Malatai, God of War and Headhunting

Malatai is named as the Paiwan god of war and headhunting, the patron of the warrior ethos that was central to traditional Paiwan society. Headhunting (taking the heads of enemies) was a religiously framed institution among the Paiwan, who together with the Bunun and Atayal were among the last Taiwanese peoples to practise it before the custom was suppressed under Japanese rule by about 1930; success in head-taking conferred prestige and ritual standing on men. Malatai presides over the rites of passage of warriors and was petitioned for protection and victory on raids. He stands among the named gods of the traditional Paiwan pantheon, which the ethnographic literature reports to number at least eight under a creator god. Of the figures in this set Malatai is the least securely documented in the academic ethnographic record, and the entry is offered with that caution.

Domains

• war and headhunting

Powers

• to grant victory and protection in war and head-taking

Epithets

• Malatai

Relations

• subordinate to: Naqemati, the Creator

Sources

• 'Malatai: Paiwan War God and Spirit Guardian of Taiwan', Gods and Monsters (godsandmonsters.info), Taiwanese Mythology.
• 'Religious Beliefs in "Aboriginal Taiwan"', International Journal of Taiwan Studies 7, no. 1 (2024): 118ff., on the Paiwan recognition of at least eight named gods (citing Tung 1984: 13-15).