The Self-Expanding Cloud

In the theogony recited in the passomba tedong, the liturgical consecration of the buffalo recorded among the Kesu' Toraja, the primordial separation of heaven and earth brought forth three gods: Gaun Tikembong, 'the self-expanding cloud', who took his place in the sky; Pong Banggai di Rante, lord of the broad plain of the earth; and Pong Tulak Padang, who supports the earth from beneath. Gaun Tikembong is thus the celestial member of the first divine generation of the Sa'dan Toraja pantheon. Wandering alone through the heavens, he brought forth from a rib that loosed itself from his side the god Usuk Sangbamban, whose marriage to Simbolong Manik produced Puang Matua, the Old Lord of the zenith. Later Toraja accounts remember Gaun Tikembong as the god charged with the sky and with its winds, clouds, rain and lightning.

Children

• The Single Rib

Domains

• sky
• weather

Powers

• to swell and expand to fill the space of the sky
• to bring forth a god from his own detached rib

Relations

• father of: The Single Rib

Sources

• Hetty Nooy-Palm, The Sa'dan-Toraja: A Study of Their Social Life and Religion, vol. I: Organization, Symbols and Beliefs (Verhandelingen van het KITLV 87; The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979)
• Michaela Budiman, Contemporary Funeral Rituals of Sa'dan Toraja: From Aluk Todolo to 'New' Religions (Prague: Karolinum Press, 2013)
• Darius Darius and Sonny Eli Zaluchu, 'Transformation of Elementary Puang Matua in Toraja Belief System into Christianity', Verbum et Ecclesia 44/1 (2023), a2831