Vainakh Deities

The gods of the Chechen and Ingush peoples

The following is a list of Vainakh divinities — from "Amaga-erda", the protector of lakes, to the "Votshabi", the spirits which watch over herds of aurochs. This list was copied from Mariel Tsaroieva's amazing Anciennes Croyances des Ingouches et des Tchétchènes ("Ancient Beliefs of the Ingush and the Chechens", published in 2005), which I found in a remainders bookshop in Brussels. Ms Tsaroieva is of Ingush origin, and holds a PhD in History of Religion from the prestigious Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales in Paris. A former teacher of romance linguistics at the state universities of Chechnya-Ingushetia and Kyrgyzstan, she has published many articles and books on folklore and "geolinguistics", both in Russian and in French.

The list reads as follows:

The Gods of the World

"diala" — the god-father

"tusholi" — the goddess-mother

"kurkhars" or "tshugul" — the hairstyle of Ingush women

"tq’a" — the god of the universe

"nana latta" — mother earth

"h’al-erda" — the sky-god

"mago-erda" — the god of magic and of wisdom and knowledge

"eshtar" — the god of the afterlife


The Astral Divinities

"malkha" — the sun-god

"but’ " — the moon-god


The Gods of Nature

"seli" — the god of (thunder-)storms and lightning

"dardza-nana" — the goddess of snowstorms

"mikha-nana" — the goddess of the winds

"khi-nana" — the goddess of rivers and springs

"amaga-erda" — the protector of lakes

"hagar-erda" or "hirga-erda" — the aurochs-god or the rock-god

"amgali-erda" and "saniba-erda" — the tribal gods

"kherkh-erda" — the god of fruit-trees (also protector of great trees, with the "naj-gantskhoi", the spirits which protect "naj", "oak trees")


The Gods of Various Domains of Rural Life

"elta" — the god of hunting

"votshabi" — the spirits which protect herds of aurochs

The “Masters of the Woods” and their daughters or sisters, the "almas"

"tamij-erda" — the god of stock-breeding

"mat-tseli" — the god of agriculture and of justice and equality

"matir-diala" or "matar-diala" — the god of haymaking

"mats-khali" — the god of renewal (of crops)

"boalam-diala" — the god of plants (vegetation) and of travellers


The Gods of Social Life

"susan-diala" — the protector of women and of maternity (i.e. the protector of mothers)

"agoi" — the protector of girls

"orkhus" or "orkhush" — the god of fecundity and procreation

"dika-seli" — the god of goodness and kindness

"arda" — the god of boundaries (or of boundary-markers?) and of clan possessions


The Gods of Work and Handicrafts

"sela-sata" — the protector of handicrafts and know-how

"p’harmat" — the blacksmith-god

"malar-erda" — the god of intoxicating drinks (i.e. the god of alcohol)

"moloz" — the god of war


The Gods of Disease

"una-nana" — the goddess of contagious diseases

"higiz" or "hegiz" — the goddess of smallpox


Some Forgotten Gods of Antiquity

"ami" and "h’ur-ami" or "fur-ami" — perhaps the god of good tidings and the goddesses of the winds, respectively

"baini-seli" — the god of agriculture, perhaps, now replaced by "mat-tseli"; apparently related to the Georgian Mokheve (i.e. the inhabitants of Khevi, the valley of the Terek between the Djvari Pass and the Daryal Gorge)

"falkhan" — probably related to Mago-erda, the god of wisdom and knowledge

"suvsa" — probably the ancient goddess-mother

"sampai-tsuge" or "siampai-tsuoge" — probably the ancient god of trees or of forests; sometimes worshipped as the rain-god

"mizir" - ?

"miq’al" - ?

"ralo" - ?