fish goddess HATMEHYT. He is the father of HARPOKRATES. According to tradition (Chester Beatty I papyrus) he was called upon to intercede in the contest for the Egyptian kingdoms between HORUS and SETH. He is placed in some accounts in Upper Egypt on the island of Seheil at the first Nile cataract, but his cult is centered on Mendes in the Delta region of Lower Egypt [Tell et-Ruba] and is closely linked with the mother of Rameses III. He is generally depicted in anthropomorphic form, but with the head of a ram.... |
| Goddess name "Bat" | Egypt / Upper | cow goddess of fertility. She was probably well known in the Old kingdom (circa 2700 BC onward). Associated principally with Upper Egypt, for a while she may have rivaled Hathor in Lower Egypt but by the time of the New kingdom (sixteenth century BC) her influence had waned. She may be represented on the Narmer Palette (Cairo Museum) which com memorates the unification of the two kingdoms. Bat is only rarely found in large sculptures and paintings, but is often the subject of Egyptian period jewelry, including amulets and ritual sistrum rattles. Depicted as a cow or anthropo morphically with bovine ears and horns. Also Bata.... |
| Goddess name "Bendis" | Greece | A Thracian divinity in whom the moon was worshipped. Hesychius says "that the poet Cratinus called this goddess Two Spears, either because she had to discharge two duties, one towards heaven and the other towards the earth, or because she bore two lances, or lastly, because she had two lights, the one her own and the other derived from the Sun. In Greece she was sometimes identified with Persephone, but more commonly with Artemis. |
| Goddess name "Bendis" | Thracian | Mother goddess. Hellenized and linked stylistically with ARTEMIS as a huntress. Appeared in Athens during the Peloponnesian war. Attributes: boots, torch and pointed cap.... |
| Goddess name "Bhadra (auspicious)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Minor goddess. Attendant of SIVA. Generally seated. Attributes: blue lotus, fruit, rosary and trident.... |
| Goddess name "Bhaga (the dispenser of fortune)" | Hindu / Vedic / Puranic | Minor Sun god. In Vedic times, the incarnation of women's good fortune in marriage. One of six ADITYAS, sons of the goddess ADITI. Consort: SIDDHI. Attributes: two lotuses, prayer wheel and trident.... |
| Goddess name "Bhima (terrible)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | (1) warrior god. A prince of the mythical Pandu family and one of the heroes of the Mahabharata epic, Bhima is usually depicted wielding a sword and a club. He is a son of the god of the winds VAYU. He is perceived as a god of immense strength and great cruelty, which separates him from the heroic figure of ARJUNA, his brother, with whom he is linked in the epic. Attribute: a club. Also Bhimasena. 2. Minor goddess. Buddhist (Mahayana). An attendant of BUDDAKEPALA.... |
| Goddess name "Bhrkuti-Tara (she who frowns)" | Buddhist - Lamaist / Tibet | Mother goddess. In Lamaism particularly, a cruel form of TARA, the mother of the BUDDHA. The so-called yellow Tara. An emanation of AMITABHA. Also identified as a female BODHISATTVA or buddha-designate. Color: yellow. Attribute: image of Amitabha, lotus, rosary, staff, trident and water jar. Threeeyed. Also JANGULI and VAJRATARA.... |
| Goddess name "Bhumidevi (the earth goddess)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic / southern India | Fertility goddess. The second wife of VIS NU (or KRSNA). Her son is Naraka. Bhumidevi is often depicted standing on the left (occasionally right) hand of the VARAHA avatara of Vis nu. In the north she is known as PUSTI. She is often depicted sitting on a lotus throne with bared breasts. Attributes: blue lotus, lotus, lute, pomegranate, pot with herbs, pot with vegetables and water jar. Also Bhu, Bhudevi, BHUMI, MAHI, PRTHIVI, VASUDHARA and Zami-Mata.... |
| Goddess name "Bhutadamara (tumult of demons)" | Buddhist / Mahayana | God. May be depicted reclining on the Hindu goddess APARAJITA. Attributes: snakes in the hair, and staff. Three-eyed.... |
| Goddess name "Bhutamata (mother of goblins)" | Hindu | Terrible goddess. A frightful form of PARVATI. Accompanied by a lion. Attribute: phallus (on the head), shield and sword.... |
| Goddess name "Bhuvanesvari (lady of the spheres)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Goddess. One of a group of ten MAHAVIDYAS personifying the SAKTI of SIVA. Also an epithet applied to several goddesses. Aspects include Siddharatri. Attributes: hook and noose.... |
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