Biri, the Sun

Biri is the Sun as venerated by the Oraon. The visible sun is held to be the symbol, and by some accounts the very representation, of the supreme god Dharmes, whose older indigenous name Biri-Belas, 'the Sun-Lord', is built upon it; in this the Oraon sun-cult stands close to the supreme-being cult itself. As a distinct object of invocation the Sun is paired with the Moon in the set formula 'Chando Biri' recited in the worship at the sacred grove, where the two luminaries are reckoned among the representative divine powers of Dharmes and appealed to as givers of light and witnesses of human dealings.

Domains

• sun solar

Powers

• to give light and warmth to the world by day as the sun

Epithets

• Chando BiriSarat Chandra Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, Ranchi, 1928, on the formula Chando Biri in Sarna worship (secondary)

Relations

• companion: Chando, the MoonThe Sun and the Moon are coupled as the two luminary powers of Oraon worship, named together in the invocation 'Chando Biri'.Sarat Chandra Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, Ranchi, 1928 (secondary)
• subordinate to: Dharmes, the supreme creator (the Sun, the Merciful One)The visible sun Biri is held to be the symbol, if not the very representation, of the supreme god Dharmes, whose older name Biri-Belas ('Sun-Lord') it preserves.J. G. Frazer, The Worship of Nature, Vol. 1, London: Macmillan, 1926, ch. 14, on the Sun as the visible symbol of Dharmes (secondary)

Sources

• Biri is the personified Sun of the Oraon, venerated as the visible symbol of the supreme god Dharmes and invoked with Chando the Moon in the 'Chando Biri' formula.: J. G. Frazer, The Worship of Nature, Vol. 1, London: Macmillan, 1926, ch. 14 (Worship of the Sun in Modern India) (secondary); Sarat Chandra Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, Ranchi, 1928 (secondary); Ferdinand Hahn, Kurukh (Oraon)-English Dictionary, Part I, Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1903 (secondary)