Taikaleleu, ruling spirit of the forest and mountains
Mentawai · deity · Mentawai traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Taikaleleu (Tai Ka-Leleu, also called Sikaleleu, 'lord of the forest') is the ruling spirit of the forest and mountains in the Arat Sabulungan religion of Siberut. In Reimar Schefold's ethnography the forest-lord keeps an invisible parallel society in the deep forest, complete with houses and livestock, so that hunters and those who clear gardens must first win his goodwill through the kerei. He is one of the three co-ordinate cosmic-domain spirits — sky, forest, and sea — at the heart of Mentawai ritual life.
Domains
- forest and mountains
- the hunt and wild game
Powers
- to guard the forest, the mountains, and their game animals
Epithets
- SikaleleuSchefold, Reimar. Lia: Das grosse Ritual auf den Mentawai-Inseln (Indonesien). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988. (secondary)
Relations
- ally: Taikamanua, ruling spirit of the skyWorshipped together with the rulers of sky and sea as the co-ordinate domain spirits invoked in every sabulungan rite.Tulius, Juniator & Linda Burman-Hall. 'Primates and birds of sabulungan.' Wacana 23(2), 2022. (secondary)
- ally: Kabagat Koat, ruling spirit of the seaThe lord of the land and the lord of the sea divide the inhabited surface of the Mentawai world between forest and ocean.Schefold, Reimar. Toys for the Souls: Life and Art on the Mentawai Islands. Brussels: Primedia / 5 Continents, 2017. (secondary)
- subordinate to: Ulaumanua, the formless high deityThe forest-lord, like the other domain spirits, stands beneath the overarching authority of the formless high deity Ulaumanua.The Religious Cosmology of Indigenous Communities for Maintaining Ecological Balance in the Mentawai Islands, Indonesia. Millah: Journal of Religious Studies, Universitas Islam Indonesia, 2024. (secondary)
Sources
- Taikaleleu (Sikaleleu) is the Mentawai ruling spirit of the forest and mountains, guardian of wild game and the upland interior.: Schefold, Reimar. Lia: Das grosse Ritual auf den Mentawai-Inseln (Indonesien). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988. (secondary); Tulius, Juniator & Linda Burman-Hall. 'Primates and birds of sabulungan; Roles of animals in sculptures, shamanic songs and dances, and the belief system of traditional Mentawaians.' Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia 23(2), 2022. (secondary)