Tarai
Andamanese · deity · primordial / before times · Recorded classification
Weather spirit-class being classed as deity. Forms the cosmological monsoon pair with Biliku; in some bands the two are spouses or siblings, in others rivals whose alternating dominance produces the seasons. Generally male where Biliku is female. Term given in Latin transcription (Andamanese is unwritten).
Domains
- storm and monsoon wind
- rain and the wet season
Powers
- send the southwest monsoon with his breath
- Sends the south-west monsoon with his heavy breathing
Relations
- spouse: BilikuReciprocal of andamanese_biliku.spouse — The NE and SW monsoon pair; by band the two are spouses (the birds their children), siblings, or rivals.A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Andaman Islanders (1922) (secondary)
Sources
- Tarai (also Deria) is the personified southwest monsoon, the seasonal opposite and contender of Biliku/Pūluga, residing at the opposite end of the world.: A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Andaman Islanders, Cambridge University Press, 1922 (ethnography)
- The two monsoons of the Andamans (NE and SW) were attributed to spirits living at the world's edges who send the seasonal winds; Tarai is the SW-monsoon being.: A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, The Andaman Islanders, 1922 (ethnography)