Bhūmideva
Bhūmideva · bhūmi-deva, “the deva of the earth”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of bhūmi (the earth) and deva: “a deva of the earth”.
Meaning: in everyday use, a brāhmaṇa. In the Bhavishya Purāṇa, the devatās who dwell embodied in images in the mortal world.
In the scriptures: Yudhishṭhira asks Śrī Kṛshṇa: “Madhusūdana! Who is the devatā of the bhūmi?” Śrī Kṛshṇa tells that when Viśvāmitra began a second creation for King Triśaṅku, he made images of the devatās, and Indra came and asked him to stop. In those images Brahmā, Vishṇu, Śiva and all the devatās came to dwell. For the good of the beings of this world they stay embodied in images in the mortal world, accept naivedya and the rest, and, pleased with their bhaktas, grant varas. They are the ones called Bhūmideva, and so dīpadāna should be made before them.
On puṇya days a woman or man devoted to vrata should bathe and in their own courtyard give a pot of ghee and a burning lamp to Bhūmideva. This gives a shining, vigorous body (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 130).
Related terms: Dīpadāna · Mūrti · Viśvāmitra · Triśaṅku
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 130