Bura Pennu (the Light-god / Sun-god)
Bura Pennu, also recorded as Bella Pennu or Boora Pennu, is the supreme deity of the Kondh (Kui- and Kuvi-speaking Dravidians of the Kandhamal highlands of Odisha), identified with the sun and with light. In the account collected by S. Charteris Macpherson in the 1840s and 1850s he is the creator who formed the earth and, taking the Earth-goddess Tari Pennu as his consort, engendered the remaining gods of rain, increase, hunting, war and boundaries. He is the source of all good; the religion turns on the dualistic opposition between his light and the earth's introduced evil. Later ethnographers note regional variation, with some western Kondh groups giving the creative role to other names, but the Bura-Tari pairing remains the structuring myth of the tradition.
Children
- Dinga Pennu (the Judge of the Dead)
- Loha Pennu (the Iron-god / War-god)
- Pidzu Pennu (the Rain-god)
- Sandi Pennu (the god of Boundaries)
Domains
- sun and light
- creation
- moral good
Powers
- to create the earth and engender the other gods
- to give light and uphold the moral good of the world
Epithets
- Bella Pennu
Relations
- spouse: Tari Pennu (the Earth-goddess)
- enemy: Tari Pennu (the Earth-goddess)