Bathala
Pre-Hispanic Tagalog supreme being and creator. Resided in Kaluwalhatian; controlled thunder, lightning, flood, fire, and earthquakes; communicated with mortals through the omen-bird tigmamanukan and through anito-spirit intermediaries. The Sanskritic etymology (Bhaṭṭāra) attests to the Indianization of pre-Hispanic Tagalog religion. Father (by an unnamed mortal woman who died at their birth) of the three daughter-demigods Mayari, Hanan, and Tala — the Mongán-pattern divine-paternity tradition that makes the three daughters the canonical Tagalog demigod-figures. Other children — Apolaki (sun-god, in some traditions), Hangin (wind), Kidlat (lightning), and others — are deity-tier rather than demigod, attributed to non-mortal mothers across the variant traditions.
Children
Domains
- supreme creator and ruler of the universe
- thunder lightning flood fire earthquakes
Powers
- Hurls thunder and lightning as punishment
- Sends the omen-bird to reveal his will
Epithets
- Bathala Maykapal