Jára

Jára, recorded also under the form Lhára, is named with Orónhcafa as the most important of the maíca maráma, the demons of the Maleku pantheon. Where Orónhcafa holds the celestial place of torment, Jára holds the terrestrial one, located at the river Tilhacalí, to which the souls of those who died a violent death are taken. He is held to participate in causing death by snakebite, the bite being figured in the narratives as an arrow that strikes the victim and sends the soul down to his place of punishment.

Domains

• place of torment
• snakebite and violent death

Powers

• to send death by snakebite, figured as an arrow

Epithets

• maíca maráma

Relations

• companion: Orónhcafa

Sources

• Andrés Solano-Fallas, "El bien y el mal, la elección, y la muerte en la cosmogonía malecu 'Laca Majifijica'," Revista Pensamiento Actual 16, no. 26 (2016).
• Andrés Solano-Fallas, "Ogros y tarocafárrafas en los malecus: identidad y aliciente moral," Revista Pensamiento Actual 19, no. 32 (2019).