i Lai

i Lai is the god of the Upperworld, the luminous male power of the sky, and with the earth-goddess Ndara forms the great divine pair of Bare'e cosmology. The two are complementary: Lai rules above and is associated with the sun and daylight, Ndara below with the earth and the dead. In the making of humankind the life-soul is drawn from both. Lai's celestial realm is the destination of the mowurake shaman, whose soul-journey ascends to fetch back a sick person's strayed tanoana. He is commonly addressed by the honorific Pue di Songi, 'the Lord in the Heaven.' Sources differ on how sharply he is distinguished from the creator Pue mPalaburu.

Domains

• sky
• soul

Powers

• rules the Upperworld and the daylight sky
• provides the celestial share of the human life-soul

Epithets

• Pue di Songi — the Lord in the HeavenR. E. Downs, The Religion of the Bare'e-speaking Toradja of Central Celebes (1956) (secondary)

Relations

• spouse: i NdaraMale sky-power paired with the female earth-power below.R. E. Downs, The Religion of the Bare'e-speaking Toradja of Central Celebes (1956), the divine pair (secondary)
• ally: Pue mPalaburuN. Adriani & Alb. C. Kruyt, De Bare'e-sprekende Toradja van Midden-Celebes (1912–1914/1950) (primary)
• ally: WurakeThe wurake spirits dwell in his sky-realm.Alb. C. Kruyt, 'Measa, eene bijdrage tot het animisme der Bare'e-sprekende Toradja's,' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 74–80 (1918–1924) (primary)

Sources

• i Lai is the male god of the Upperworld, associated with the sky and sun, and with the earth-goddess Ndara forms the great divine pair: R. E. Downs, The Religion of the Bare'e-speaking Toradja of Central Celebes (1956) (secondary); N. Adriani & Alb. C. Kruyt, De Bare'e-sprekende Toradja van Midden-Celebes (1912–1914/1950) (primary)