Manarmakeri

Manarmakeri, 'the Old Man with the Itch,' whose scaly, scabrous skin conceals a radiant divine body, is the central culture-hero of the Biak-Numfor culture area and the messiah of the Koreri hope. In the myth told across Biak, Supiori and Numfor he tapped a sugar-palm whose wine was repeatedly stolen; keeping watch, he seized the Morning Star as it descended to drink. In exchange for release the star disclosed the secret of Koreri, the state of immortality and abundance won by the 'changing of skin,' and gave him a wonder-staff and a charmed fruit. Manarmakeri cast the fruit at the maiden Insoraki, who conceived though untouched and bore his son Manarbew. Shamed by the villagers and driven out with wife and child, the old man stepped into fire and shed his diseased skin, emerging young and shining. When his own people recoiled from his offer of renewal, mortality remained the human lot, and Manarmakeri sailed westward toward the land of the foreigners, Sup Amber, promising to return; his return will bring Koreri. He is addressed as Manseren Manggundi, 'the Lord Himself.'

Children

• Manarbew

Domains

• messianic return
• immortality
• abundance
• sacred lordship

Powers

• sheds his diseased skin to become young
• bestows the age of deathless abundance
• quickens a virgin with a charmed fruit
• seizes the Morning Star at dawn

Epithets

• Manseren Manggundi — The Lord Himself / Our Own LordKamma, F. C. (1972). Koreri: Messianic Movements in the Biak-Numfor Culture Area. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp. 3-14. (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: InsorakiInsoraki, made pregnant by the charmed fruit, becomes his wife and shares his exile and transformation.Kamma, F. C. (1972). Koreri: Messianic Movements in the Biak-Numfor Culture Area. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp. 20-30. (secondary)
• ally: SampariOnce seized and ransomed, the Morning Star becomes his supernatural patron, source of the secret of life.Kamma, F. C. (1972). Koreri: Messianic Movements in the Biak-Numfor Culture Area. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp. 15-25. (secondary)

Sources

• Manarmakeri, the scab-skinned old man whose diseased body hides a radiant divine self, is the central culture-hero and messiah of the Biak-Numfor Koreri complex.: Kamma, F. C. (1972). Koreri: Messianic Movements in the Biak-Numfor Culture Area. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. (secondary); Rutherford, D. (2003). Raiding the Land of the Foreigners. Princeton: Princeton University Press. (secondary)
• He caught the Morning Star, won the secret of Koreri, sired Manarbew on Insoraki, shed his skin in fire, and departed westward promising a return that will inaugurate the age of abundance.: van Hasselt, F. J. F. (1908). Nufoorsche fabelen en vertellingen. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 61: 477-589. (primary); Kamma, F. C. (1972). Koreri: Messianic Movements in the Biak-Numfor Culture Area. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp. 15-45. (secondary)