Suvanası
Kumyk · numen · Kumyk traditional religion; continuing · numen
Suvanası (Suv-anası, 'mother of the water') is the Kumyk water-spirit, envisaged as a giant, exceptionally strong woman who dwells in rivers. She is dangerous to human beings, able to harm or drown those who come down to the water, and folk narrative warns bathers and washerwomen against her. In the reconstructed pagan pantheon she is counted among the water-element deities together with Zemire and Sütqatın, and she survives in oral tale and cautionary custom into modern times.
Domains
- water
Powers
- drowns those who enter the water
Epithets
- Сув анасы
Relations
- ally: Zemire
Sources
- Chirikba, V. A. (2015). Between Christianity and Islam: Heathen Heritage in the Caucasus. In Studies on Iran and the Caucasus (pp. 145-191). Leiden: Brill.
- Obryady vyzova dozhdya v traditsionnoy kul'ture tyurkoyazychnykh narodov Prikaspiyskogo Dagestana. Cyberleninka.