Raja Bunu
Ngaju · demigod · Ngaju traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Raja Bunu, also Maharaja Buno, is the primeval ancestor through whom death entered the world in Ngaju myth. Of the three first brothers descended from the created order, it was Raja Bunu who took the fatal portion the others refused and so became mortal; his line peopled the middle world, the pantai danum kalunen ('the shore where the waters of the world flow'), and became subject to dying, while his brothers Raja Sangen and Raja Sangiang remained deathless in the heavens. Because mortality begins with Raja Bunu, it is his descendants for whom the tiwah is performed, returning each soul across the divide he first opened to the ancestral village of Mahatala's Upperworld. Sources differ on the exact names and number of the primeval brothers.
Domains
- death
- ancestry
Powers
- brings death and mortality into the world
- engenders mortal humankind
Epithets
- Maharaja Buno — the Great King BunoSchärer, Ngaju Religion (1963), pp. 59-90. (secondary)
Relations
- sibling: Raja SangenSchärer, Ngaju Religion (1963), pp. 59-90. (secondary)
- sibling: Raja SangiangSchärer, Ngaju Religion (1963), pp. 59-90. (secondary)
Sources
- Raja Bunu is the primeval brother who accepted mortality and became the ancestor of humankind, thereby bringing death into the world.: Hans Schärer, Ngaju Religion (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1963), pp. 59-90. (secondary)