Gods

Guide to the Gods 1.0

Ka... to Km...

Ka

Egyptian name for the vital force of life.

Ka-Ata-Killa

Pre-Inca moon goddess worshipped in the area of Lake Titicaca.

Kabandha

The chief demon of the Ramayana. Indra eventually struck him down with a thunderbolt.

Kabeiroi

(Kabiroi, Cabeiri)

Greek fertility gods whose cult involved the celebration of mysteries typically associated with vegetation deities. They originated in Greek Anatolia, possibly in Phrygia, and subsequently spread to the islands of the Aegean, to Macedonia, and to northern and central Greece. In classical times they numbered two, though their numbers seem to have varied over time. They included the gods Axiocersus and his son Cadmilus. A female pair were also mentioned, Axierus and Axiocersa, although their role was of secondary importance. Their cult was particularly prominent on the islands of Lemnos and Samothrace, where their mysteries displayed an Orphic influence.

Kabrakan

See Zipakna.

Kachina

Hopi spirits.

Kades

Canaanite goddess of love and sexuality.

Kadi

Goddess of justice of Der.

Kagu-tsuchi

Japanese fire god, alternate name of Ho-musubi. His mother Izanami died giving birth to him.

Kahil

(Kahilan)

Pre-Islamic moon god of Arabia.

Kaiamunu

(Kaiemunu)

Demon of Papuans.

K'ai Lu Shen

Chinese deity who sweeps away evil spirits.

Kaitabha

Hindu demon which tried to attack Brahma.

Kaka-Guia

Funerary god of the tribes of the Volta area.

Kala

Indian personification of time as a cosmogonic force.

Kalevanpojat

Finnish giant demonic beings.

Kali

(Kali Ma, Kalika)

Indian devouring, destructive black Earth mother; Hindu goddess of nature and time; ogress wife of Shiva.

Kali devi

Buddhist deity. See Lha-mo.

Kaliya

Indian 5-headed serpent king.

Kalki

See Kalkin.

Kalkin

(Kalki)

"Time". The future tenth and final avatar of Vishnu. He will appear in the sky riding a white horse.

Kallin Kallin

'Chickenhawk', a totemic Australian deity.

Kalliope

See Calliope.

Kallisto

See Callisto.

Kalma

Finnish goddess of death.

Kaltes

Goddess of Ugric people of Siberia.

Kalumba

Creator god of the Luba of Zaire.

Kalunga

Supreme being of Angolan Ndonga.

Kalvis

Heavenly Smith of Baltic religion.

Kalypso

See Calypso.

Kama

Hindu god of love. The son of Lakshmi, husband of Rati.

Kamado-gami

Japanese gods of the hearth.

Kamakshi

"Wanton-Eyed". In the Vedas, a benign aspect of the goddess Parvati.

Kamakshi

Benign goddess of south India.

Kamapua'a

Polynesian hog man.

Kambel

Melanesian sky god.

Kame and Kayuruke

Caingang (Brazil) creators of animals.

Kamenae

See Camenae.

Kami

Japanese general name for divine beings.

Kami

Shinto objects of worship.

Kami-Musubi

(Kami-mi-masubi)

Japanese goddess, mother of Sukuna-Bikona.

Kami-Nari

Japanese god of rolling thunder.

Kamos

Chief god of Moab.

Kamrusepa

Hittite goddess of healing.

Kamui

Sky-god of Ainu people.

Kamulla

Kassite god.

Kan

One of the four Mayan Bacabs, gods of the four cardinal directions. Kan was associated with the east and the colour yellow.

Kanank'ash

Forest deity of the modern Maya people.

Kannon

Japanese form of the bodhisattva.

Kan-xib-yui

Maya god who recreated earth after destruction by Bacabs.

Kappa

Japanese water demon.

Kapua

The divine tricksters or mischief-makers of Hawaii.

Karei

(Kari)

Supreme being of Semang of Malaya.

Karhuhas

Hittite and Luwian god.

Karpo

See Carpo.

Karta

Latvian goddess of fate and destiny.

Karttikeya

(Kartikeya)

Hindu (Vedic) god of war. Said to be the son either of Agni or Shiva. He led the forces of good against the demon Taraka, whom he defeated.

Karuiles siunes

Old Syrian divinities taken over by the Hittites.

Kasku

Proto-Hattic moon-god, taken over by Hittites.

Kasyapa

Hindu (Vedic) deity, one of the seven great Rishis. Husband of Vinata and father of Garuda. According to other traditions, he is the husband of Diti and the father of the Daityas and Maruts.

Katargama

One of the four great gods of Sri Lanka.

Katavi

Demonic being of Nyamwezi in Tanzania.

Katavul

(Kadavul)

Tamil supreme being.

Katkochila

God of the Wintun people of California. After the theft os his magic flute, he sent a great fire to burn up the earth, but the fire was quenched by a flood.

Ka Tyeleo

Supreme god of West African Senufo.

Kaukas

Lithuanian spirit-like being.

Kauket

See Kuk.

Kaulu

Polynesian trickster god.

Kawa-No-Kami

Japanese gods of rivers.

K'daai

Fire-demon of Yakuts.

Kebechet

Egyptian goddess.

Kebechsenef

(Kebehsenuf)

Falcon-headed son of Horus.

Keelut

An evil Eskimo earth spirit.

Kekri

Ancient Finnish feast of fertility.

Kekrops

See Cecrops.

Ke'lets

Chukchi demon of death.

Kematef

Late Egyptian name for Amun.

Kemwer

(Kemur)

Egyptian black bull.

Kentaures

See Centaurs.

Kephissos

See Narkissos.

Ker

(pl. Keres, Cer)

In Greek belief, a destructive or malevolent female spirit of the dead. Although some sources seem refer to a single Ker, the more common belief was in a host of Keres. They were said to be the daughters of Nyx and Erebos. In the Attic festival of the Anthesteria, the spirits of the dead, or Keres, were driven from the house.

Ker

(Q're)

Pelasgian solar god of ancient Syria.

Keres

Greek malevolent demons.

Keret

Son of the great god El; king of Sidon.

Keri and Kame

Primordial beings of South American peoples.

Keto

See Phorkys.

Kettu

See Samas.

Keyeme

Lord of animals among the Taulipang of South America.

Khasarpana

(Khasarpana-Lokesvara)

Indian form of the Bodhisattva.

Khebieso

Ewe god of lightning.

Khepra

(Kheper, Khepera, Khepri, Chepre, Chepri)

Egyptian sun god in the form of a scarab, or dung beetle. A manifestation of the sun god Re rising in the east at dawn. The association reputedly resulted from the similarity between the scarab rolling a ball of dung along the ground and Re rolling the sun across the sky. It was Khepra who pushed the sun up from the underworld to be reborn at dawn. In the Heliopolitan cosmology he appeared as a primordial sun god who created himself out of the earth. His principal cult center was at Heliopolis.

Kherty

(Cherti)

"Lower One". Egyptian ram god of the underworld. In the Pyramid Texts Kherty was said to be a threat to the pharaoh, who had to be defended by Re himself. However, as an earth god Kherty also acts as a guardian of the pharaoh's tomb. Depicted in human form or as a human with the head of a ram. His main cult center was Letopolis, north-west of Memphis.

Khnum

(Khnemu)

Egyptian ram god. Khnum was credited with creating life on a potter's wheel at the behest of the other gods. He was also said to control the annual inundation of the Nile, although the inundation is physically generated by the god Hapi. The goddesses Satis and Anuket assisted him in this supervisory role. His major cult center was on Elephantine Island near the first cataract of the Nile (near modern Aswan), where mummified rams sacred to Khnum have been found. He also had an important cult center at Esna, to the north of the first cataract. He was usually depicted in human form with a ram's head - the horns extending horizontally on either side of the head - often before a potter's wheel on which a naked human being was being fashioned.

Kho-dumo-dumo

Demon of the Basuto people of Lesotho.

Kholomodumo

Mythical monster of south-east African Sotho.

Khonsu

(Khons, Khensu, Chons)

"Wanderer". Egyptian moon god. Son of Amun and Mut, with whom he forms the triad of gods revered at Thebes. Depicted in human form, sometimes with the head of a hawk, clothed in a tight-fitting robe and wearing a skull cap topped by the crescent of the new moon subtending the disk of the full moon. His head was shaven except for the side-lock worn by Egyptian children, signifying his role as Khonsu-pa-khered ("Khonsu the child"), the divine child of Amun and Mut. His principal sanctuary was at Thebes, where he figured prominently as a member of the Theban triad. He also had a temple at Karnak. His sacred animal was the baboon, considered a lunar animal by the Egyptians.

Khors

Slavonic god of health and hunting.

Khshathra Vairya

Avestan: "Desirable Dominion". One of the Zoroastrian Beneficent Immortals. An Iranian god of metals.

Khuzwane

A creator deity among the Lovedu, a Bantu people of the Transvaal.

Khyung-gai mGo-can

Old Tibetan god.

Ki

"Earth". See An.

Kibuka

Baganda war god. Brother of Mukasa.

Kichijoten

Japanese goddess of luck.

Ki Fudo

Buddhist deity. See Fudo Myo-o.

Kiho Tumu

Supreme god among the people of the Tuamotu archipelago southeast of Tahiti.

Kikimora

Female household deity of the Slavs.

Kilibob

Oceanic trickster god.

K'in

Mayan sun deity.

Kingu

Babylonian rebel god, consort of Tiamat. Tiamat placed him in command of forces of darkness in the battle against the forces of good led by Ea. After the defeat of the forces of darkness, Kingu was sacrificed and the first humans were made out of his blood and bone by Ea.

Kinharingan

Creator god of Dusun of Borneo.

Kinich Ahau

(Kinich Kakmo)

Mayan sun god.

Kinnaras

Indian spirit-beings.

Kinyras

Cypriot god of iron-smelting.

Kipu-Tytto

Finnish goddess of illness.

Kiririshna

Elamite fertility goddess.

Kirissa

See Pinkir.

Kis

Egyptian god of Kusae.

Kishar

(Kisar)

Mesopotamian female principle. See Anshar.

Kishijoten

Japanese goddess of luck. Sister of Bishamon.

Kishimojin

Japanese demoness converted by Buddha.

Kisin

Mayan earthquake god. See Cizin.

Kiskil-lilla

Sumerian night-demon.

Kitanitowit

Supreme god of Algonkian people.

Kitcki Manitou

Supreme being of the Algonquins.

Klio

(Latin Clio)

Greek muse of history.

Klotho

See Clotho.


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