Tiăng

Tiăng is the principal hero of the Ot Ndrong, the great chanted epic cycle of the Mnong. A prosperous chief of the bon (village) belonging to the house of Rung, he presides over an ancestral world of feasts, exchange of gongs and jars, buffalo sacrifice and dealings with the yang (spirits). Whole episodes of the cycle bear his name, among them the tale in which he sells a carved wooden statue and the account of the giant leech that swallows his village. Sources treat him as a legendary human ancestor rather than a god, embodying the ideal of the wealthy and authoritative Mnong headman.

Parentage

• Rung

Domains

• chieftainship wealth
• ancestry lineage

Powers

• governs the village community
• amasses ritual treasure

Epithets

• Tiăng con Rung

Relations

• parent: Rung
• sibling: Lêng
• sibling: Yơng

Sources

• Ngô Đức Thịnh (ed.), Sử thi Mnông (Ot Ndrong), Viện Nghiên cứu Văn hóa / NXB Khoa học Xã hội, 2000s
• Đỗ Hồng Kỳ, Sử thi thần thoại Mnông (Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học Xã hội, 1996)