Kumang
Iban · demigod · Iban traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Kumang is the heroine of Panggau Libau and the wife of Keling, celebrated in Iban tradition as the most beautiful of women and the exemplar of every womanly excellence. She is above all the patroness of weaving, and the finest makers of pua kumbu, the sacred warp-ikat cloth central to Iban ritual, are praised by comparison with her. As Keling embodies the ideal of the Iban man, Kumang embodies that of the Iban woman: beautiful, skilled, resourceful and brave. She figures throughout the timang chants both as Keling's consort and as a heroine in her own right.
Domains
- beauty
- weaving
- womanhood
Powers
- master of ikat weaving and the ritual cloth
Epithets
- Endu Kumang — Lady KumangSather, Clifford (2001), Seeds of Play, Words of Power (Kuching: Tun Jugah Foundation). (secondary)
Relations
Sources
- Kumang is the most beautiful woman of Panggau Libau, wife of Keling and the model of ideal Iban womanhood and accomplished weaving.: Masing, James Jemut (1997), The Coming of the Gods (Canberra: ANU). (primary); Sather, Clifford (2001), Seeds of Play, Words of Power (Kuching: Tun Jugah Foundation). (secondary)