Buoka

Buoka is a creator being of the Piaroa land who appears beside Wahari in the shaping of the earth. Several tellings cast him as Wahari's elder brother and fellow demiurge, born of the primordial mother Ofoda'e, while others so nearly identify the two that the names read as facets of one creative agency. Where he is distinguished, he tends to carry the more settled, senior aspect of creation against Wahari's restless and transgressive energy. His comparatively spare mythology reflects the way Piaroa narrators concentrate the drama of the creation on Wahari and the water-lord Kuemoi.

Parentage

• parent: Ofoda'eOvering, J. (1990). 'The Shaman as a Maker of Worlds.' Man (n.s.) 25(4): 602-619. (secondary)

Domains

• creation and cosmos

Powers

• share in the shaping of the earth

Epithets

• the elder creator — the senior maker of the landOvering, J. (1990). 'The Shaman as a Maker of Worlds.' Man (n.s.) 25(4): 602-619. (secondary)

Relations

• parent: Ofoda'eOvering, J. (1990). 'The Shaman as a Maker of Worlds.' Man (n.s.) 25(4): 602-619. (secondary)
• sibling: WahariOvering, J. (1990). 'The Shaman as a Maker of Worlds.' Man (n.s.) 25(4): 602-619. (secondary)

Sources

• Buoka is a creator being paired with Wahari, in some traditions his elder brother and co-shaper of the earth.: Overing, J. (1990). 'The Shaman as a Maker of Worlds.' Man (n.s.) 25(4): 602-619. (secondary); Boglar, L. (1978). Cuentos y mitos de los Piaroa. Caracas: Universidad Catolica Andres Bello. (secondary)
• Some tellings blur Buoka and Wahari, treating the two names as facets of a single creative agency.: Overing, J. (1985). 'There Is No End of Evil.' In D. Parkin (ed.), The Anthropology of Evil, pp. 244-278. Oxford: Blackwell. (secondary)