Wind-Mother of the Mordvins

Erzya/Moksha ⟨Варма ава⟩ Varma ava (varma 'wind' + ava 'mother'). Distinct from the male wind-god Varma-pas (Varmanpaz), who in the Erzya egg-cosmology is a son of the sun-god Chipaz; the mother-figure and the god coexist in the sources and are kept separate here.

Domains

• wind and weather
• mediation between living and dead

Powers

• raises, drives and stills the winds and weather
• bears messages on the wind between the living and the dead

Sources

• Harva, Uno. Die religiösen Vorstellungen der mordwinischen Völker. FF Communications 142. Helsinki, 1952.
• Hamari, Arja, & Rigina Ajanki. 'Mordvin (Erzya and Moksha).' The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages. OUP, 2022, ch. 23 (Varmava, wind-mother and mediator).