Pu Vana
Mizo · deity · Mizo traditional religion; continuing · deity
Pu Vana (Pu Vâna, 'grandfather of heaven') is a benevolent sky-deity of traditional Mizo religion endowed with the power of thunder and lightning, on which account observers have compared him to the Vedic Indra. In Mizo cosmological reckoning he is the elder of the heavenly household, the grandfather of the Pathian family and most probably the father of the supreme god Pathian, occupying the apex of the divine genealogy. His name binds the honorific 'pu' (grandfather, lord) to 'van' (the heavens), marking him as the venerable ancestor-figure of the sky from whom the creator's line descends.
Children
Domains
- thunder and lightning
- sky and heaven
Powers
- to wield thunder and lightning across the sky
Epithets
- Pu Vâna
Sources
- B. Lalthangliana, Culture and Folklore of Mizoram (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 2005).
- Billy J. Zorinthara, 'Spirit in Creation: Mizo Primal Cosmology and Its Implications for Anthropogenic Climate Change Concern', Studies in World Christianity 30, no. 1 (2024), DOI 10.3366/swc.2024.0461.