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Name ▲▼ | Origin ▲▼ | Description ▲▼ |
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Supreme god name "Ai Apaec" | Mochica Indian / pre - Columbian South America / northern coast of Peru | Supreme god. Probably originated as a jaguar god but came to rule the destinies of the world. He was thought to live like ordinary people and could reveal himself as man or god at will. He is depicted in anthropomorphic form, but with huge fangs and a cat-like wrinkled face with whiskers coming from his nose. He received sacrificial victims hurled from the top of a high cliff.... |
Goddess name "Badi Mata" | Hindu / northern Indian | Mother goddess. A SAKTI and one of the seven SAPTAMATARAS (mothers) who in later Hinduism became regarded as of evil intent, attacking children during puberty. Particularly recognized in Bengal.... |
Goddess name "Bera Pennu" | Northern Indian | vegetation goddess. Worshiped by the Khonds in Bengal. She was the recipient of human sacrifice to ensure good harvest, particularly of the spice turmeric, and as a protection against disease and infirmity. The sacrificial victim or meriab was youthful, often kept for years as a holy person before death and was always either the offspring of a previous sacrificial victim, or purchased from impoverished families for the purpose. He or she was generally strangled, sometimes in the fork of a tree, after days of festivities. In other instances the victim was cut up alive.... |
Spirit name "Bhagavan (the lord)" | Northern / central Indian | Tutelary god. Worshiped by the Bhils and other tribes as the original creator spirit and a judge of the dead soul. Also an epithet of VISNU and KRSNA. Also Bhagwan.... |
God name "Bhumiya (guardian of fields)" | Hindu / Vedic / Puranic / northern India | Fertility god. Guardian deity of fields, worshiped as a rough stone icon. In later times a form of VIS NU.... |
"Bodhisattva (one whose essence is perfect knowledge)" | Buddhist / northern India, Tibet, China / Japan | Generic title for a buddha-designate. Any one of the earlier stages of a future buddha. Depicted wearing regal dress and trappings, including a crown. The most significant include AVALOKITESVARA, MAITREYA and MANJUSRI.... |
Goddess name "Bombay Kamayan" | Hindu / northern India | Local disease goddess. Particularly worshiped at Gaya.... |
Goddess name "Budhi Pallien" | India | A fearsome goddess of Forests and jungles, who roams northern India in the form of a tiger. India |
Goddess name "Didi Thakrun" | Hindu / northern India | Plague goddess. Associated with cholera. Worshiped locally at Bardvan.... |
God name "Ghentu" | Hindu | Minor god. Known in northern India as the god who sends the itch.... |
Goddess name "Gunabibi" | Australian aboriginal | Creator goddess. Also known as Kunapipi, she is extensively revered by aborigines in northern Australia, including the Yolngu people. Her cult bears some similarity to that of the Greek mother goddess DEMETER and to Tantric cults in India. For this reason the cult is thought to have been introduced from Asia to Arnhem Land and then to other parts of the Australian continent as early as the sixth century. Mythology indicates that Gunabibi has been perceived as a deity who came from the sea or the rivers during the Dreamtime but who reigns now over dry land. Among modern aborigines she is the subject of esoteric rituals which also involve the great serpent Yulunggul with whom Gunabibi has been closely involved.... |
God name "Hardaul" | Hindu | Plague god, also a wedding god. A locally worshiped deity known particularly in Bundelkhand, northern India, as a protector against cholera and considered to have been an historical figure who died in AD 1627.... |
Goddess name "Hinglaj(-Mata)" | Hindu | Mother goddess. Locally worshiped in northern India and particularly in Baluchistan.... |
Goddess name "Ksitigarbha (womb of the earth)" | Buddhist / Mahayana | Goddess. Known exten sively from northern India to China and Japan. One of the group of female BODHISATTVAS or buddha designates. Color: yellow or green. Attrib utes: Book, bowl, jewel, staff and water jar. In China she is recognized as an underworld deity, Di zang. In Japan she becomes a guardian deity of påśśage, Jizo.... |
God name "Mahadeya (mighty god)" | Hindu / Puranic | God. An important epithet of SIVA with three heads (two male, one female) signifying the three aspectsAghora (right), Saumya (center) and Sakti (left). Attributes: ax, bell, hook, mirror, noose, staff, sword, tree and trident. Also identified as a manifestation of Siva and one of the EKADASARUDRAS (eleven forms of RUDRA). In northern India among tribes including the Gonds, the expression Mahadeo (great god) is directed toward Siva as the supreme deity.... |
Goddess name "Mata (great mother)" | Hindu | Primeval mother goddess. The archetypal progenitrix of all living things. She becomes the tutelary goddess of every village in northern India, but is also seen as a plague goddess åśśociated with smallpox, in which case her epithet becomes Maha Mai. Her Tamil counterpart is Amman.... |
Goddess name "PustI (growth)" | Hindu / Epic / Puranic | Fertility goddess. In northern India she is the second consort of VIS'NU, but elsewhere may also be linked with SARASVATI and named as a consort of GANESA.... |
God name "Sama" | Dravidian / Tamil / southern India | Obscure heroic god. Known circa first to fifth century AD. The younger brother of the god of love KAMA and equating to SAMBA, worshiped in northern India.... |
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