Birth-Giving Spirit
Naga · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Naga (Angami) supreme creatress, classed as deity. Documented in J.H. Hutton's standard 1921 monograph. The name is built on the feminine birth-suffix '-pfü'; she is the high creator above the terhoma/terhuomia (lesser spirits). Tradition label 'Naga' per the brief; sub-tradition Angami.
Domains
- creation
- birth and fate
Powers
- give birth to humankind and the world
Epithets
- Kepenuopfü The birth-spirit and creator who brings each soul into being (Angami Naga)J. H. Hutton, The Angami Nagas (secondary)
Sources
- Kepenuopfü (Ukepenuopfü) is the supreme creator-being of the Angami Naga, a female birth-spirit whose name means 'birth-spirit' / 'one who gives birth'.: Hutton, J.H. 'The Angami Nagas, with Some Notes on Neighbouring Tribes' (London: Macmillan, 1921) (academic); Angami Naga ethnographic surveys (ICNA; The Criterion), accessed June 2026 (secondary)
- Below the supreme being the Angami recognise lesser deities/spirits called terhoma (terhuomia), some benevolent and some harmful; Christian missionary translation later glossed terhoma as 'satan', distorting their original ambivalent character.: Angami Naga ethnographic survey, accessed June 2026: missionaries translated 'terhoma' as 'satan' (secondary)