The Slayer
Fijian · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Entered as a deity (a war/murder kalou). The reduplicated name from ravu ('to club, to kill') is genuine Fijian and fixes him squarely in the war complex. Kinless in the record — see SOLITARY flag. The 'priests who eat rocks' detail is part of his cult lore.
Domains
- war
- murder and bloodshed
Powers
- lies in wait and clubs his victims
- whitens any who tread his footprints or sit his stone
Sources
- Ravuravu is a Fijian war-god and patron of slayers — a malevolent kalou cast down from the Skyland who, taking human form, killed people in ambush at Navukeilagi, whitened to albino any who trod his footprints or sat upon his stone, and whose priests demonstrated his power by eating rocks; his name derives from ravu, 'to club or kill'.: Williams, Thomas. Fiji and the Fijians, Vol. 1 (1858) (secondary); Thomson, Basil. The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom (1908), on the war-cults and their priests (secondary)