Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
Elder or Senior God(dess)
Hindi translation:
parameshwar (male), parameshwari (female)
English term
Elder or Senior God(dess)
An Indian friend writes, “Female Goddesses are called "Devi". But for Goddesses like Durga, Parvati and Lakshmi we prefer to use Maa because they are "elder goddesses”.
He goes on to say that there are also three “elder gods” in Hinduism: “Brahma Jee Vishnu Jee and Shiv Jee.” As you can see, these are called “Jee”, while other gods such as the fire god (Agni Dev), the wind god (Pawan Dev) and the sun god (Surya Dev) are called Dev rather than Jee.
So, unless I misunderstand completely, you have 3 senior/elder gods and 3 senior/elder goddesses. My question: what is the Hindu term for these senior or elder gods and goddesses, please?
All the best,
Simon
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Proposed translations
parameshwar (male), parameshwari (female)
I do not agree with the explanation of your friend regarding Jee/Maata being reserved for "elder" gods. Hanuman is routinely called HanumanJee, for example, and avatars such as Rama are called RamachandraJee or RamJee, never ever Hanuman Dev or RamDev. Similarly, Ganga is always called Ma Ganga. As far as I know, gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon are not elder/juinor but manifestations of a particular aspect.
Dev, literally, means "the shining one" and its adjective form is "divya". Gods such as Agni, Pawan and Surya belong to the Rig Vedic times when gods such as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh had not yet attained their "present" forms. During the Rig Vedic times, almost all gods were referred to as "shining".
Param Pita (Supreme God) or Param Mata (Supreme Goddess)
* All DEVs, DEVIs are under control of senior GODs / GODDESSes, who are more like SUPREME Gods, viz. BRAHMA, VISHNU and MAHESH. They are the elder Gods as you said. The supreme deities could be referred as PARAM PITA (Supreme Father), PARAM MATA (Supreme Mother) in Hindi.
Hope this clarifies your point. Please feel free to ask for any more clarifications.
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Note added at 56 mins (2008-10-11 12:32:44 GMT)
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BRAHMA Jee's wives GAYATRI Ma, SAVITRI Ma;
VISHNU Jee's wife LAXMI Ma;
MAHESH Jee's wife PARVATI Ma.
Ma is a short form of MATA. Aforesaid MATAs are example of Supreme Mothers
ब्रह्मा-विष्णु-महेश्वर
They have their wives too who are the senior/supreme goddess. They are : Brahma- Saraswatee ( goddess of education), Vishnu- Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) Mahashwar- Parvati (goddess of power(शक्ति). According to Hinduism all these six control mankind and the universe.
Jagad Pita and Jag janani
Hey Jagadpita , Hey Jagjanani
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