Batara Guru, the First to Descend to the Middleworld

Batara Guru, whose Bugis name is La Togeq Langiq, is the eldest son of the supreme god Patotoqe and his consort Datu Palingeq. He is the first of the manurung, the sky-descended beings: dispatched from the Upperworld Boting Langiq to the empty land of Luwuq, he becomes the first human and the first ruler of the Middleworld (Ale Lino), and in popular tradition he descends through a hollow stalk of golden bamboo, whence the epithet Manurungnge ri Lappa Tellang Pulawengnge. The title Batara Guru itself is a Bugis adaptation of the Sanskrit Bhaṭāra Guru, an epithet of Śiva, reflecting older Indic influence on the region. He takes as his bride We Nyiliq Timoq, who rises from the Underworld; their union joins the upper and lower worlds, and the dynasty descending from them — through their son Batara Lattuq to the hero Sawerigading — drives the action of the entire epic.

Parentage

• Patotoqe, Determiner of Fate of the Upperworld
• Datu Palingeq, Queen of the Upperworld

Children

• Batara Lattuq, Second Ruler of Luwuq

Domains

• kingship of luwuq
• middleworld and human origins
• celestial descent

Powers

• to descend from the Upperworld and take on human form
• to found and rule the first kingdom of the Middleworld

Epithets

• Manurungngé ri Luwuq
• La Togéq Langiq

Relations

• spouse: We Nyiliq Timoq, Princess of the Underworld
• subordinate to: Patotoqe, Determiner of Fate of the Upperworld

Sources

• Christian Pelras, The Bugis (Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996), chap. 3, 'The world of myth'.
• Sirtjo Koolhof, 'The La Galigo: A Bugis Encyclopaedia and its Growth', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 155, no. 3 (1999): 362–387.