Master of Animals

Desana/Tukano (Vaupés). English 'Master of Animals' leads; Desana Vaí-mahsë ('vaí' = animal/game; 'mahsë' = man/being). A guardian-spirit class treated as a deity (master-of-animals). Variant spelling Vai-mahse. Male, small red figure in Reichel-Dolmatoff's accounts.

Domains

• game animals
• the hunt
• fish

Powers

• guard the game within the hills
• guards the game within the hills and grants or withholds it to keep the balance of the hunt

Sources

• Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo (1971). Amazonian Cosmos: The Sexual and Religious Symbolism of the Tukano Indians. University of Chicago Press.
• Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo (1968). Desana: Simbolismo de los indios Tukano del Vaupés. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes.