Div
Talysh · numen · Talysh traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The Div is the great demon-giant of Talysh myth, a being of supernatural strength able to raise storms and shake the earth. For all his power he is imagined as stupid and clumsy, and in the tales he is the standing antagonist whom the hero must overcome, embodying the eternal contest of good against evil. He descends directly from the daeva of the ancient Iranian religious imagination, in which the old gods of the pre-Zoroastrian world were recast as demons; in Talysh folk narrative he has become the monstrous ogre of the mountains and forests.
Domains
- chaos monsters
- storm earthquake
Powers
- raise storms and earthquakes
Sources
- The Div is a giant demon of Talysh myth, endowed with supernatural power to cause storms and earthquakes, depicted as stupid and clumsy, and standing as the archetypal adversary whom the hero overcomes.: Wikipedia contributors, 'Talysh mythology,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (secondary); Boris V. Miller, Talyshskie teksty [Talysh Texts] (Moscow, 1930), hero-and-div tales (primary)