Earth Deity and Guardian of Bathou

Ailong (also written Aileng or Bura Ailong) is among the foremost gods invoked in the Kherai festival of the Bodos. The ethnographic literature describes this deity both as the bodyguard of the supreme god Bathoubwrai and as the divinity presiding over the earth, one of the five elements of Bathou theology; some accounts render the figure as an old male god (Bura Ailong), while others speak of the same power as a mother of the earth, so the sex is recorded here as uncertain. Ailong is regularly named with Agrang and Khoila as the closest attendants of the supreme god.

Domains

• earth
• guardianship

Powers

• to uphold the earth and guard the person of the supreme god

Epithets

• Bura Ailong

Relations

• subordinate to: Supreme Elder God

Sources

• Kameswar Brahma, A Study of Socio-Religious Beliefs, Practices and Ceremonies of the Bodos, Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1992.
• Sekhar Brahma, Religion of the Boros and Their Socio-Cultural Transition: A Phenomenological Approach, Guwahati: DVS Publishers, 2006.