Dharmes, the supreme creator (the Sun, the Merciful One)

Dharmes, also Dharmesh or Dharme, is the supreme deity of the Oraon (Kurukh) of the Chota Nagpur plateau and the high god of the Sarna religion. He is conceived as the creator and sustainer of the universe and the moral arbiter of all conduct, and is symbolised by the sun; his older indigenous name, Biri-Belas or 'the Sun-Lord', preserves this solar identity, while the name Dharmes itself is a Sanskritic borrowing built on dharma, the principle of cosmic righteousness. In the creation narrative of the Sirjana khiri, Dharmes forms the dry earth by sending a series of animals to fetch soil from beneath the primeval waters. His worship is marked by the offering of a white fowl, in contrast to the propitiation of the lesser and malevolent spirits, and his blessing is invoked at the outset of every significant undertaking in village life.

Domains

• creation
• sun solar
• justice order

Powers

• to create the earth by sending animals to fetch soil from beneath the primordial waters
• to control the destiny of all beings, both bodily and spiritual

Epithets

• Biri-Belas
• Dharmes

Sources

• Sarat Chandra Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, Ranchi, 1928
• J. G. Frazer, The Worship of Nature, Vol. 1, London: Macmillan, 1926, ch. 14 (Worship of the Sun in Modern India)
• P. Dehon, Religion and Customs of the Uraons, Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 1, No. 9, Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1906