Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

78 DiangCENTER(S) OF CULT none specifically known.ART REFERENCES monumental carvings and reliefs.LITERARY SOURCES Books of Invasions; Cycles of Kings.A god of whom limited description is given butwho was clearly one of the more important membersof the TUATHA DE DANANN band of Celticdeities in Ireland. Said to be the grandfather ofLUG. He possesses the skills to make every warriorwhole again and is referred to as having made a silverarm for the god NUADU who was injured in thelegendary Battle of Moytura and who subsequentlytook the epithet Nuadu argatlam (Nuada of thesilver arm). Mortally wounded Tuatha were bathedand revived in Diancecht’s sacred well, Slane.Digambara (naked)Goddess. Buddhist-Lamaist [Tibet]. The SAKTIof Yogambara. Attribute: a bowl.NOTE: Digambara is also an epithet of thegoddess KALI in Hindu religion.DikeGoddess of justice. Greek. The daughter of ZEUS.Depicted as a maiden whom men violently abuse inthe streets but who is honored by the gods and whoreports to her father on the misdeeds of mankind,causing divine retribution. She is depicted on theKypselos chest as an attractive woman strangling anugly goddess of injustice, ADIKIA.DiangCow goddess. Shilluk [Sudan]. Living along thewest bank of the Nile, the Shilluk perceive Diangas the consort of the first human, Omara, sent bythe creator god. Her son is Okwa, who marriedthe crocodile goddess NYAKAYA. Thus the threemain elements of Shilluk life are contained intheir religious beginnings—men (sky), cows(earth) and crocodiles (water).DictynnaMother goddess. Cretan. She became syncretizedwith the Greek goddess RHEA.Didi ThakrunPlague goddess. Hindu [northern India]. Associatedwith cholera. Worshiped locally at Bardvan.DievsSky god. Pre-Christian Latvian. He is depicted inthe guise of a gentleman farmer wearing cap andsword and mounted on a horse, or driving a cart.Tradition has it that he first set free the sun.DikkumaraGod. Jain [India]. One of the groups under thegeneral title of BHAVANAVASI (dwelling in places).They have youthful appearance and are associatedwith rain and thunder.Diksa (initiation)Goddess. Hindu (Epic and Puranic). The consortof Ugra and mother of SANTANA. Also thename of the Buddhist Tantric initiation ceremony.DIONYSOSORIGIN Greek. God of wine and intoxication.KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP from circa 1500 BCand probably earlier through to Christianizationcirca AD 400.SYNONYMS Deunysos; Zonnysos; LIBER, BACCHUS(Roman).CENTER(S) OF CULT Pylos; Ayia Irini (Keos).ART REFERENCES chiefly Attic wine amphoraecirca sixth century BC.LITERARY SOURCES Hymn to Dionysos (fragmentary—Homer);Catalogues (Hesiod).