Deng

Deng, also rendered Denka or Deng-dit, is a Dinka sky, rain and fertility god, son of the goddess Abuk, already recorded on this atlas. The Dinka word deng itself means rain, and Deng is described as a storm and fertility deity who brings lightning, thunder and rain, holding authority over the productivity of the land. He functions as an intermediary between the Dinka people and the supreme being Nhialic, also recorded on this atlas, and in some Dinka communities the two are regarded as one and the same; some myths make Deng an ancestor of the Dinka people themselves. Among the neighboring Nuer people, by contrast, Deng is regarded as a foreign deity associated with bringing disease.