Great Gish
Encyclopedia
Gish or Great Gish was the most popular god of the Nuristani people mythology
and received the greatest amount of attention among the Siah-Posh Nuristani of Bashgul. Every village of Bashgul had one or more shrines dedicated to him.
Gish was the war-god. His earthly name was Yazid, and he is stated to have killed Ali, Hasan and Husain and nearly every famous Muslim
known to the Nuristani. Countless bulls and billy goats were sacrificed each year to him and the drums were beaten in his honor for fifteen continuous days, every spring, by the Nuristani slaves.
Every time a Nuristani came home after successfully killing a Muslim, a victory dance was held in honor of Gish.
In the Nuristani pantheon
, Gish ranked next to Moni
who was said to be the chief prophet
of Imra
. Both Moni and Gish were created by Imra by his breath.
's 1965 short story "God Speaks" (collected in "Museums and Women") Gish Imra is the name of one of the protagonists, the son of the assassinated leader of a Central Asian state called Nuristan.
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and received the greatest amount of attention among the Siah-Posh Nuristani of Bashgul. Every village of Bashgul had one or more shrines dedicated to him.
Gish was the war-god. His earthly name was Yazid, and he is stated to have killed Ali, Hasan and Husain and nearly every famous Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
known to the Nuristani. Countless bulls and billy goats were sacrificed each year to him and the drums were beaten in his honor for fifteen continuous days, every spring, by the Nuristani slaves.
Every time a Nuristani came home after successfully killing a Muslim, a victory dance was held in honor of Gish.
In the Nuristani pantheon
Pantheon (gods)
A pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society discusses the link between a...
, Gish ranked next to Moni
Moni
Moni was, after Imra, the second-most important god in the pre-Islamic pantheon of the Hindukush Kafir people. With his breath, Imra created Moni and Gish. Moni was believed to be a divine prophet, whom Imra selected to fulfill his behests. Nearly every Kafir village had a temple devoted to Moni....
who was said to be the chief prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
of Imra
Imra
Imra was the chief pre-Islamic god of the Hindukush Kafir people. He was worshipped as the god of creation. By his breath, Imra created other gods of Kafir pantheon. Frequent sacrifiices were made to Imra, sometimes for recovery from sickness, seasonable weather, or other material benefits,...
. Both Moni and Gish were created by Imra by his breath.
In popular culture
In John UpdikeJohn Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
's 1965 short story "God Speaks" (collected in "Museums and Women") Gish Imra is the name of one of the protagonists, the son of the assassinated leader of a Central Asian state called Nuristan.