Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

Damkina 71ART REFERENCES possibly various stone carvings,Romano-Celtic and earlier.LITERARY SOURCES Books of Invasions; Cycles ofKings.The Dagda is a strictly Irish tribal god not foundamong the Continental Celts. He is regarded ina general sense as the protector and benefactor ofthe people, not “good” in a moral sense but in apractical fashion—“good at anything.” A fatherfigure who led the deities of Ireland against theFir Bolg in the First Battle of Moytura (seeTUATHA DE DANANN). He has no exclusive roles,but in mythology enters a ritualized union withfertility goddesses including MORRIGAN andBOANN. He is the father of BRIGIT and of AENGUSMac Oc (young god). Dagda is represented in literatureas possessing immense strength and aprodigious appetite (see also THOR). Drawn byChristian writers as a boorish and grotesque character,which may be inaccurate, his weapon is ahuge club which can slay nine men at a strokeand which was once drawn on a ceremonial cart.He owns a bronze “caldron of abundance” withmagical properties of wisdom and rejuvenation,symbol of Irish prosperity. The Dagda maybe the subject of a vast naked figure armed witha club cut in chalk at Cerne Abbas in Dorset,England, and probably created during theRomano-Celtic period.Dagon See DAGAN (2).DaikokuGod of luck. Shinto [Japan]. One of seven godsof fortune in Shintoism and often linked withthe god EBISU. Originally a god of kitchens, hebecame a deity concerned with happiness. He isdepicted as a fat, well-to-do figure seated ontwo rice bales and carrying a sack on his back.He also holds a hammer in his right hand. Indepictions there is often a mouse nibbling atone of the rice bales. Small gold icons of the godmay be carried as talismans of wealth. Accordingto tradition, when Daikoku’s hammer isshaken, money falls out in great profusion. Inwestern Japan he is also syncretized with thegod of rice paddies, TA-NO-KAMI, and thusbecomes the god of agriculture and farmers. Hemay have developed from the Buddhist godMAHAKALA.Daksa (skilled and able)Sun god. Hindu (Vedic and Puranic). The son ofBRAHMA and ADITI, he is an ADITYA and demiurge.His consort is PRASUTI, and he is said tohave had up to sixty daughters. He appears inconflict with his son-in-law ŠIVA as the mainoffender against Šiva’s consort SATI (accounted asone of his daughters), who was so insulted byDaksa that she committed suicide by jumpinginto a ritual fire. Šiva took revenge by decapitatingDaksa but later, after intercession from othergods, Brahma brought him back to life, givinghim the substitute head of a sacrificial goat.Attribute: head of a goat. Also PRAJAPATI.DamgalnunaMother goddess. Mesopotamian (Sumerian andBabylonian-Akkadian). She first appears as a consortof ENLIL and, as Mesopotamian traditionsprogress, becomes associated with EA and themother of the Babylonian god MARDUK. AlsoDAMKINA (Akkadian).DamkinaGoddess. Mesopotamian (Babylonian-Akkadian).Consort of Ea.See also DAMGALNUNA.