Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

254 ProteusProteusMinor sea god. Greek. Depicted as an old manwho attends Triton and whose principal concernis the creatures of the oceans. He also has oracularpowers. The poet Cowper wrote:“In ages past old Proteus, with his drovesOf sea calves sought the mountains and thegroves.”Also known as GLAUKOS, NEREUS andPHORKYS.ProvidentiaGoddess of forethought. Roman. Recognizedfrom the reign of Tiberias in second century BC.ProxumaeGeneric title of a group of goddesses. Romano-Celtic. Personal guardian deities.PrsniPrimordial earth goddess. Hindu (Vedic). The socalled“dappled cow” of the Rg Veda. She is alsoperceived as the brightly colored soma stalk and islinked with a male counterpart, also Prsni, thedappled bull of the sun.PRTHIVI (earth mother)ORIGIN Hindu (Vedic) [India]. Mother goddessof earth.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP circa 1500 BC andprobably earlier through to present day.SYNONYMS Bhudevi.CENTER(S) OF CULT none specific.ART REFERENCES sculptures in bronze and othermetals; stone reliefs, etc.LITERARY SOURCES Rg Veda and other textsincluding the Atharva-veda.In Vedic literature Prthivi is the female aspect ofthe creator god DYAUS PITAR. The two formedthe once inseparable primordial cosmos until separatedby the god VARUNA. According to oneillogical legend of Prthivi’s genealogy, she was thedaughter of Prithu who had granted the blessingof life on earth and who, in her turn, had emergedfrom the arm of the corpse of King Vena.Prthivi is a chthonic or earth goddess withwhom the sky god Dyaus couples when he fertilizesher with rain. She is said to kiss the center ofthe world and she symbolizes the eternal patienceand resilience of the earth, permitting herself tobe abused without rancor. She is also a vegetationgoddess, the source of all plant life. In some legendsPrthivi is perceived as the consort of the raingod INDRA, who protects her, and of lesser-knowncreation deities including PARJANYA, Prajapait andVisvakarma. VIŠNU strides over her body. As theinseparable partner of Dyaus she is rarelyaddressed alone, though in the Atharva-vedaDyaus is not mentioned. Usually the pair arereferred to as Dyavaprthivi. Though the goddesswas present in early Indian culture, she persistsinto late Hinduism and may be associated withVišnu as one of the personifications of his Sakti.Many Hindus worship Prthivi at dawn andbefore ploughing and sowing. In the Punjab, thefirst milk from a cow is offered to the goddess byallowing it to soak into the earth. With similarsentiment a dying man may be laid on the earthto be received by Prthivi.Prthu (broad)Creator god. Hindu (Vedic). The head of thesolar pantheon who introduced agriculture to thehuman race and who, in later Hinduism, is identifiedas an avatara of VIŠNU.PryderiChthonic god. Celtic (Welsh). The son of PWYLLand RHIANNON. According to tradition, he was