Dulha Deo
Baiga · mortal · Baiga traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Dulha Deo, 'the Bridegroom God', is one of the favourite household deities of the Baiga and of the Central Provinces generally. He is the deified spirit of a young bridegroom who died on the very day of his wedding, in the common telling carried off by a tiger, or in others struck down by lightning, as he rode to fetch his bride. Enshrined in the home, he wards off disease, accident and evil chance from the family and is offered a fowl or goat of reddish colour; at weddings a miniature coat, a pair of shoes and a bridal crown are set before him. Sources differ on the manner of his death, but agree in making him a mortal transformed by an untimely wedding-day death into a protecting spirit of the hearth.
Domains
- household protection
- disease warding
- marriage
Powers
- wards off disease and mischance from the household
Epithets
- Dulha Deo — the Bridegroom GodR. V. Russell & Hira Lal, Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, vol. II (1916). (secondary)
Sources
- Dulha Deo is the deified spirit of a bridegroom carried off (in Central Indian tellings by a tiger or struck by lightning) on his wedding day, worshipped by the Baiga as a household god who wards off disease and accident.: R. V. Russell & Hira Lal, The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, vol. II (1916). (secondary); William Crooke, The Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India, vol. I (1896). (secondary)