Bathou Bwrai

Bathou Bwrai is a Boro household deity represented by the living sijou plant. Endle describes Mainao as his consort and reports that some Mech households replaced Bathou with Shiva; this is a localized historical report rather than an identity asserted for all Bathou traditions.

Names and tradition associations

• Shiva Hindu · resolvedSidney Endle, The Kacharis (1911), pp. 35–37 and Appendix I p. 82 (secondary)

Variant accounts

• source review correctionUse the attested name as the display name; retain the earlier descriptive label as an alias.Sidney Endle, The Kacharis (1911), pp.35–37, Appendix I p.82 (secondary)

Domains

• creation
• five elements

Powers

• create the five elemental principles of the cosmos

Epithets

• Bathou Bwrai latin · Bathou Bwrai · cultThe supreme god, the elder, present in the living sijou plant of the household shrineBodo (Boro) ethnography of the Bathou faith (secondary)
• Sibrai Bodo · Sibrai · vernacular'Lord Siva / great elder', alternate nameEndle, Sidney (1911). The Kacharis. (secondary)

Relations

• localized cult assimilation: ShivaEndle, Appendix I p. 82, reports replacement of Bathou by Shiva in some Mech communities. This does not establish a universal identity or shared family.Sidney Endle, The Kacharis (1911), on Bathou identified with Śiva (Sibrai); Sekhar Brahma, Religion of the Boros and their Socio-Cultural Transition (2006) (secondary); Sidney Endle, The Kacharis (1911), pp. 35–37 and Appendix I p. 82 (secondary)
• spouse: MainaoEndle’s account, pp. 36–37.Sidney Endle, The Kacharis (1911), pp. 35–37 and Appendix I p. 82 (secondary)

Sources

• Bathoubwrai (Sibrai), 'the Elder', is the omnipresent supreme creator-god of the Bodo (Kachari) folk religion Bathouism, who created the five elemental principles.: 'Bathouism', Wikipedia, accessed June 2026 (encyclopedia); Endle, Sidney. 'The Kacharis' (London: Macmillan, 1911) (academic)
• Bathouism is aniconic except for the sijou cactus, planted on a bamboo-fenced altar (sijousali) as the living embodiment of the supreme god; the name 'Bathou' means 'five principles' (ba = five, thou = deep).: 'Bathouism', Wikipedia, accessed June 2026 (encyclopedia)
• Bathou Bwrai is a Boro household deity represented by the living sijou plant. Endle describes Mainao as his consort and reports that some Mech households replaced Bathou with Shiva; this is a localized historical report rather than an identity asserted for all Bathou traditions.: Sidney Endle, The Kacharis (1911), pp. 35–37 and Appendix I p. 82 (secondary)