Great Clan-God
Gondi · deity · perennial · Recorded classification
Gondi persa 'great' + pen 'god'. Often equated with Bara Deo / Budha Deo and the saja tree. Aniconic spirit-class deity. (kaṛsk/kamk per ethnographic spellings.)
Domains
- clan and kinship
- protection
Powers
- manifests in an iron implement and a wooden pillar rather than an image
- is carried in procession at the pen madai festival
Epithets
- Bara Deo The Great God; the clan-deity who dwells in the saja tree and guards the lineageVerrier Elwin, on the religion of the Gond (secondary)
Sources
- Persa Pen ('Great God') is the formless clan-deity of the Gonds, worshipped without idol or temple in an iron implement (Pharsi Pen) or a sun-and-moon-marked wooden pillar at the saja tree, and brought out at the pen madai.: Grigson, W.V. (1938). The Maria Gonds of Bastar. Oxford University Press. (scholarship); Fuchs, S. (1960). The Gond and Bhumia of Eastern Mandla. Asia Publishing House. (scholarship)