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.