Agtayabun, the Winged Mediator

Agtayabun is the third of the three divine persons of the Bukidnon creation myth, his name glossed by commentators as 'adviser' or 'peace-maker'. He is described with a hawk-like head, a human body and powerful wings, and in the cosmogony he is suspended above the other two, holding both the comely creator Magbabaya and the ten-headed Dadanhayan ha Sugay aloft on their balanced platform. Because the two constantly bicker and their heads grow hot, only the winged Agtayabun can cool them, fanning them with the ceaseless beating of his wings; that same beating is said to produce the wind. As the mediating term between the well-formed and ill-formed poles of creation, he completes the triad and resolves its opposition. Demetrio observes that his composite hawk-and-human form, alongside the multi-headed Dadanhayan ha Sugay, suggests the influence of Indic religious imagery that reached Mindanao through early trade contacts.

Domains

• mediation and wind

Powers

• to mediate and keep the peace between the other two creator gods
• to raise the wind with the beating of his wings

Epithets

• Agtayabun

Relations

• ally: Magbabaya, the One Who Wills All Things
• ally: Dadanhayan ha Sugay, the Lord from Whom Permission Is Asked

Sources

• Carmen Ching Unabia, The Bukidnon Batbatonon and Pamuhay: A Socio-Literary Study (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1986).
• Francisco R. Demetrio, Gilda Cordero-Fernando, Fernando N. Zialcita and Roberto B. Feleo, The Soul Book (Quezon City: GCF Books, 1991).