Household God
Bodo · deity · mythic / agricultural cycle · Recorded classification
Song Raja ('king of the house') is among the most prominent household deities of the Bodo (Boro-Kachari) people of Assam. He is represented within the dwelling at an interior altar known as the dham, where he receives regular devotion, notably from the women of the household; his offerings are eventually brought outside and laid at the sijou (Euphorbia) tree that embodies Bathoubwrai, marking his subordination to the supreme god. Ethnographic accounts also describe Song Raja as owner of the wild animals, whom hunters propitiate before entering the forest. He is paired with a female counterpart, Song Rani, in the traditional enumeration of eighteen divine couples of Bathouism.
Domains
- household
- wild animals
Powers
- to guard the household and its inmates
Epithets
- Song BwraiKameswar Brahma, A Study of Socio-Religious Beliefs, Practices and Ceremonies of the Bodos, Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1992. (secondary)
Relations
- subordinate to: Bathou BwraiSong Raja is described as a devoted follower of Bathoubwrai; the offerings laid at his interior altar are ultimately carried out to the sijou tree that represents the supreme god.Sekhar Brahma, Religion of the Boros and Their Socio-Cultural Transition: A Phenomenological Approach, Guwahati: DVS Publishers, 2006. (secondary)
Sources
- Song Raja is a principal household deity of the Bodos, guardian of the dwelling and (in some accounts) lord of wild animals propitiated by hunters, worshipped with his consort Song Rani at an interior altar called the dham.: Sidney Endle, The Kacharis, London: Macmillan, 1911. (secondary); Kameswar Brahma, A Study of Socio-Religious Beliefs, Practices and Ceremonies of the Bodos, Calcutta: Punthi Pustak, 1992. (secondary)