Aditi
(Hindu) Supreme creator of all that has been created. Variously described as
the mother, wife, and/or daughter of Vishnu; mother of the gods, and all
heavenly bodies.
Adityas
(Hindu) The divine sons of Aditi, chief among them was Varuna (Aditya). The
others were Indra, Mitra, Rudra, Tvashtar and Vishnu.
Agni
(India) God of fire. He exists as lightning.
Aizen-Myoo
(Buddhism) A deity, who despite his terrible appearance, is full of
compassion for mankind. He is pictured with six arms, three eyes, a lion's
head with bristling mane, and atop his head a thunder-bolt (Vajra), with
which he calms evil passions and forbidden desires.
Aji-Suki-Taka-Hi-Kone
(Japan) A god of thunder.
Ama no Uzume
(Japan) The witty goddess of persuasion, who performed a lewd dance to
entice Amaterasu out of the cave in which she was hiding.
Ama-terasu
(Japan) The sun goddess (queen of the universe). Amaterasu Omikami, the Sun
Goddess, is considered the founder of the Japanese nation.
Amatsu Mikaboshi
(Japan) A god of evil.
Ambika
(Hindu) A feminine personification of Parvati in Hindu mythology. An
astonishingly beautiful woman she lured demons to their deaths. She
announced to them that she would not bed with anyone who had not bested her
in battle, and when they approached to fight her she killed their retinue
with a supersonic hum, then transformed herself into the fearsome Kali and
slew them.
Ammavaru
(India) An ancient goddess of India who existed before the beginning of time
She laid an egg that hatched into the divine trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and
Shiva.
Ananta (Shesha)
(Hindu) The coiled serpent of infinite time.
Annapurna (Annapatni)
A Hindu avatar of Durga who ruled over food production.
Aruna
(Hindu) God of the dawn.
Ashvins
(Hindu) Benevolent gods. Twin horsemen and sons of the sun.
Asuras
(India) Demons, possessed of magical powers, at perpetual war with the Devas
(gods).
Antaboga
Indonesian underworld serpent deity ruling over the production of rice.
Aryong Jong
Korean goddess of rainfall.
Au-Co
Vietnamese creator of humanity.
Ba
(China) Goddess of drought.
Banka-Mundi
A hunting goddess in India.
Benten (Benzai-Ten)
(Japan) Benten is one of the Japanese gods of good fortune known as the
Seven Lucky Gods." Benten is the only female deity among the seven. Goddess
of language, wisdom, literature, love, music and the sea.
Bhairavi
(Hindu) Goddess of terror.
Bishamon
(Japan) He was one of the Seven Gods of Luck. He is the Buddhist patron of
warriors.
Brag-srin-mo
Ancestral goddess of Tibet. She mated with a monkey and bore six children
who, when fed a special food, shed their tails and fur and became the first
Tibetans.
Brahma
(Hindu) The post-Vedic form of Prajapati, the creator.
Brihaspati
(India) The god of incantation and ritual, the personification of priestly
magic.
Buddha
(Hindu) Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. Regarded as an avatar of Vishnu.
Budhi Pallien
A forest goddess in North India who roamed the jungle in the form of a tiger
Caishen
(China) God of wealth.
Candi
(India) Another name for the goddess Durga (in moon form). The moon was
considered a god one month (Chandra), a goddess (Candi) the next.
Challalamma
(India) Goddess of buttermilk.
Chandra
(Vedic) God of the moon.
Chang Fei
(China) God of butchers.
Chang Hsien
(China) God of dreams and god of pregnancy.
Ch'ang-O
(China) Originally a woman who lived on earth and became a goddess when she
drank all the water of immortality that was given to her husband by the gods
as an award, thereby cheating him of that honor. She became goddess of the
moon.
Chang Pan
(China) God of masons (brick layers/builders).
Ch'ang Tsai
(China) God of the spleen.
Chao san-Niang
(China) Goddess of wig salesmen.
Chao T'eng-k'ang
(China) God of the bowels.
Ch'eng Huang
(China) God responsible for the land, its moats, ditches, and walls, and the
people.
Cheng San-Kung
(China) God of fishing.
Cheng Yuan-ho
(China) God of strolling singers.
Chen Kao
(China) God of the ears.
Chien-Ti
(China) A Chinese ancestral mother who accidentally swallowed a
multi-colored swallow's egg and gave birth thereafter to the ancestors of
the Shang dynasty.
Chih Jih
(China) God of the day.
Chih Nii
(China) Goddess of spinning.
Chih Nu
(China) She wove the beautiful robes of all the other divinities. Goddess of
weaving.
Ch'ih Sung-tzu
(China) Lord of the rain.
Chimata-No-Kami
(Japan) God of the crossroads.
Ching Ling Tzu
(China) God of tea.
Ch'ing Lung
(China) God of the lungs.
Chin-hua Niang-niang
(China) God of drums and violins.
Chinnintamma
(India) Goddess of households.
Chio Yuan-Tzu
(China) God of the brain.
Chi Po
(China) God of the winds.
Chou Wang
(China) God of sodomy.
Chuang-Mu
(China) Goddess of the bedroom.
Chu-jung
(China) God of fire and celestial executioner.
Chung-kuei
(China) Protector of those who travel. God of examinations.
Chung-li Ch'uumlan
(China) One of the Eight Immortals of Taoism.
Ch'ung Ling-yu
(China) God of the nose.
Chung Liu
(China) God of eaves.
Chu Niao
(China) God of the heart.
Chun T'i
(China) Goddess of the dawn.
Chup-Kamui
(Japan) Sun goddess of the Ainu peoples. Originally she was the moon goddess
but after one night overhead watching all the adulterous behavings below she
begged the sun god to trade places with her and he did.
Chu Ying
(China) God of the eyes.
Dai-itoku-Myoo
(Buddhism) He has six heads with terrible faces, six arms, and six legs. He
uses poisons to do his evils.
Daikoku
(Japan) God of wealth and happiness. Has a magic mallet with which he
creates gold.
Dakini
(Hindu) Female attendants of Kali. Terrifying-looking, they were pictured as
huge in size, and sometimes with fish bodies.
Devas
(India) Gods at perpetual war with the Asuras (demons).
Devi
(Hindu) A twelve-armed warrior goddess, created by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva
to slay Mahishasura, the shape-shifting monster who menaced the universe.
She rode a lion into the fray and won.
Dewi Nawang Sasih
(Sundanese) Celestial nymph who taught people how to cook rice. The myth
says she gave the women a simple recipe: place one grain of rice in a pot,
boil, and wait until it sub-divides again and again until the pot is full.
Her one restriction was that no man ever touch a woman's cooking utensils.
The people feasted fully, and easily, following her instructions until one
king who felt above all others deliberately touched a cooking implement. The
goddess, in disgust, departed the earth, and since that time it takes a
whole bunch of rice to fill a pot, because although the grains swell up,
they no longer divide and reproduce.
Dewi Shri
The rice goddess of Bali. Goddess of both the underworld and the moon, she
has both earthly and celestial powers. Although she rules life, through her
control of the foodstuffs of the earth, she also controls death, which
returns us to her bosom.
Dharma
(Hindu) God of justice.
Dhisana
(Hindu) Goddess of prosperity.
Di Jun
(China) God of the eastern sky.
Diti
An Indian goddess. Many mythographers see Aditi as the endless sky, Diti as
the earth. Both apparently come from a non-Aryan source of Hindu mythology,
for their children, though recognized as supernatural, were never part of
the official pantheon. Diti's children were asuras, non-gods. They were
powerful beings, especially the warrior Maruts, who might have conquered the
gods. Diti, whose earlier children Indra had killed, practiced magic when
pregnant again. So threatened was Indra that he watched her constantly. When
Diti fell into a doze, Indra entered her vagina, traveled to her womb, and
dismembered the fetus. Even cut to pieces, the fetus was so powerful that it
reformed into forty-nine separate warriors.
Draupadi
A heroine of the Mahabharata, she was a polyandrous woman who slept in turn
with each of her five husbands, who were all brothers.
Dyaus
(Hindu/Vedic) God of the rain.
Durga
(Hindu) One of the forms of the goddess Shakti, and the wife of Shiva. She
was born fully grown. Durga is famous as the many-armed many-weaponed
goddess that slays the buffalo-demon.
Dyaush
(India) The first supreme god.
Ebisu
(Japan) God of fishermen.
Emma-O
(Japan) He is the lord of hell. He is depicted as wearing a judge's cap and
holding a mace. He was responsible for judging the souls of men (his sister
judged the souls of women). If a sinner was "saved" by the prayers of the
living, he was reborn on earth or in paradise.
Fan K'uei
(China) A god of butchers.
Fei Lien
(China) A god of the wind.
Fengbo
(China) Another god of the wind.
Feng Pho-Pho
(China) Goddess of the winds of China, Feng Pho-Pho was pictured as riding a
tiger for her steed and with clouds for her roadway. She was depicted as an
old, wrinkled woman. On calm days, it was thought she rounded up the winds
and stuffed them into the bag she carried on her shoulder.
Fudo
(Japan) God of wisdom.
Fudo-Myoo
(Buddhism) The god who protects against catastrophes, great dangers and fire
and theft. He is pictured surrounded by flames, the symbols of his virtues.
His ferocious face is half hidden by his long hair. With his sword he
battles against anger, avarice, and folly.
Fu-Hsi
(China) The god of vegetation and the inventor of writing.
Fu Hsing
(China) He was one of the three divinities known as Fu-Shou-Lu. He was
considered a spirit of happiness.
Fuji
(Japan) In the myths of many cultures volcanoes have been seen as female
forces (Aetna in Italy, Pele in Hawaii, and Chuginadak in the Aleutians).
The aboriginal Japanese Ainus saw volcanic fire as female also, naming their
chief divinity Fuji, goddess of the famous mountain that now bears her name.
Fukurokuju
(Japan) The star god. Another of the Seven Gods of Luck. He represents
wisdom. To show that, he is depicted as having a head nearly equal to the
length of his body.
Fu-Pao
The Yellow Emperor of China was another hero with an unusual conception. His
mother, Fu-Pao, sat outdoors one night watching an unearthly light play
across the sky, and she became inpregnated. Her child Huang-Ti, the Yellow
Emperor, gestated for two years (another common phenomenon among heroes)
before his birth.
Ganesa (Ganesha)
(Hindu) The god of prosperity and wisdom. He is depicted with a fat human
body, four arms, and an elephant's head. Son of Shiva and Parvati.
Ganga (Ganges)
(Hindu) The story goes that this "mother of rivers" once lived in heaven
with her sister, the virgin, Uma. When sea-dwelling demons harassed the
earth, Agastya swallowed the ocean where they hid, thereby getting rid of
the demons; but the earth was left seriously parched and dry. Because of the
prayers of the people, the heavenly water goddess Ganga descended to earth.
She became embodied as the sacred river Ganges. Her role is as the goddess
of health, happiness, fertility, and wealth. One of the wives of Shiva, she
was the daughter of the mountain Himalaya.
Gaomei
(Chinese) Originally an ancient Chinese goddess whose name, means "first
mother". She was later changed into a male divinity.
Garuda
(Hindu) The god-mount of Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi, it is usually
pictured as a creature with the head, talons, beak, and wings of an eagle
(or a vulture) and limbs and trunk of human shape.
Gauri
(Hindu) Said to be a form of the mighty Durga.
Gauri-Sankar
(India) A mountain goddess.
Gekka-O
(Japan) God of marriage.
Giri Devi
(Sri Lanka) This legendary woman is invoked in dances and songs. She was the
sister of the evil demon Dala Kumara, who indulged himself in illicit
desires for her. This grew to be an obsession with him, until her wedding,
where he snapped and kidnapped her. Taking her to the forest, he raped her
repeatedly and kept her as a prisoner. She finally committed suicide by
hanging herself from a tree. He never recovered from this loss, but the
efforts of Pattini kept him from devastating the world by instituting
rituals to hold him at bay.
Gopis
(Hindu) The "milkmaids"; said to be the lovers of the young Krishna.
Gozanze-Myoo
(Buddhism) He is pictured with four ferocious faces, a third eye centered in
his forehead, and eight hands.
Grhadevi
(India) God of the household.
Guan Di
(China) A god of war.
Gujeswari
(India) A mother goddess.
Gundari-Myoo
(Buddhism) He is pictured with three eyes and fangs. He has a red body with
eight arms. Snakes are coiled about his wrists and ankles.
Hachiman
(Japan) A god of war.
Hanuman
(Hindu) Chief minister and general of the monkey people.
Hao Ch'iu
(China) A god of the heart.
Hari-Hara
(Hindu) A composite god; the combination of Shiva and Vishnu.
Hariti
(Buddhism) She had been a cannibal devourer of children until converted by
Buddha, at which time she became the protectress of children.
Heng-o
(China) Goddess of the moon. Consort of Yi the Archer.
Hettsui-No-Kami
(Japan) Goddess who protected and provided for the family through the
provisioning of harvested food.
Ho-Masubi
(Japan) A god of fire.
Ho Po (Ping-I)
(China) God of the Yellow River. Foremost among the river gods.
Hotei
(Japan) Another of the Seven Gods of Luck. He is pictured as a cheerful monk
with a large protruding belly. Hotei is sometimes referred to as the
Laughing Buddha" and it is said that if you rub his belly you will encounter
good fortune.
Hou Chi
(China) Lord of abundant harvests. He was miraculously conceived when his
childless mother stepped on the footprint of a god.
Hou T'u
(China) A god of the earth.
Hsiao Wu
(China) God of prisons.
Hsieh T'ien-chun
(China) God personification of the planet Saturn.
Hsien Nung
(China) A god of agriculture.
Hsi Ling-su
(China) God of silk.
Hsi-shen
(China) God of joy.
Hsi Shih
(China) Goddess of face cream.
Hsi Wang Mu
(China) Mother goddess of the Western Paradise.
Hsuan Wen-hua
(China) The god of hair.
Hsu Ch'ang
(China) God of archery.
Huang Ti
(China) God of architecture.
Huang T'ing
(China) God of the spleen.
Hulka Devi
(Hindu) Goddess of cholera.
Huo Pu
(China) A god of fire.
Hu-Shen
(China) God of hail.
Inari
(Japan) God of rice.
Indra
(India) Main god of the Vedas. In Vedic myth, god of the atmosphere, storms,
rain, and battle. Indra is the most celebrated Vedic god. He rides the solar
chariot across the sky and wields thunderbolts.
Izanagi and Izanami
(Japan) The god and goddess that created Japan.
Jagganath (Juggernaut)
(Hindu) The god whose name means "Lord of the World" (It is a cult title of
Vishnu).
Jen An
(China) God of robbers.
Jizo Bosatsu
(China/Japan) The great protector of suffering humanity. He averts fires,
facilitates childbirth, and is especially honored as a protector of children
Jurojin
(Japan) God of longevity.
Jyeshtha
(Hindu) Goddess of bad luck.
Kagutsuchi
(Japan) A god of fire.
Kali
(India) Cult name of the goddess Durga. Wife to Shiva. A bloodthirsty
fertility goddess to whom the Thugs sacrificed their victims. Her idol is
black, is smeared with blood, has huge fang-like teeth, and a protruding
tongue that drips with blood. She wears a necklace of skulls, earrings of
corpses, and is girdled with serpents. She usually has four arms,
symbolizing absolute dominion over all finite things. One hand holds a sword
the second holds a severed human head, the third is believed by her
devotees to be removing fear, and the fourth is often interpreted as
granting bliss. Kali-omnipotent, absolute, and all-pervasive-is beyond fear
and finite existence and is therefore believed able to protect her devotees
against fear and to give them limitless peace. Finally, as absolute night,
devouring all that exists, she is sometimes depicted as standing on the
corpse of Shiva, which, like the garland of skulls, symbolizes the remains
of finite existence. Kali's worshipers reportedly appeased her in the past
with human sacrifices. She is propitiated today with the blood of mammals.
Kama
(Hindu) God of love and desire. Son of Vishnu and Lakshmi, and husband of
Rati (goddess of voluptuousness, like the Roman Venus).
Kamado-No-Kami
(Japan/Shinto) God of kitchen stoves.
Kami
(Japan) A god in Shintoism (The native religion of Japan).
Karttikeya
(Hindu) God of war. He is shown riding on a peacock, with a bow in one hand
and an arrow in the other. He is also called Skanda and Kumara.
Kawa-No-Kami
(Japan) A god of rivers.
Kaya-Nu-Hima
(Japan) Goddess of herbs.
Keng Yen-cheng
(China) Another god of robbers and thieves.
King Wan
(China) A god of luck.
Kishijoten
(Japan) A goddess of good luck.
Kishi-Mojin
(Japan/Buddhism) Goddess of motherhood.
Ko Hsien-Weng
(China) God of jugglers.
Kongo-Myoo
(Buddhism) Depicted as surrounded by fire, has three heads and six arms. His
front face has five eyes.
Krishna
(Hindu) Worshipped as an incarnation of Vishnu.
Krtya
(Hindu) Goddess of witchcraft.
Kuan Ti
(China) God of war and upholder of justice.
Kuan Ti
(China) God of literature. God of fortune-telling.
Kubera
(Hindu) He is the guardian of the north and is associated with all the
teasures of the earth that lie underground.
Kubjika
(Hindu) Goddess of pottery.
Kuei-ku Tzu
(China) Another god of fortune-telling.
Kujaku-Myoo
(Buddhism) He is always shown seated on a peacock. He gives protection
against drought.
Kunitokotatchi
(Japan/Shinto) The chief deity.
Kuo Tzu-i
(China) Another god of happiness.
Lai Cho
(China) A god of agriculture.
Lakshmi or Laksmi
(Hindu) A consort of Vishnu and mother of Kama. She is the goddess of beauty
wealth, and pleasure. She was born from the foam of the sea, like the Greek
Aphrodite.
Lao Lang
(China) God of actors.
Lei Kung
(China) God of thunder.
Lei Tsu
(China) God of innkeepers.
Li Lao-chun
(China) God of leatherworkers.
Li Tien
(China) God of firecrackers.
Liu Meng
(China) God of agriculture.
Liu Pei
(China) God of basket-makers.
Lohasur Devi
(India) Goddess of the forging of iron.
Lo Shen
(China) Goddess of rivers.
Lo-Tsu Ta-Hsien
(China) God of barbers and beggars.
Lo Yu
(China) God of tea.
Lu Hsing
(China) Another of the three gods who were known as Fu-Shou-Lu. God of
justice.
Lung Yen
(China) God of the liver.
Lu-pan
(China) God of carpenters.
Ma-Ku
(China) Goddess of springtime.
Manasha
(Hindu) Goddess of snakes.
Mang Chin-i
(China) Goddess of the womb.
Mang Shen
(China) God of agriculture.
Manu
(Hindu) Ancestor of the human race. Saved from the flood by a great fish.
Mao Meng
(China) God of the planets Jupiter and Mercury.
Marici
(Japan) The goddess of dawn.
Maya
(Hindu) The Queen Mother.
Mayavel
(India) Another goddess of children.
Men Shen
(China) The two guardians of doorways, who protect against evil spirits and
hostile influences.
Meru
(Hindu) akin to "Olympus" of the Greeks, a mountain in the center of the
world. The abode of Vishnu, and a perfect Paradise.
Miao Hu
(China) A god of agriculture.
Mi-lo Fo
(China) The coming Buddha.
Ming Shang
(China) God of the eyes.
Mitra
(India) Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light and wisdom. In the Avesta,
the sacred Zoroastrian writings of the ancient Persians, Mitra appears as
the chief yazata (Avestan, "beneficent one"), or good spirit, and ruler of
the world. He was supposed to have slain the divine bull, from whose dying
body sprang all plants and animals beneficial to humanity. After the
conquest of Assyria in the 7th century BCE and of Babylonia in the 6th
century bc, Mitra became the god of the sun, which was worshipped in his
name. The Greeks of Asia Minor, by identifying Mitra with Helios, the Greek
god of the sun, helped to spread the cult. It was brought to Rome about 68
BCE, and during the early empire it spread rapidly. It was a rival to
Christianity in the Roman world. Mithraism was similar to Christianity in
many respects, for example, in the ideals of humility and brotherly love,
baptism, the rite of communion, the use of holy water, the adoption of
Sundays and of December 25 (Mitra's birthday) as holy days, and the belief
in the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, and the resurrection.
Mithraism differed from Christianity in the exclusion of women from its
ceremonies and in its willingness to compromise with polytheism. His cult
expanded to become a worldwide religion, called Mithraism. It declined
rapidly in the late 3d century CE
Monju-Bosatsu
(Japan) God of education.
Mulhalmoni
(Korea) Goddess of water.
Nagas
(Hindu) Human-headed snakes that appear frequently in myth and legend. They
sprung from Kadru, wife of Kasyapa. They lived in the underworld where they
rule as semi-devine beings. The Naga and Nagina are genii kings and queens.
Naga women can marry humans. The Nagas are enemies of the Garuda bird (a
mythical symbolic bird in the Hindu religion).
Nai-No-Kami
(Japan) God of earthquakes.
Nan-chi Hsien-weng
(China) God of longevity.
Nandi
(Hindu) The bull; the vehicle of Shiva.
Naraka
(Hindu) The place of torture for departed evil-doers.
Nataraja
(Hindu) Lord of the Dance.
Ni-O
(Buddhism) The protector of the Buddhist faith.
Nirriti
(Hindu) Goddess of corruption, decay, and disease.
Niu Wang
(China) God of oxen.
No-Il Ja-Dae
(Japan) Goddess of the toilet.
Nu-kua
(China) Goddess inventor of marriage. In some myths the one who created
mankind.
Nu Wa
(China) Goddess of those who arrange marriages.
O-Kuni-Nushi
(Japan) God of medicine and sorcery.
Omoigane
(Japan) God of wisdom.
Pa
(China) Goddess of drought.
Pa Cha
(China) Goddess of grasshoppers.
Pai Chung
(China) Another god of agriculture.
Pai Liu-Fang
(China) God of the throat.
Pai Yu
(China) God of guitars.
P'an-Chin-Lien
(China) Goddess of brothels, prostitution, and sex.
P'an Niang
(China) Goddess of vaccination.
Pao Yuan-ch'uan
(China) God of the spleen.
Parashurama
(Hindu) Rama with an axe (a human incarnation of Vishnu); his magic
battle-axe was a gift from Shiva.
Parjanya
(Hindu) God of lightning and thunder.
Parvati
(Hindu) Shiva's wife (or consort). Turns into Kali when "necessary".
Paurnamasi
(Hindu) Goddess of the full moon.
Phan Ku
(China)The creator who formed the mountains, valleys, rivers and oceans.
When he died, his skull became the sky, his breath the wind, his voice
thunder, his legs and arms the four directions, his flesh the soil, and his
blood the rivers. Then the fleas in his hair became the people.
P'i Chia-Ma
(China) God of the ribs.
Pien Ho
(China) God of jewellers.
Po Yan Dari
(Cambodia) Goddess of disease.
Prajapati
(India) The father of gods and demons, he is the master of created beings,
and the protector of those who procreate.
Prithivi
(Hindu) Goddess of the earth; consort of Dyaush.
Puchan
(India) Brings all things into relationship, blessing marriage, providing
food, guiding travelers, and ushering the dead.
Purandhi
(India) Goddess of childbirth and abundance.
Purusha
(Hindu) He was sacrificed and all parts of the cosmos were made from his
dismembered body.
Quan Yin (also known as Kwan Yin or Kuan Yin)
Quan Yin is a mother/protectress type Goddess. She died in life but was made
a Goddess, and because she saw a lot of pain while she was living, she swore
to protect all humans, and would not rest until the suffering of man-kind
ended. Buddha, seeing her love of Her fellow man, made Her a Goddess. She is
also a Goddess of Compassion and Mercy.
Radha
(Hindu) The principal mistress of Krishna.
Raiden
(Japan) God of thunder.
Rakshas
(India) Evil semi-devine creatures that practice black magic and afflict men
with misfortune.
Rama
One of the 10 incarnations of Vishnu, Rama is a traditional hero. His story
forms the epic Ramayana. He is perfect in every aspect; the perfect man, the
perfect husband, the perfect brother, the perfect king, etc. and the
obedient son. He is believed to have been born for the sole purpose of
killing the demon king Ravana. This "Perfect One" is depicted usually with
his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana and his greatest devotee, the monkey
Hanuman at his feet.
Rati
(Hindu) Goddess of love and sexual passions.
Ratri
(Hindu/Vedic) Goddess of the night.
Rodasi
(Vedic) Goddess of lightning.
Rudra
(Hindu) Vedic god of wild nature and of disease.
Rudrani
(India) Goddess of storms.
Rumina
(India) Still another goddess of children.
Samanta-Bhadra
(Tibet) Sanskrit name of Kuntu-bzang-mo, mother goddess in BARDO mysticism.
Samundra
(India) Goddess of rivers.
Sanjna
(Hindu) Goddess of the dawn.
San Kuan
(China) Collective name for the Three Officials, who were T'ien Kuan
(official of heaven), Ti Kuan (official of earth) and Shui Kuan (official of
water).
Sangs-rgyas-mkhá
(Tibet) A rain goddess.
Sao-ch'ing Niang
(China) Goddess of good weather.
Sarasvati
(India) Goddess of knowledge and of fertility and prosperity. She is
considered the originator of speech and of all the arts. She is one (the
maiden aspect) of the trinity which includes Devi and Lakshmi. Sarasvati is
pictured as a graceful woman with white skin, usually sitting on a lotus (or
a peacock), and usually adorned with a crescent moon.
Sarudahiko
(China) The god of the crossroads and the embodiment of male sexuality. He
is shown with a large nose, which is of phallic significance.
Sati
(Hindu) First wife of Shiva. She established the custom of suttee.
Savitar
(India) The god of motion, with golden eyes, hands, and tongues.
Sengdroma
(Tibet) A lion-faced goddess called upon as a protector of herds.
Sgeg-mo-ma
(Tibet) Goddess of beauty, often depicted as holding a mirror.
Shang Chien
(China) God of the neck.
Shang Ti
(China) Originally the supreme god. He was later known as T'ien (Sky).
Shashti
(Hindu) Goddess who protects children and women in childbirth.
Shatala
(Hindu) Goddess of smallpox.
She chi
(China) Another god of agriculture, especially of grain and the land.
Sheng Mu
(China) Goddess of black magic.
Shen Hsui-Chih
(China) God of medicine.
Shen Nung
(China) Another agriculture god.
Shih Liang
(China) God of the tongue.
Shine-Tsu-Hiko
(Japan) God of the wind.
Shiu Fang
(China) God of embankments.
Shoten
(Japan) God of commerce and wisdom.
Shou-lao
(China) God who determines man's longevity.
Shun I Fu-jen
(China) Goddess of famine and floods.
Shuzanghu
(Dhammai of India) He and his wife, Zumaing-Nui, exist before anything.
After making love they give birth to a girl (Earth) and a boy (Sky), who
marry and give birth to gods, and to two frogs. The frogs mate and give
birth to people.
Sien-Tsang
(China) Goddess of silk cultivation.
Sitala (Satala)
(Hindu) Goddess of smallpox.
Siva (Shiva)
(India) The god of destruction. One of the gods of the Hindu Trimurti, or
triad of supreme gods. Shiva, also called Siva, personifies both the
destructive and the procreative forces of the universe. As the destroyer he
is represented wearing a necklace of skulls and surrounded by demons. His
reproductive aspect is symbolized by the lingam, a phallic emblem. Shiva is
also the god of asceticism and of art, especially dancing. He rides on the
bull Nandi, and his consort is the mother goddess Uma, or Kali. Some Hindus
worship Shiva as the supreme deity and consider him a benevolent god of
salvation as well as a god of destruction.
Skanda
(Hindu) A warrior-god. The six-headed son of Shiva.
Soma
(India) Both a narcotic plant and a god who gives inspiration, liberates men
and represents the principle of life.
Sraddha
(Hindu) Goddess of faith.
Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju
(China) God of wine sellers.
Sung-Chiang
(China) God of thieves.
Sun Pin
(China) God of shoemakers.
Sunrta
(Hindu) Goddess of happiness.
Sun Ssu-miao
(China) God of druggists.
Sura
(India) Goddess of wine.
Surabhi
(India) A fourth goddess of children.
Surya
(Hindu) God of the sun.
Susa-no-wo
(Japan) The Storm God. Brother of Ama-terasu.
Svasti-devi
(Hindu) Goddess of the household.
Tajika-no-mikoto
(Japan) God of physical strength.
Tan Chu
(China) God of the teeth.
T'ang Ming Huang
(China) God of the theater.
Tankun
(Korea) The sun god and founder of Korea.
Tao Kung
(China) God of the diaphragm.
Tengri
(Mongolia) God of the sky.
Tho-og
(Tibet) Mother goddess, first of the gods to exist.
T'ien Fei
(China) Goddess of sailing.
Tien Hou
(China) Ocean goddess who rode across the sky on clouds and, with her wind
servants, looked for sailors in danger. She then hastened to their rescue.
Tien Mu
(China) Goddess of lightning.
Ti-tsang
(China) Deity who protects mankind; is able to rescue souls from hell and
bring them to paradise.
Tsai Shen
(China) God of wealth.
Ts'ang Chien
(China) God of writing.
Ts'an Nu
(China) Goddess of silkworms.
Tsao Chun
(China) The kitchen god. The most important god of the family and home.
Tsao-Wang
(China) God of the hearth.
T'shai-Shen
(China) A god of wealth.
Tsuki-yomi
(Japan) God of the moon.
Tulsi
(India) Goddess of the basil herb.
Tung Chun
(China) God of the day.
T'ung Chung-chung
(China) God of the skin.
T'ung Lai-yu
(China) God of the stomach.
Tung Lu
(China) God of snow.
T'ung Ming
(China) God of the tongue.
Tvashtar
(Hindu) Craftsman of the gods.
Tzu-ku Shen
(China) God of toilets.
Ui Tango
(Tibet) One of three creator goddesses. The other two are Nguntre and
Ninguerre.
Uka no Mitanna
(Japan) A rice goddess, usually pictured with foxes, her divine messengers.
Uke-mochi
(Japan) Goddess of food.
Uma
(Hindu) Another name for Shiva's consort.
Uminai-gami
(Okinawa) A creator goddess, who with her brother Umikii-gami, created
humans and the land.
Urjani
(Hindu) Goddess of strength.
Ushas
(India) The beautiful goddess of the dawn.
Uso-dori
(Japan) Goddess of singing.
Uzume
(Japan) Goddess of laughter.
Vach
(Hindu) Goddess of speech.
Varuna
(Hindu) The top god, ruler of the sky. He is guardian of the west and is
associated with oceans and waters.
India Myth-
The moon, he supervises oaths.
Vata
(India) The god of the wind.
Vayu
(Hindu/Vedic) God of air and wind.
Vishnu
(Hindu) The supreme Hindu god. Vishnu rose to power during the battle
between the devas and the asuras. Both wanted dominion over the world. The
asuras finally agreed to cede whatever territory a devas could measure out
in three paces. Vishnu, who at this time was only a dwarf, proclaimed
himself champion of his fellow creatures, and in three strides traversed the
whole world (the earth, the sky, and all the intervening space). Vishnu's
retinue was composed of Garuda (the eagle which served as his steed) and
Hanuman (the king of the monkeys). Certain objects are linked to him: the
disc, the conch, the lotus flower. He was married to Lakhsmi. His avatars
were: a fish, a tortoise, a wild boar, a man-lion, the dwarf, Parasurama,
Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Kalkin (to come at the end of this age). He is always
depicted sleeping on a large serpent named Adisesha or Ananda. The snake
represents the earth and by sleeping on it, Vishnu becomes the "Preserver of
the Earth" (one of many of Vishnu's names). Vishnu accomplished many things:
he killed the demon Madhu, he caused people to worship, and he took and
takes great care of the Earth.
Vishvakarman
(Hindu) He personifies the creative power. He fashioned the cities and
weapons of the gods.
Visvamitra
(India) A ksatriya (warrior), he aspired to become a Brahman (high priest).
To this end he withdrew to a forest and practiced austerity. After a
thousand years, Brahma gave him the title of royal rsi, (a position lower
than Brahman). He attempted to create a new sky, without success, and lost
all the merits he had accumulated. He returned to his austerity for another
thousand years, and again Brahma made him a rsi. This time he fell in love
with a nymph, Mechaka, and consorted with her for ten years. Thus again he
lost all merits. Still he persisted. This time he placed himself between the
five fires in summer, and in water in winter. Now he earned the title
maharsi (super-rsi). But the gods sent him the nymph Rambha to tempt him. He
flew into a rage that they would do this and lost all his merits again.
Visvamitra then stopped eating and breathing for some years, stayed away
from temptation and anger, and he finally became a Brahman.
Vivasvat
(India) God of sunrise.
Vritra
(India) A demon who imprisons the waters before Indra slays him.
Wa
(China) A divine woman who, in ancient times, "produced the ten thousand
beings through metamorphosis." It is difficult to tell from the writings
about her exactly how this creator goddess populated the world.
Waghai Devi
(India) A tiger goddess.
Wakahirume
(Japan) The favorite weaving maiden of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu.
She died when the evil Susanoo threw a flayed piebald colt through the roof
of the "Heavenly Weaving Hall". Terrified, Wakahirume fell onto her shuttle,
which fatally punctured her vagina. This so enraged Amaterasu that she
closeted herself into the Sky-Rock-Cave, and only the creation of the world
s first mirror could lure her back out. (In some interpretations, Wakahirume
is the sun goddess' younger sister, or a younger dawn form of the divinity.)
Wang-Mu-Niang-Niang
(China) Goddess of female energy.
Wang Ta-hsien
(China) God of white ants.
Weiwobo
(China) Another goddess of female energy.
Wen-ch'ang
(China) God of literature.
Wu-tai Yuan-shuai
(China) God of musicians.
Xi Hou
(China) Goddess who gave birth to ten suns. Each morning she bathes the ten
suns, and then places the one which is to light that day into a chariot
drawn by dragons for the day's journey.
Xi Wangmu
(China) Personification of the female principle (yin), who with Mu Kung
(yang), created heaven and earth, and all living beings.
Xiu Wenyin
(China) Goddess of lightning and thunder.
Yainato-Hnneno-Mikoi
(Japan) This early Japanese princess became possessed by the goddess
Amaterasu, ancestral mother of her clan, and under the goddess' influence
founded a temple used as Amaterasu's sanctuary.
Yakushi Nyorai
(Japan Buddhist) The Buddha of healing.
Yama
(Hindu) The lord of death. Yama was the first man, son of Vivasvant, the sun
He mated with his sister Yami to create humanity. He is acknowledged as the
first man that died, creating the path which all men since have followed.
Yama-No-Kami
(Japan) Goddess of the hunt. Goddess of the forest. Goddess of agriculture.
Goddess of vegetation.
Yama-no-Karni
(Japan) This goddess was a spirit of sacred mountains, one who brought good
luck to hunters and woodsmen who attended to her rites but she could be
quite stern with those who did not. One-legged and one-eyed, she was invoked
as a protector for women, for she has a secret box of souls from which she
endows each new being. As a seasonal goddess, she annually gives birth to
twelve children, the year's twelve months. In singular form, she is
Yama-no-Shinbo, the mountain mother.
Yanwang
(China) A god of death.
Yaoji
(China) This goddess was said to have been worshiped in the form of a sacred
rock at the summit of a hill called the Mount of the Sorceress. According to
an old legend, a king encountered her on that hill in a dream in which she
revealed not only her name but the location of a plant to be used in love
magic.
Yaparamma
(India) Goddess of commerce.
Yaya-Zakurai
(Japan) This cherry-tree goddess was a beautiful young woman each spring.
She remained celibate while her beauty lasted, only taking lovers when her
petals had fallen.
Yayu
(India) God of air.
Yen-lo
(China) Ruler of the underworld.
Yen-Lo-Wang
(China) God of the earth.
Yi
(China) Husband of Chang-o. He saved the earth from destruction when all ten
of its suns appeared in the sky at the same time. Yi, an expert archer with
a magic bow, shot down nine of the suns.
Yondung Halmoni
(Korea) An ancient wind goddess, she is celebrated in shamanic rituals where
she is fed rice cakes.
Yu
(China)The engineer hero who measured the world from east to west and from
north to south in order to lay it out. Yu, the son of K'un, the emperor of
China, was a thin, reedy man who was ill and crippled causing him to hop
about on one foot. He dug out the mountains and allowed waters to flow from
a catastrophic flood. He worked at it for 13 years without returning home.
When he became a god, Yu travelled the world in order to plan it. He
stabilized five sacred mountains at the four cardinal points and at the
center of the earth. Yu's wife was the daughter of T'u-chan the mountain of
the earth. Yu was the first emperor of the Hsia Dynasty.
Yu Ch'iang
(China) God of the ocean winds. He appears as a giant sea bird or a whale,
or any other sea creature, but he always has the face, hands, and feet of a
human male.
Yu Huang
(China) Emperor of the gods. God of purity. God of nature. The Jade God.
Yuki-Onne
(Japan) To those lost in blizzards, struggling futilely against the cold,
she came, soothing them, singing to lull them to sleep, then breathing a
deathly cold breath on them. The "snow maiden" was the spirit of death by
freezing; a calm, pale woman who appeared to the dying, making their death
quiet and painless.
Yum-chen-mo
(Tibet) Goddess of wisdom.
Yun-T'ung
(China) God of the clouds.
Yu-Tzu
(China) A god of the rain.
Zaoshen
(China) God of kitchens.
Zas-ster-ma-dmar-mo
(Tibet) Goddess of wealth.
Zhang Xi
(China) A creator goddess who gave birth to twelve moons.
Zhinü
(China) A goddess of marriage and a patron of weavers.
Zhongguei
(China) God of examinations.
Zisun
(China) Goddess of weddings.
Zumiang Nui
(India) Creator goddess. Mother of the earth and the sky.