Gansam Deo

Gansam Deo, also written Ghansyam Deo, is the Baiga deity invoked as a protector against the attacks of wild animals, a matter of daily gravity to a forest people living among tigers, bears and leopards. His cult, shared with neighbouring Gond and other Central Indian tribes, is directed to keeping both people and cattle safe when they enter or dwell near the jungle, and he is propitiated when a village is threatened by a man-eater or a beast raiding the herds.

Domains

• protection from beasts

Powers

• shields the people and herds from wild beasts

Epithets

• Gansam Deo

Sources

• Stephen Fuchs, 'Baiga', Encyclopedia of World Cultures, vol. III (1992).
• R. V. Russell & Hira Lal, The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, vol. II (1916).