Taikaleleu, ruling spirit of the forest and mountains

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

• Sikaleleu

Relations

• ally: Taikamanua, ruling spirit of the sky
• ally: Kabagat Koat, ruling spirit of the sea
• subordinate to: Ulaumanua, the formless high deity

Sources

• Schefold, Reimar. Lia: Das grosse Ritual auf den Mentawai-Inseln (Indonesien). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1988.
• 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.