Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

80 DisciplinaART REFERENCES large wooden sculptures.LITERARY SOURCES Robertson G.S. The Kafirs ofthe Hindukush (1896); Morgenstierne G. SomeKati Myths and Hymns (1951).Disani is the most important goddess of theHindukush, particularly revered by the Prasunpeople. Legend has it that she emergedfrom the right breast of the creator god IMRA.Alternatively she emerged from a sacred lakeinto which a sun disc had fallen, as a goldentree. Other legends place her as the daughter ofthe god SUDREM, or of INDR and the goddessNangi-Wutr. She is the consort of Imra andother major deities in the pantheon andtherefore bears strong fertility and maternalconnotations. She has a son, BAGISHT, conceivedwhen she was raped by a demon. She alsoplays the role of huntress. Her home is said tobe Sudrem.Disani is also a benign and comforting goddessof death who carries the deceased into theHouse of the Great Mother. She is perceived inhuman form, armed with a bow and quiver, withstreams of milk pouring from her breasts. Shecan appear as a wild goat from whose footprintsspring the shoots of wheat, and symbolically asa tree (see INANA) whose roots embody theunderworld Nirmali. Her cult centers seem tohave been connected with the villages of Shtiwe,Bagramatal and Kamdesh.As goddess of death, Disani receives the prayersof women whose menfolk are about to go intocombat. Legend has it that she lives in a goldenfortress with seven doors and seven roads radiatingfrom it. As a fertility goddess she is a guardianof cattle. In her role as vegetation deity, she tillsthe land. She also sows, threshes and winnowsgrain.Sacrifice is in the form of a goat, or more usuallymilk, butter and cheese.Disani is the protectress of the bonds of kinshipand family loyalty. In conflict with this roleshe also inadvertently slaughtered her own sonby decapitation, which gave rise to an annualspring rite of the dying god, witnessed in the religionsof many other agricultural and pastoralsocieties.DisciplinaMinor goddess. Roman. Significant in thelegions, known particularly from the secondcentury BC.DiscordiaMinor goddess of dissent. Roman. Modeled onthe Greek deity ERIS.DisirCollective name for guardian goddesses.Nordic (Icelandic) and Germanic. They were thesubject of a sacrificial ritual in autumn and havestrong fertility connotations as vegetation andfertility deities. They are identified in the Sigrdrifumal(Poetic Edda) and include the Valkyriesand Norns of Germanic mythology.DitiGoddess. Hindu (Vedic, Epic and Puranic). Thedaughter of DAKSA, a consort of ADITI (inthe Rg Veda) or KASYAPA and the mother of arace of demons. Attributes: blue lotus, child andfruit.See also Aditi.DivonaFertility goddess. Celtic (Gallic). Associated withwater and known only from inscriptions.