Earth-serpent
Semang · deity · primordial / perpetual · Recorded classification
Chthonic serpent classed as deity (the world-supporting earth-snake / earth-deity). The female earth-power that complements the male sky/thunder Karei is, in several Semang accounts, this snake; the apostrophe in 'naga'' marks a final glottal stop in the transcription. The word is a Malay/Sanskritic loan ('naga') adopted into Semang usage. Latin transcription.
Domains
- underworld and the supporting earth
- earthquake and flood
Powers
- bear up the disk of the earth
Sources
- In Semang cosmology the earth is a disk resting on a huge snake (naga') floating in an underground sea; the chthonic earth-deity is sometimes identified with this serpent and is the recipient (with Karei) of the blood offering.: Paul Schebesta, Die Negrito Asiens, vol. II.1: Religion und Mythologie, 1957 (ethnography); Ivor H. N. Evans, The Negritos of Malaya, Cambridge University Press, 1937 (ethnography)