Sun-God of the Erzya
Mordvin · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Erzya ⟨Чипаз⟩ Čipaz (chi 'sun/day' + -paz '-god'). Moksha counterpart Shi (shi 'sun'); the supreme god is Shkai/Viarde-Shkai there. NOTE the rivalry of two cosmologies: in the Erzya egg-myth (Sarv 2001) Chipaz is the sun and the supreme Nishke is his son, whereas Melnikov-Pechersky's 19th-c. great-goddess scheme makes Ange-Patyai mother of all and Nishke-pas himself the sun/sky/fire god. This registry follows the former, as the existing Ineshkipaz entry already does.
Children
Domains
- sun and daylight
- creation of humankind
- fatherhood of the gods
Powers
- fathers the supreme sky-god and the earth- and wind-gods
- shapes the first human beings from clay
Relations
- child: Supreme Sky-God of the ErzyaThe supreme sky-god Ineshkipaz (Nishkepaz) is the son of Chipaz in the Erzya egg-cosmology; the existing corpus already notes Ineshkipaz as 'born of the sun-god Chipaz'.Sarv, Mari. 'Some Aspects of Mordvin Mythology', Folklore 17, 2001 (Nishkepaz/Ineshkipaz born of the sun-god Chipaz). (secondary)
- lover: Field-Mother of the GrainProcreative union (not a marriage in the sources): Chipaz and Norov-ava are jointly parents of the underworld-god Mastorpaz.'Mordvins', Erzya mythology overviews after Sarv 2001: from the union of Chipaz and the harvest-mother Norov-ava is born the underworld-god Mastorpaz. (secondary)
Sources
- Chipaz (Chi-pas) is the Erzya-Mordvin sun-god: in the egg-cosmology he fathers Nishkepaz (the supreme god Ineshkipaz), the earth-god Mastoron-kirdi and the wind-god Varmanpaz, with the grain-mother Norov-ava begets the underworld-god Mastorpaz, and molds humankind from clay.: Sarv, Mari. 'Some Aspects of Mordvin Mythology.' Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore 17. Tartu, 2001. (secondary); Hamari, Arja, & Rigina Ajanki. 'Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha).' The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. OUP, 2022, ch. 23. (secondary)