Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

212 NamtarNamtar (fate)Messenger god(dess). Mesopotamian (Sumerian).A go-between and either minister ormaid-servant of the underworld goddessEREŠKIGAL, who brings death to mankind at theappropriate time.NanaMother goddess. Pre-Christian Armenian. Hercult became widespread and she may be equatedwith the Phrygian goddess KYBELE.NanabozhoHeroic god. Ojibwa [Canada]. A god of hunterswho directly influences the success or failurewhich determines whether individuals survive orperish. His brothers are the four winds whichexert changes in the seasons and weather. Nanabozhogained control over them to ensure goodhunting and fishing for the Ojibwa tribe.Nanahuatl (rumor)Creator god. Aztec (classical Mesoamerican)[Mexico]. In cosmogony, when on the fifth dayof creation the gods sat in judgment to elect thenew sun god, Nanahuatl and TECCIZTECATLcremated themselves in the sacred fire. Theheart of Nanahuatl ascended to become the newsun and that of Tecciztecatl became the moon.Tradition suggests that Nanahuatl is diseasedand impoverished but of great courage, whileTecciztecatl is wealthy and a coward. In an alternativetradition, in which Nanahuatl is the sonof QUETZALCOATL and Tecciztecatl is the son ofTLALOC, both deities are hurled into the fire bytheir fathers.NOTE: eventually all the gods sacrificed themselvesso that mankind might be engendered fromtheir remains. Also Nanahuatzin.NanajaFertility goddess. Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian). She is also a war goddess who becamesyncretized with the Babylonian TAŠMETU.Nandi(n) (rejoicing)Bull god. Hindu (Epic and Puranic). Generallyassociated with ŠIVA as a bull-vehicle and anembodiment of fertility. Color: white. The imageusually stands in an anteroom of the templeguarding the place where the statue of Šiva islocated. A Šiva devotee touches the image’s testicleson entry to a shrine. In anthropomorphicform he may be known as Nandisa.Nang LhaHouse god. Tibetan. A personal family guardiandepicted with the head of a pig. He is propitiatedwith libations.NANNA (1) (full moon)ORIGIN Mesopotamian (Sumerian) [Iraq]. Moongod.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 3500 BC untilcirca 1750 BC.SYNONYMS As-im-babbar (new light), Suen orSIN (crescent moon) (Akkadian).CENTER(S) OF CULT Ur.ART REFERENCES glyptics, etc.LITERARY SOURCES creation epics including Enkiand the World Order and other texts.A major astral deity in the Sumerian pantheon,probably originating in very early pre-agriculturaltimes, Nanna is the tutelary god of Ur. He is thefirstborn son of ENLIL. His wife is NINGAL and heis the father of the gods UTU and IŠKUR and of thegoddess INANA. During the Third Dynasty of Ur,the New Year akitu festival was performed in his