Bodish Mountain-Deities

Bodish Mountain-Deities [mostly essentially Bon]

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pp. 43-55 Hildegard Diemberger : "The Horseman in Red : on sacred mountains of La stod lho".

p. 44 the god-prince dGe-bsn~en lHa-btsan sGan-dmar & his divine retinue : in the "midst" of "rainbows and thick clouds"

*location*	*entity*
the god-prince	red body, riding red god-horse; holding in right hand spear (mdun) of gold, holding in left hand red btsan-lasso (z`ags-pa) to throw at the gnod-sbyin; having 2 teeth & red eyen; fiery eyebrows & beard
in front	Asura (lha ma yin) girls singing & dancing
on left	1000s of gods riding red btsan-horses
on right	innumerable klu-btsan riding blue klu-horses
surrounding	tigres, leopards, wolves, swine, foxes, red hounds; btsan birds in flight

pp. 44-45 directional ministers of the divine father of the foregoing, the god-king mKhrid (Khrid)-btsan btsan-po [with the divine mother of the foregoing, the goddess-queen Klu-sa (bza>) klu-btsan-sman] & his [their] divine ministers : in upper eastern Din-ri at the head of 3 valleys in the red castle situated where a "lake of blood is burning with fire, poisonous snakes are crawling together and little red birds fly above." [each minister having :

p.	44-45	45	45	45
*location*	east	south	west	north
*name*	Su-ra-ri (Zur-ra rwa-skyes)	gSer-chun	g.Yun gi btsan	lCags-ri
*cloak*	red	green	red brocade	black
*belt*	of snakes			[locks are blue water-snakes]
*helmet (rmog)*	iron	gold	white	iron
*shoes*	turquoise	red	snake-skin & jewels	rainbow-colored
*in left hand*	black bdud-lasso	btsan-lasso of guts	btsan-lasso	lasso of snakes
*riding __ horse*	black bdud-	yellow	golden	blue with black face
*__ (birds) fly overhead*	3 blackbirds which are brethren	yellow owl singing pu-ru		3 blackbirds which are brethren
*__ hound followeth*	black with white mark on heart		white with red eyen

pp. 44-45 each such directional minister having (alike) :

*accoutrement*	*consisting of*
scabbard (on right side)	tigre-fur
quiver (on left side)	leopard-skin
sword	flaming light
weapon in right hand	red spear, red flag
retinue	Rol-ba skyabs-bdun who sing s`a-ra-ra
[mentioned at end, for lCags-ri]	bGregs who sing z`u-ru-ru

p. 50 at S`el-dkar-ri in La-stod-lho : "three temples to subdue {mollify} the earth’s hostile spirit (sa dgra) of the demoness (srin mo) gDoms gdangs of the eastern hill".

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pp. 57-78 Guntram Hazod : "bKra shis >od >bar : on the history of the religious protector of the Bo dong pa".

pp. 60-61 at S`el-dkar : aspects of the god bKra-s`is >od->bar

p.	*aspect*
60	in red robe & red hat, on rlun-rta snon-po (‘wind-horse blue’); holding in right hand a lance, in left hand a flame-jewel; in belt a knife with a white handle [(fn. 10) "He had to use the knife in his fight against the demon Men khab skyab pa, whose sword thereby was twisted into unusableness".]
	*"the wrathful rDo rje rgyal mtshan, riding through a lake of blood on his horse Phur bu rag pa ("brownish phur bu")"*
61	Tshogs-bdag dmar-po spre>u dgon-can ("red Ganes`a with the monkey’s face") : "monkey-faced ... of Hanuman (the ape-god)" [(p. 71) "Gan.apati Ha-lu-manta" {Hanumant}]

pp. 66-67 sow-goddess at bSam-sdins

p.	*goddess*
66	rDo-rje phag-mo ("Diamond-Sow, Skt. Vajravarahi)"
67	alongside the " "soul lake (bla mtsho)" [(fn. 27) "lake ... in the shape of a scorpion with ... the tail and sting to the east."] Yar >brog g.yu mtsho is giantess-daimoness rDo-rje phag-mo : bSam-sdins "is situated at the heart of the giant demoness lying on her back covering the entire area up to the bdud mo ... lake" "In former times ... a small spring at that place ... was defiled when the demoness washed her hair in it, upon which it swelled to become a lake."

p. 69 beetle-god from Pha-drug (southeast of rTsib-ri, in valley of river Dza-dkar)

"Thim mi who came out of a tree. He is ... a man who works like a bark beetle during the day and disappears into the inside of the wood at night. He had six sons ("the six pha")".

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pp. 211-214 Catherine Uray-Ko:halmi : "Marriage to the Mountain".

pp. 212-213 deities dwelling in mountainous districts in Siberia

p.	*deity*
212	[Tungus on the river Seja] "a boy is snatched by a ber. He manages to escape and an old woman tells him the way to Torganei ["goddess of woods and wild animals"] and gives him a miraculous reindeer, With its help he overcomes the ordeals : thick forest, fire, sea, and gets to the sylvan palace of Torganei. He is received by a woman who passes herself off as Torganei, ... and sleeps with him at night. At midnight the real Torganei arrives, beats her disloyal servant whose body is covered in bark. The boy ... has to tend to Torganei’s herds of wild bears and wolves. He is then sent to the birch wood where the trees thrash him. Finally, he has to kill his reindeer and bathe in its blood. ... In another version, ... Mokogdir reaches the lady of the forest having swum the river of death and overcome similar ordeals caused by beasts".
	[Nedigal (Tungus along the river Amur)] "among the spirits ... is one that also manifests itself as a wild duck ... It must be preyed on and the bag, kept between its legs to preserve the souls of the beasts in form of hairs, seized. The divine mistress tries to get the talisman back every day, but whenever someone manages to resist for two years, she becomes the wife of the hunter and ensures that he is successful in hunting."
213	[Manc^u] "one of the fairy girls bathing in a mountain lake ... swallows a purple fruit dropped from its beak by a divine magpie ... The founder of the dynasty is born from the purple fruit conceived in the fairy."
	[Mongol] "the would-be mother of the middle son of the deity Khormuzda ... is banished to the mountainous wilderness where she meets a man of immense stature and faints. When she come to, she follows the huge footprints and finds a man in a tigerskin seated on a throne in a cave, Oa Gunc^id, the spirit of the mountain. While she was unconscious, she conceived and soon gave birth to Ge-sar and his heavenly sisters."
	[Tungus along the Amur] "A poor hunter and his three daughters are starving. On top of a mountain, he meets a rich young hunter, who promises him luck at hunting provided that he sends one of his daughters to the mountain. There is one condition : the girl has to undo all the knots in her dress as is the custom at a funeral. ... only the youngest obeys. She meets with an old woman on the mountin who ... prepares her for the wedding with her son, the spirit of the mountain. From then on, the hunter has good luck ... It is significant that the girl headed for the mountain must undo the knots of her dress and while doing so, she says : "Yes, everyone must die one day!"" {This would suggest that the mountain hath within it a city for souls of the dead, in the manner of Chinese (Daoist) cosmography.}

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O:STERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE WISSENSCHAFTEN, PHILOSOPHISCH-HISTORISCHE KLASSE, DENKSCHRIFTE, 266. Band (VERO:FFENTLICHUNGEN SUR SOZIALANTHROPOLOGIE, Band 3) = PROCEEDINGS OF THE 7^TH SEMINAR OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR TIBETAN STUDIES, GRAZ 1995, Vol. Vi = Anne-Marie Blondeau (editrix) : Tibetan Mountain Deities, Their Cults and Representations. Wien, 1998.