The Digu God, Lineage Gods

Outside the city boundaries in several directions (chap. 7) are natural stones,^[55] which are the divinities that various extended family groups (phuki ) worship once a year as their lineage god. These stones are called "Digu Gods," or, popularly, "Dugu Gods," after the goats, dugu , which are often sacrificed there. Phukis also have shrines and icons of their lineage gods within the city. In those groups in the upper levels of the macrostatus system, those that are entitled to Tantric initiation, the images, called the "Aga(n) God," are elaborately housed and wor-

shiped. The Aga(n) Gods are usually anthropomorphic forms of the Tantric Goddess. The pairing of an external open shrine with its aniconic stone divinity and an internal anthropomorphic or sometimes yantra god-form housed within the city, is parallel in both structure and certain aspects of worship to that of an Astamatrka's^[*] external pitha Goddess and her iconic image in her god-house within the city. The Digu God's shrine is sometimes referred to as a "kind of pitha ." The Digu Dya: stone is usually backed by a carved arch or torana^[*] .^[56] Rarely there is no stone visible in front of the torana^[*] , and the ground is considered the sacred spot, with the stone often assumed to be beneath it. The Digu God is sometimes considered as the lineage god in itself, but for upper-status families it is generally considered as the seat of the particular form of Devi which is their lineage divinity. Whatever the conception of the Digu divinity, it is necessary to offer it blood offerings and alcoholic spirits. We will return to the uses and worship of the Digu God and the Aga(n) God in chapter 9.