Kamagarini

The kamagarini are the malevolent spirits of Matsigenka cosmology, the countless little devils breathed forth by the counter-creator Kientibakori. Their name carries the sense of death, and they are the mirror-image of Tasorintsi's pure saankarite: where the pure spirits heal and protect, the kamagarini bring sickness, misfortune, and death. They haunt the forest, especially by night and in storms, and are dangerous to the solitary traveller; they can assume the guise of animals or of alluring people to deceive and to seize a victim's soul. Much of the tobacco shaman's work consists of recognising, resisting, and driving off these creatures, whose master dwells downriver with his demonic host.

Parentage

• parent: KientibakoriBreathed forth by Kientibakori at the creation.Johnson, Allen. 2003. Families of the Forest. (secondary)

Domains

• demons
• sickness and death

Powers

• carries sickness and misfortune to the living

Epithets

• kamagarini — the little devilsJohnson, Allen. 2003. Families of the Forest. (secondary)

Relations

• parent: KientibakoriBreathed forth by Kientibakori at the creation.Johnson, Allen. 2003. Families of the Forest. (secondary)
• sibling: KasibareniniKasibarenini reckoned the foremost of the kamagarini.Johnson, Allen. 2003. Families of the Forest. (secondary)

Sources

• The kamagarini are the malevolent little devils breathed forth by Kientibakori, agents of sickness, misfortune, and death who roam the forest and take animal disguises.: Johnson, Allen. 2003. Families of the Forest (Berkeley: University of California Press). (secondary); Baer, Gerhard. 1994. Die Religion der Matsigenka, Ost-Peru (Basel: Wepf Verlag). (secondary)