The Primal Man (Syriac Nāšā Qadmāyā; Middle Persian Ohrmazd Bay) is the first champion of the Light in Manichaean cosmogony and one of the religion's central figures. Evoked through the Mother of Life, he clothes himself in his five sons — the light elements Aether, Wind, Light, Water and Fire — and goes down to the boundary to confront the assault of the King of Darkness. He is overwhelmed and falls senseless, and the dark powers devour his luminous armour; yet this defeat is in truth a deliberate stratagem, for the swallowed light becomes the bait by which Darkness is later subdued. The Father then begins the Second Creation, evoking the Living Spirit, who descends and, through the cry of the Call and the Answer, raises the Primal Man back to the Realm of Light. In the Iranian-language tradition he bears the name of the Zoroastrian creator Ohrmazd, a striking instance of Mani's reuse of older divine names for new roles.