Velnias
Lithuanian · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Lithuanian chthonic god of the dead, cattle, magic and craft, the cunning adversary the thunder god pursues; later conflated with the Christian devil.
Domains
- underworld dead
Powers
- Shepherd the souls of the dead (vėlės)
- Flee Perkūnas across the sky after stealing fire
- master cattle, hidden wealth, magic, and craft
Relations
- rival: DievasReciprocal of lithuanian_dievas.rival — In Lithuanian dualistic etiological legends Velnias imitates and contests Dievas's creation, botching his own counter-creations.N. Vėlius, Chtoniškasis lietuvių mitologijos pasaulis (1987) (secondary)
- enemy: PerkūnasReciprocal of lithuanian_perkunas.enemy — The Baltic thunder god eternally pursues the chthonic Velnias, striking the stones and trees where the devil hides.M. Gimbutas, 'Perkūnas/Perun: The Thunder God of the Balts and Slavs', Journal of Indo-European Studies 1 (1973) (secondary)
- equated with: VelesJakobson's *wel- identification: chthonic lord of cattle, dead and magic opposing the thunderer — basis of the Ivanov-Toporov 'basic myth'. Etymological link and reconstructed duel are debated; flagged as reconstruction.R. Jakobson, 'The Slavic God Veles and His Indo-European Cognates' (1969) (secondary); V. V. Ivanov & V. N. Toporov, Issledovaniya v oblasti slavyanskikh drevnostey (1974) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Lithuanian folk narratives of Velnias and the Perkūnas–Velnias chase (primary); A. J. Greimas, Of Gods and Men: Studies in Lithuanian Mythology (1992) (secondary)