Andaman mythology is the mythology of the indigenous population of the Andaman Islands , which is now almost extinct. The myths of the Andamanites are extremely simple and most often reflect the ideas of the Andamanists about the origin of people and different species of animals, individual customs, about the reasons for the change of day and night and other natural phenomena.
Content
Researchers of Andaman Mythology
The main sources for studying Andaman mythology are the works of an employee of the English colonial administration, E. Maine, who lived on the islands in 1869-80, and the English ethnographer Alfred Radcliffe-Brown .
Pantheon of Spirits and Gods
In Andaman mythology, animistic views predominate. There are myths that bear the traces of ancient totemic beliefs about ancestors in the form of animals, myths about the spirits of deceased ancestors, explaining the cause of human death, and about spirits representing various forces and phenomena of nature (month, sun, winds, sea currents, etc.) , - both spirits were called chauga or lau . They seem to be mainly evil and dangerous creatures for humans (probably the basis of these animistic images is the personification of forces of nature hostile to humans): the spirit of the Erem-Chaugal forest , which wounded or killed people with invisible arrows; the evil spirit of the sea, Djuru-vin , which struck people with a sudden illness and ate the bodies of drowned people, and the spirits of Chol , which struck people with invisible spears during the heat of the day (sunstroke), but there is no developed personification.
Pulugu ( Pulugu : also Biliku ), personifying the destructive northeastern monsoon, stands out from the host of spirits. For non-compliance with some prohibitions (mainly food), he sends a storm to people. His image is not entirely clear. According to some myths, it is considered as a masculine principle, according to others - as a feminine one. The southern groups of the Andamanites considered him the supreme deity, the creator of the world and the first person - Tomo (according to other myths, Tomo appeared earlier).
Tomo is the central figure of many myths. This is the first person - an ancestor, a cultural hero who taught the Andaman to make bows, arrows, canoes, use fire, fish, find edible plants. His wife, Mita, taught women to weave nets and apply ornament with colored clay on the body.
Literature
- Tokarev S.A. Andaman mythology // Religion in the history of the peoples of the world. - 3rd ed .. - M. , 1976. - S. 103-105.
- Brown A.R. The Andaman Islanders. - Camb. : Cambridge University Press, 1922. - P. 186-406.
- Man EH On the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands. - L. , 1932.