Agyu
Manobo · demigod · Manobo traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Agyu is the deathless hero at the centre of the great Manobo epic cycle known among the Livunganen-Arumanen as the Ulahingan and among other groups simply as the Agyu songs. Driven from their homeland by hardship and conflict, Agyu leads his kin through wandering and war until the diwata grant them immortality and a golden sky-boat, the sarimbar, carries them to Nelendangan, the paradise of the undying. There Agyu and his companions dwell beyond death. The cycle is one of the longest sung traditions of Mindanao, recorded in numerous episodes by Elena Maquiso and others.
Domains
- immortality
- migration
Powers
- attains bodily immortality
- leads his people to the promised land
Relations
- sibling: BanlakBanlak is Agyu's brother in the Livunganen version.Elena G. Maquiso, Ulahingan (1977); Livunganen-Arumanen Agyu cycle. (primary)
Sources
- Agyu is the immortal culture-hero of the Manobo Ulahingan / Agyu epic cycle.: Elena G. Maquiso, Ulahingan: An Epic of the Southern Philippines (Silliman University Press, 1977). (primary); E. Arsenio Manuel, 'A Survey of Philippine Folk Epics,' Asian Folklore Studies 22 (1963): 1-76. (secondary)