Mythological origins Samdzimari is one of three daughters of the demonic king of the Kajes, a wealthy race of demons with a supernatural talent for blacksmithing and metalworking who lived in an underworld kingdom called Kajeti.  Giorgi comes to Kajeti, either by stealth – smuggled into the army's stronghold sewn into a horse's skin – or by strength – accompanied by a group of other divine patrons – and conquers the Kaj army. He loots the land of its treasure, metalworking equipment, a one-horned cow, and the king's daughters, and returns to the surface. At a shrine, Samdzimari is made Giorgi's sister-spouse and is thereafter regarded as a deity. Samdzimari was regarded as a patroness of marriage, which she is said to have created with Giorgi. She also watches over female activities such as childbirth, foraging for herbs, and milking of cows. She was also associated with preventing dairy productslike milkand butter from spoiling; farmers whose dairy products had spoiled would be advised to make sacrifices to Samdzimari  to prevent it from reoccurring. Although she was not primarily a hunting deity, her name was sometimes invoked by hunters for luck, and the horns of deer and ibex were sometimes offered to her after a successful hunt. Because of these associations, Georgian folklorist Mikheil Chikovani considered her to be the northeastern equivalent of the Svan hunting goddess Dali. Like Dali, she was also a patron of untamed spaces: one Khevsur legend describes a shepherdess accidentally encountering Samdzimari in an untouched clearing.
Mythological origins Samdzimari is one of three daughters of the demonic king of the Kajes, a wealthy race of demons with a supernatural talent for blacksmithing and metalworking who lived in an underworld kingdom called Kajeti. Kajeti is sometimes represented as the land of the dead. Giorgi comes to Kajeti, either by stealth – smuggled into the army's stronghold sewn into a horse's skin – or by strength – accompanied by a group of other divine patrons – and conquers the Kaj army. He loots the land of its treasure, metalworking equipment, a one-horned cow, and the king's daughters, and returns to the surface. At a shrine, Samdzimari is made Giorgi's sister-spouse and is thereafter regarded as a deity. Samdzimari was regarded as a patroness of marriage, which she is said to have created with Giorgi. She also watches over female activities such as childbirth, foraging for herbs, and milking of cows. Georgian culture drew strong associations between death and dairy livestock, and Samdzimari was entwined with both. Like Samdzimari, cattle were first brought from the underworld to the surface by Giorgi. Both were seen as retaining characteristics of this corrupt origin, which sometimes resurfaced to make them dangerous, as in Samdzimari's grotesque transformations after sexual intercourse. Similarly, dairy products, especially butter, were regarded as life-giving but potentially deadly since they could become spoiled. Butter, sometimes mixed with milk, was often used in funeral rites and other rituals pertaining to the dead. Farmers whose dairy products had spoiled would be advised to make sacrifices to Samdzimari , with her underworld origins, to prevent it from reoccurring. Although she was not primarily a hunting deity, her name was sometimes invoked by hunters for luck, and the horns of deer and ibex were sometimes offered to her after a successful hunt. Because of these associations, Georgian folklorist Mikheil Chikovani considered her to be the northeastern equivalent of the Svan hunting goddess Dali. Like Dali, she was also a patron of untamed spaces: one Khevsur legend describes a shepherdess accidentally encountering Samdzimari in an untouched clearing.
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Kajeti is sometimes represented as the land of the dead.
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She was also associated with preventing dairy productslike milkand butter from spoiling; farmers
Georgian culture drew strong associations between death and dairy livestock, and Samdzimari was entwined with both. Like Samdzimari, cattle were first brought from the underworld to the surface by Giorgi. Both were seen as retaining characteristics of this corrupt origin, which sometimes resurfaced to make them dangerous, as in Samdzimari's grotesque transformations after sexual intercourse. Similarly, dairy products, especially butter, were regarded as life-giving but potentially deadly since they could become spoiled. Butter, sometimes mixed with milk, was often used in funeral rites and other rituals pertaining to the dead. Farmers
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, with her underworld origins,