Huniyam, the ambivalent demon-deity of sorcery

Huniyam, also called Suniyam, is the markedly ambivalent figure of the Sinhala pantheon who governs sorcery. He stands on the boundary between demon (yaka) and god (deva): in the dark lunar fortnight his malevolent demon-aspect is uppermost and he is invoked to work black magic against enemies, bringing sickness, sterility and ruin; in the bright fortnight his benevolent god-aspect, Suniyam Deviyo, protects the virtuous and lifts curses laid by others. He is depicted with a cobra and a club, and his shrines stand at thresholds and crossroads. Anthropologists have noted his marked rise in the modern, urbanizing period, an 'apotheosis' by which a once-demonic figure of sorcery has been progressively elevated toward fuller divine standing within Sinhala Buddhist devotion.

Domains

• sorcery and black magic
• protection and counter sorcery

Powers

• to lay sorcery upon enemies and to lift it from clients
• to punish wrongdoers and shield the upright

Epithets

• සුනියම් දෙවියෝ (Suniyam Deviyo)

Sources

• Bruce Kapferer, The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997).
• Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere, Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988).