Master of Animals
Desana · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
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
- Vaí-mahsë is the Master of Animals (and of fish), owner and protector of game who controls hunting success; the shaman must bargain with him, and he is associated with the hills and with fertility.: Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo (1971). Amazonian Cosmos: The Sexual and Religious Symbolism of the Tukano Indians. University of Chicago Press. (secondary); Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo (1968). Desana: Simbolismo de los indios Tukano del Vaupés. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes. (secondary)