Saankarite
The saankarite are the pure and invisible spirits of Matsigenka cosmology, the benevolent beings brought forth by Tasorintsi at the creation. Their name derives from the notion of purity and unseenness, and they are imagined as eternally young, healthy, and beautiful people who live in the several layers of the cosmos, above all in the first heaven, Menkoripatsa, the white world of the clouds just above the earth. They are the friends and allies of the seripigari, the tobacco shaman, who summons them with tobacco and visionary preparations; drinking his offerings, they guide his soul on its journeys, help diagnose and cure sickness, and stand with the Matsigenka against the demons of Kientibakori. As a class of spirit rather than a single figure, they embody the wholesome, ordered side of the invisible world.
Parentage
- parent: TasorintsiCreated by the benevolent Tasorintsi.Rosengren, Dan. 2006. JRAI 12(4). (secondary)
Domains
- pure spirits
- shamanic help
Powers
- guides and heals through the shaman
Epithets
- saankarite — the pure (invisible) onesRosengren, Dan. 2006. JRAI 12(4). (secondary)
Relations
- parent: TasorintsiCreated by the benevolent Tasorintsi.Rosengren, Dan. 2006. JRAI 12(4). (secondary)
Sources
- The saankarite are the pure, invisible spirits created by Tasorintsi, dwelling in the layers of the cosmos and serving as friends and helpers of the tobacco shaman in healing and defence against demons.: Baer, Gerhard. 1994. Die Religion der Matsigenka, Ost-Peru (Basel: Wepf Verlag). (secondary); Rosengren, Dan. 2006. 'Transdimensional Relations: On Human-Spirit Interaction in the Amazon,' Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 12(4): 803-816. (secondary)