Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

184 MahavidyaMahavidyaCollective name of a group of goddesses. Buddhist(Mahayana). Ten personifications of SAKTIas the femaleness of ŠIVA, associated with the possessionof knowledge.Mahayasa (most glorious)Minor goddess. Buddhist (Mahayana). An attendantof BUDDHAKAPALA.Maheo (all-spirit)Creator god. Cheyenne [USA]. He first lived inthe void and then created the great primordialwater of life. He made the earth from a ball ofmud and engendered mankind from one of hisribs which he implanted in earth woman (Christianinfluence has probably been exerted here).MahesSun god. Egyptian. An ancient deity worshipedchiefly in the region of the Nile delta and representingthe destructive power of the sun’s heat.Depicted in the form of a lion. Also Miysis(Greek).MahesvariMother goddess. Hindu (Epic and Puranic). ASAKTI who in later Hinduism became one of agroup of seven MATARAS regarded as of evilintent. Also one of eight ASTAMATARAS. In anothergrouping one of a group of nine NAVASAKTIS who,in southern India, rank higher than the SAPTA-MATARAS. Attributes: antelope, arrow, ax, bow,club, drum, prayer wheel, staff and trident.Mahi (earth)Minor goddess of sacrifice. Hindu (Vedic). She isinvoked to appear on the sacrificial field before aritual, and is identified with the act of prayer.Usually associated with the goddess SARASVATI.Mahisa (buffalo)Demonic god. Hindu (Epic and Puranic).Depicted most frequently in the form of a buffalo,but he also confounds the gods by changing himselfinto many other animal guises. He is eventuallyslain by the goddess DEVI in the form ofMAHISASURAMARDINI.Mahisasuramardini (slayer of the buffalodemon)Form of the goddess DEVI. Hindu (Puranic).Appearing from the fourth century AD onward,this goddess is a DURGA form of Devi. She possessesup to twelve arms holding an assortment ofweapons and may be seated on a lion. Accordingto legend, the form arose in response to the threatfrom the demonic MAHISA who was eventuallyslain by the goddess Devi with his own sword.Attributes: ax, banner, bell, bow, club, conch,drum, hook, lizard, mirror, noose, prayer wheel,shield, sword, staff and trident. Three-eyed.Mahodadhi (the great ocean)Minor goddess. Buddhist (Mahayana). An attendantof BUDDHAKAPALA.MahremHead of pantheon. Axumite (ancient Ethiopickingdom). A warrior deity after whom theAxumite kings titled themselves “sons ofMAHREM.”MahuikezFire god. Polynesian. Identified with earthquakesand possibly paralleling TOUIA FATUNA (ironstone goddess) in Tongan belief.