Vainakh mythology

The Vainakh people of the North Caucasus include the modern Chechens and Ingush, who are today predominantly Muslim in religion. Little is known of their pre-Islamic pagan mythology but scholars have managed to reconstruct the basic pantheon. Some of the names of the deities are:

*Deela or Dela. The supreme god. Creator of heaven and earth and man and woman.
*Deela-Malkh. The sun god. Festival on December 25.
*Seela or Sela. The god of the stars, thunder and lightning.
*Maetsill. God of agriculture and the harvest and protector of the weak.
*Ishtar-Deela. Lord of life and death and ruler of the underworld ("Deeli-Malkhi"), responsible for punishing the wicked.
*Molyz-Yerdi. The war god who brought the Vainakh victory.
*Elta God of the hunt and animals and - before Maetsill took over his role - the harvest. He was blinded in one eye for disobedience by his father, Deela.
*Amgali(-Yerdi) A minor deity.
*Taamash(-Yerdi) ("Lord of wonder") Lord of fate. Usually tiny in size but becomes gigantic when angered.
*Tusholi. Goddess of fertility.
*Dartsa-Naana ("Blizzard mother"). Goddess of blizzards and avalanches.
*Mokha-Naana. Goddess of the winds.
*Seelast ("Oriole") Protectress of virgins.
*Meler Yerdi. God of plants and cereal beverages.

ee also

*Nart saga

ources

*Amjad Jaimoukha "The Chechens: a Handbook" (Routledge/Curzon, 2005) pp.109-111 and appendix pp.252-253

External links

* [http://myths.kulichki.ru/ Mythological dictionary in Russian with articles on Vainakh gods]