Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

74 DengDengSky god. Nuer and Dinka [Sudan]. Considered tobe a foreign deity in the Nuer pantheon and abringer of disease. His daughter is the moon goddess.In Dinka religion he is a storm and fertilitygod bringing lightning and rain.DercetiusMountain god. Romano-Iberian.DercetoMother goddess. Western Semitic (Phoenician).Derived from the Syrian model of ATARGATIS andworshiped locally.Deva (the god)Generic name of a god. Hindu (Vedic andPuranic). Originally, in the Rg Veda, thirty orthirty-three devas are indicated, divided intothree groups of eleven. In later Hinduism, theterm deva is generally applied to deities notincluded in the chief triad of BRAHMA, VIŠNUand ŠIVA.Devaki (divine)Mother goddess. Hindu (Epic and Puranic).Daughter of Devaka and consort of the mythicalking VASUDEVA, Devaki bore eight sons, includingKRSNA and BALARAMA. Her brother Kamsabelieved that the eighth child would kill him andhe slaughtered the first six sons. In order to savethe remaining two, VIŠNU implanted the “seed”of his avataras in Devaki’s womb (in the form ofhairs from his head), before transferringBalarama to the womb of the goddess ROHINIand Krsna to Yasoda, the wife of a cowherd,Nanda.Devananda (delight of the gods)Goddess. Jain [India]. The mother of Mahavira.DevapurohitaAstral god. Hindu (Puranic). An epithet for theplanet god JUPITER.Devasena (heavenly host)Goddess. Hindu (Puranic). One of the consorts ofSKANDA who normally stands to his left.Attribute: lotus in the left hand.DeverraMinor goddess of birth. Roman. A guardian ofnewborn children. Symbolized by a broom usedto sweep away evil influences.Devi (the goddess)Goddess epitomizing the active female principle.Hindu (Epic and Puranic). Devi evolved as a majorgoddess out of the older notion of mother and vegetationgoddesses. She is seen more as an abstractprinciple who will nevertheless respond directly toworshipers’ prayers. By the fifth century AD sheappears in many forms as the active (feminine)aspect or power of male deities. General attributes:conch, hook, noose, prayer wheel and trident. Deviis also the generic name given to a female deity, inher capacity as the consort of a god or DEVA.See also SRI(DEVI), BHUMIDEVI.DhanadaGoddess. Buddhist (Mahayana). One of the emanationsof the DHYANIBUDDHA AMOGHASIDDHI, alsoa form of the goddess TARA. She sits upon a moonthrone with an unnamed animal in attendance.