Lord of Darkness and Death

Classed as deity (a malevolent divine being). The Khoekhoe ǁGaunab is cognate with the San ǁGãuwa/Gauwa but here is the death-and-darkness antagonist of the sky-god. ǁ = lateral click.

Domains

• death
• darkness and sickness

Powers

• brings sickness and death upon people from the Black Sky
• strikes the knee of Tsui-ǁGoab in their nightly struggle

Epithets

• ǁGaunab latin · Gaunab · cultThe malevolent being of death and the dark sky, the adversary of Tsui-ǁGoabTheophilus Hahn, Tsuni-ǁGoam (secondary)

Relations

• enemy: Wounded-Knee Sky-FatherReciprocal of khoekhoe_tsui_goab.enemy — In each combat the sky-father overcomes the dark death-power but takes the knee-wound that gives him his name, Wounded Knee.Theophilus Hahn, Tsuni-||Goam: The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi (London 1881) (secondary)
• equated with: Lesser Sky-Spirit and Lord of the DeadCognate Khoisan theonym: Khoekhoe //Gaunab and San //Gauwa share name and link to death/the dead. Valence diverges: //Gaunab is the fixed evil foe of Tsui-//Goab, San //Gauwa an ambivalent lesser sky-spirit.Theophilus Hahn, Tsuni-//Goam: The Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi (1881) (secondary); Isaac Schapera, The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa (1930), ch. on religion (secondary)

Sources

• ǁGaunab is the Khoekhoe being of darkness, sickness and death, adversary of Tsui-ǁGoab, dwelling in the 'Black Sky'.: Hahn, T., 'Tsuni-ǁGoam: The Supreme Being of the Khoi-khoi' (1881) (secondary); Schapera, I., 'The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa' (1930) (secondary)