Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

240 PaeanPaeanSee PAIAWON.Pahteeatl (medicine lord)Minor fertility god. Aztec (classical Mesoamerican)[Mexico]. One of the group of deities knownas the Ometochtli complex and concerned withthe brewing of the alcoholic drink pulque fromthe maguey plant.PaiawonWar god. Greek and Cretan. Known from Knossosand mentioned in the Iliad (Homer) as Paean.Painal (hasty)Minor god of war. Aztec (classical Mesoamerican)[Mexico]. One of the group of deitiesknown as the HUITZILPOCHTLI complex towhom sacrifice of captured prisoners was regularlyoffered.PajainenGod. Pre-Christian Finnish. The deity who killsthe great bull in Finnish legend.PajonnGod of thunder. Pre-Christian Lappish. Thename is derived from “the one who dwells in theheaven.”PAK TAIORIGIN Taoist (Chinese). Astral god of war.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP probably fromShang Dynasty (second millennium BC) untilpresent.SYNONYMS Hsuan T’ien Shang Ti; Shang-ti yeh(Taiwanese).CENTER(S) OF CULT Palace of Jade Vacuity onCheung Chau Island.ART REFERENCES paintings and sculptures.LITERARY SOURCES various philosophical andreligious texts, mostly inadequately researchedand untranslated.As first general of heaven’s armies, he is regardedas a guardian of the Chinese state comparable toKUAN TI, but older in mythology and identifiedwith the north. According to tradition he livedcirca 2000 BC and was deified during the warbetween the Chou and Shang dynasties. During hismortal lifetime he was allegedly responsible for theintroduction of flood control and land drainagesystems. Alternatively, he spent much of his lifeseeking a Buddhist-style perfection on the mountainof Wu T’ang Shan. He was taken to heaven toassist the established pantheon in defeating twotraditional monsters, the tortoise and the snake.Pak Tai hurled them into a deep chasm and, on hisreturn, was made first lord of heaven.He is also titled emperor of the north. His fulltitle, Hsuan T’ien Shang Ti, means superior rulerof the dark heaven, as distinct from the movingand more accessible heaven ruled by the godHUANG TI. Before his deification, the north ofChina was believed to be ruled by the tortoise, theso-called dark warrior.Pak Tai is also closely connected with death andfertility. He is a guardian of society who maydescend from heaven to restore stability in timesof unrest or destruction. On the island of CheungChau he is believed to have been responsible forending a plague which afflicted the islanders atthe end of the nineteenth century.PakhetGoddess of hunting. Egyptian. Known locallyfrom the eastern desert regions with a sanctuaryat Beni Hasan.