Kuwaikaniri

Kuwaikaniri is the younger brother of the creator Nhiãperikuli, whom many narrators identify with Mawerikuli and, in some traditions, with Eeri. He is the tricked and unfortunate one who, acting on impulse, brings about his own death; because Nhiãperikuli is unable to resurrect him, mortality enters the world for all time, 'until another end of the world', as the Baniwa say. Yet among the Hohodene and the Wakuénai of the upper Guainía he is also the archetype of reversible death: in curing chants he is restored from deadly sickness by the tribe of shamanic bee-spirits, the Kuwai-inyai, and his recovery becomes the model for shamanic healing. Sources differ on how sharply to distinguish him from the Sun, Heeri, with whom the name Eeri is sometimes shared.

Domains

• mortality

Powers

• brings death into the world through impulse

Relations

• sibling: NhiãperikuliYounger brother of the creator.Robin M. Wright, Cosmos, Self, and History in Baniwa Religion (1998). (secondary)
• sibling: DzuliferiBrother of the shaman Dzuliferi.Robin M. Wright, Cosmos, Self, and History in Baniwa Religion (1998). (secondary)
• ally: Kuwai-inyaiIn curing chants he is healed of deadly sickness by the bee-spirit shamans, making him the archetype of reversible death.Robin M. Wright, The Kuwai Religions of Northern Arawak-Speaking Peoples (2017). (secondary)

Sources

• Kuwaikaniri, equated by many narrators with Mawerikuli, is the younger brother of Nhiãperikuli whose thoughtless act introduced death; because he could not be resurrected, mortality became permanent, and in curing chants he is the archetype of reversible death, healed by the bee-spirit shamans Kuwai-inyai.: Robin M. Wright, Cosmos, Self, and History in Baniwa Religion (University of Texas Press, 1998). (secondary); Robin M. Wright, The Kuwai Religions of Northern Arawak-Speaking Peoples (Boletín de Antropología, 2017). (secondary)