Ratovantany
Malagasy · numen · primordial · Recorded classification
The self-created earth-being ('the uncreated one', also titled Andriantompo) who modelled human and animal bodies from clay and dried them in the sun; unable to give life, he agreed that the sky-god Zanahary would animate them on condition that the body remain his, returning to the earth at death. Authored as a numen (a self-arising chthonic power) rather than a peopled deity, since the literature notes he was not a prominently worshipped god while the creation myth itself is ubiquitous. He has no attested divine parent or sibling (he is self-created), so he is wired only to Zanahary, as a co-creating ally rather than as kin.
Domains
- earth
- creation of the body
- death and the grave
Powers
- Arises self-created out of the ground
- Models human and animal bodies from clay
- Reclaims and decomposes the body at death
Epithets
- Andriantompo'Lord Master / Sovereign Lord' — a reverential title under which the earth-creator is also known.Jørgen Ruud, Taboo: A Study of Malagasy Customs and Beliefs (1960) (secondary)
Relations
- ally: ZanaharyCo-creator: the earth-being strikes the cosmogonic compact with the sky-god Zanahary — Ratovantany gives the body, Zanahary the soul; each reclaims his part at death. Partners in creation, not kin (Ratovantany is self-created).Charles Renel, Ancêtres et dieux (Bull. de l'Académie malgache, 1920–21) (secondary); Jørgen Ruud, Taboo: A Study of Malagasy Customs and Beliefs (1960) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Charles Renel, Ancêtres et dieux (Bulletin de l'Académie malgache, 1920–21) (secondary); Charles Renel, Contes de Madagascar (1910) (secondary); Jørgen Ruud, Taboo: A Study of Malagasy Customs and Beliefs (1960) (secondary)
- self-creation and the modelling of bodies from clay (with Zanahary giving life): Charles Renel, Ancêtres et dieux (Bull. de l'Académie malgache, 1920–21) (secondary)