Guru ri Selleng, King of the Underworld

Guru ri Selleng is the king of the Underworld (Toddang Toja, the realm at the bottom of the waters, also called Peretiwi) in the Bugis creation epic Sureq Galigo. With his consort Sinaung Toja he forms the lower of the two great divine couples that balance the Upperworld of Patotoqe and Datu Palingeq. When the world-creator gods resolve that the empty Middleworld must be settled so that the gods should not go unworshipped, Guru ri Selleng agrees to send up his daughter We Nyiliq Timoq, who becomes the wife of Batara Guru, the first ruler of Luwuq. Through this union the divine dynasty of the Bugis kingdoms is founded.

Children in alternative accounts

• We Nyiliq Timoq, Princess of the Underworld: Abidin: La Galigo accountAndi’ Zainal Abidin, The Emergence of Early Kingdoms in South Sulawesi (1983), pp.456, 460–461 and 465, sections IV.2 and V.2 (secondary)

Names and tradition associations

• La Mattimang Guru ri Selleng Bugis · same recordAndi’ Zainal Abidin, The Emergence of Early Kingdoms in South Sulawesi (1983), pp.456, 460–461 and 465, sections IV.2 and V.2 (secondary)

Domains

• underworld
• primordial waters

Powers

• to rule the underworld of the waters
• to send divine offspring up to the middle world

Relations

• father of: We Nyiliq Timoq, Princess of the UnderworldGuru ri Selleng is the father of We Nyiliq Timoq, the princess raised from the Underworld to become consort of Batara Guru in the Middleworld.Christian Pelras, The Bugis (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996), ch. 2. (secondary); Andi’ Zainal Abidin, The Emergence of Early Kingdoms in South Sulawesi (1983), pp.456, 460–461 and 465, sections IV.2 and V.2 (secondary)
• spouse: Sinaung Toja, Queen of the UnderworldGuru ri Selleng and Sinaung Toja form the ruling divine couple of the Underworld, parents of We Nyiliq Timoq.Sirtjo Koolhof, 'The La Galigo: A Bugis Encyclopaedia and its Growth,' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 155/3 (1999): 362-387. (secondary)

Sources

• Guru ri Selleng is the male sovereign of the Bugis Underworld of the waters and father of We Nyiliq Timoq in the La Galigo creation cycle.: Christian Pelras, The Bugis (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996), ch. 2. (secondary); Sirtjo Koolhof, 'The La Galigo: A Bugis Encyclopaedia and its Growth,' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 155/3 (1999): 362-387. (secondary)