Piai'mã ('great shaman') is the ogre of the Makunaima cycle shared by the Macuxi, Taurepang and Arekuna of the circum-Roraima region. A cannibal giant who carries victims off in his basket, he kills and cuts up Makunaima, who is restored to life by his brothers; the heroes in turn trick and destroy Piai'mã, and in some tellings the powers and chants of shamanism derive from him. The figure entered Brazilian literature as the giant Piaimã of Mário de Andrade's Macunaíma.
Domains
shamanic power
Powers
to hunt and devour human beings
to wield the original arts and chants of the shaman, later taken from him by the hero brothers