Devak

{{Short description|Hindu totem}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

File:Ficus religiosa Bo.jpg tree, Devak for many Maratha clans]]

A devak, in Maratha people of Maharashtra, India culture, is a family guardian or totem in the form of a physical object, such as a tree. Some sources define devak as being distinct from the more generic word totem.

The word Devak implies god.

The devak plays an important role in Maratha marriages, as traditionally a man may not marry a woman whose paternal-lineage totem is the same as his own.[https://books.google.com/books?id=vyUUAAAAYAAJ&dqs Census of India, 1901]. Census Commissioner

Printed at the Rajputana Mission Press, 1903. V. 1.