Ilet
Kalenjin · numen · mythic · numen
Ilet (Ilat; also Toiyoi) is the Kalenjin/Nandi god-being of thunder, rain and lightning, who inhabits deep pools and waterfalls and whose discarded garments are the rainbow. Authored as a numen, era 'mythic'. He is the overarching thunder being whose dual nature is individuated among the Nandi into the good and evil thunders (kalenjin_ilet_ne_mie, kalenjin_ilet_ne_ya), wired here as his two 'aspect' beings (reciprocated on each). No kin edge is asserted to Asis: the sources name Asis and Ilat as the two principal deities side by side but attest no genealogical link between them.
Domains
- thunder
- rain
- lightning
- waters
Powers
- Hurls the lightning as a sword from the storm
- Casts off the rainbow as his discarded garments
- Settles boundary and truth disputes by the lightning-stroke
Epithets
- Toiyoi
Relations
- aspect: Ilet ne-mie
- aspect: Ilet ne-ya
Sources
- A. C. Hollis, The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-lore (Clarendon Press, 1909)
- G. W. B. Huntingford, The Nandi of Kenya: Tribal Control in a Pastoral Society (1953)
- 'Nandi and Other Kalenjin Peoples', culture summary (HRAF / Encyclopedia.com): 'Ilat is associated with thunder and rain … the rainbow are his discarded garments.'