Wanalirri
Ngarinyin · deity · Ngarinyin traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Wanalirri is the great Wandjina of the Ngarinyin, whose principal site lies in the country along the Gibb River. Like all Wandjina he is a rain and cloud being whose painted image, refreshed as the wet season nears, draws down the monsoon. He is chiefly remembered for the myth of the great flood: when two children tormented Dumbi the owl and plucked out its feathers, the owl's grievance reached the Wandjina, who gathered a vast flock of brolgas to stamp a black-soil plain into quicksand and then loosed a deluge that drowned the people who had broken the Law. The story stands as a charter of the seriousness with which cruelty and lawlessness are punished.
Domains
- rain cloud
- flood retribution
Powers
- bring the monsoon rain
- send the punishing flood
Relations
- ally: DumbiThe Wandjina acts on the grievance of Dumbi, the owl who counsels him.Mowaljarlai, D. & Malnic, J. (1993) Yorro Yorro. Magabala Books (secondary)
Sources
- Wanalirri (also called Wodjin) is the principal Ngarinyin Wandjina, associated with a major rain and law site on the Gibb River and with the myth of the great flood sent to punish those who tormented Dumbi the owl.: Blundell, V. & Woolagoodja, D. (2005) Keeping the Wanjinas Fresh. Fremantle Press (secondary); Mowaljarlai, D. & Malnic, J. (1993) Yorro Yorro. Magabala Books (secondary)