Nahangma, the Warrior Life-Force Goddess
Kirati · deity · mythic / cult continuous to present · Recorded classification
Nahangma is a martial deity of the Limbu, imagined enthroned on the mountain heights in the manner of Himalayan war-gods. In the Nahangma rite the shaman calls upon her so that the household head's soul may 'rise' (sam phungma) and his warrior dignity and political legitimacy be renewed; he receives arms identical to hers. In the oral tradition she and the grandmother-mother Yuma are figured as standing antagonists, a polarity of martial and nurturing power.
Domains
- war and warrior prowess
- life force of the household head
Powers
- to raise the warrior life-force of the household head
- to grant prowess and victory in war
Sources
- Nahangma is the Limbu mountaintop war-goddess whose rite restores the warrior life-force and authority of the household head, and who stands in Mundhum narrative as the perennial antagonist of the grandmother-goddess Yuma.: Philippe Sagant, The Dozing Shaman: The Limbus of Eastern Nepal (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1996) (secondary); Iman Singh Chemjong, History and Culture of the Kirat People, Parts I–II (Kathmandu: Kirat Yakthung Chumlung, 4th ed. 2003 [1967]) (secondary)