Disani ( Northeastern Katë: ''Dísëňi'', Southeastern Katë: ''Dízëňi'', Western Katë: ''Dísëi'', Prasuni: ''Dísni'', Waigali: ''Dísën̆i'') was a

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship. For example, Shaktism (one of the three major Hinduism, Hindu sects), holds that the ultimate deity, the source of all re ...

of the

Nuristani people The Nuristanis are an Indo-Iranian ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province (formerly Kafiristan) of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan. Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian ...

before their conversion to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. To the people of Nuristan, she was depicted as living in the terrestrial world, appearing in the shape of a woman with a golden garland. Milk and milk-products were offered to her at the altar on the hillside.

Etymology

The etymology of Disani is somewhat unclear. It was loaned into Prasuni from Katë, as ''*d'' regularly becomes ''l'' in Prasuni. In Ashkun, the cognate term ''däsäṇī'' means "ogress". It has been theorized by others, such as

Georg Morgenstierne Georg Valentin von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2 January 1892 – 3 March 1978) was a Norwegian professor of linguistics with the University of Oslo (UiO). He specialized in Indo-Iranian languages. Studies During the years 1923 to 1971, Morgenst ...

, that the word is cognate with the

Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit, also simply referred as the Vedic language, is the most ancient known precursor to Sanskrit, a language in the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is atteste ...

term Dhiṣáṇā, via a preform ''*Dhiṣanikā''. It has also been etymologized by Nuristani speakers themselves as ''di'' "sky" + ''saňi'' "soldier", thence from ''*Devasenikā'', though Morgenstierne and Strand regard this as

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

, but is accepted by Halfmann.Halfmann, Jakob. "Nuristani Theonyms in Light of Historical Phonology". In: ''6th Indo-European Research Colloquium'', 2022. OI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.31805.54244 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/380269159_Nuristani_Theonyms_in_Light_of_Historical_Phonology

Role in religion

Disani is featured in a religion found among the Kati and Prasun peoples. The various Nuristani deities (including Disani) march up to a house near heaven, where demons live. She is told by the deities to sow seeds after they unsuccessfully try to shoot the house down with arrows. The seeds ripen quickly and the chaff, visible in white, attaches itself to the thread (compare

shimenawa are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with —traditional paper streamers. A space bound by t ...

in the Iwato myth). Later, she tells

Moni Moni or Mone ( Kamkata-vari: ''Mone''/''Mune''), also known as Mandi (from Prasun) was, after Imra, the second-most important god in the pre-Islamic pantheon of the Nuristani people. With his breath, Imra created Moni and Gish. Moni was believed ...

to look at her thighs, which are white and full. Moni gets excited, breaks the door and kills the demons. This story is reminiscent of the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

variant of the

Vala Vala or VALA may refer to: Religion and mythology * Vala (Vedic), a demon or a stone cavern in the Hindu scriptures * Völva, also spelled Vala, a priestess in Norse mythology and Norse paganism Fiction * Vala (Middle-earth), an angelic being in ...

and the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

variant of the

Amano-Iwato is a cave in Japanese mythology. According to the ''Kojiki'' (''Records of Ancient Matters'') and the ''Nihon Shoki'', the bad behavior of Susano'o, the Japanese god of storms, drove his sister Amaterasu into the Ama-no-Iwato cave. The land w ...

, suggesting a common

Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Iranian, also called Proto-Indo-Iranic or Proto-Aryan, is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd ...

origin. Her attributes recall those of the Vedic

Ushas Ushas (Vedic Sanskrit: , , nominative singular उषास्) is a Vedic goddess of dawn in Hinduism. She repeatedly appears in the Rigvedic hymns, states David Kinsley, where she is "consistently identified with dawn, revealing herself with ...

and Japanese

Ame-no-Uzume is the goddess of Dawn goddess, dawn, mirth, meditation, revelry and the arts in the Shinto religion of Japan, and the wife of fellow-god Sarutahiko Ōkami. (-no-Mikoto is a common honorific appended to the names of Japanese gods; it may be unde ...

, who perform similar feats.{{cite book, last=Witzel, first=Michael, title=Vala and Iwato: The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan, and beyond, year=2005, url=https://www.onmarkproductions.com/monkey-mythology-compare-india-japan-by-michael-witzel.pdf

References

External links

Richard Strand's Nuristân Site
European deities Asian goddesses Nuristani culture

Etymology

Role in religion

See also

References

External links