The self-existent creator and sky/rain god of the Tumbuka, an 'absentee' high god of the heavens whose name is glossed 'the great bow' and who is symbolised by the rainbow; also called Leza and Mulungu. Authored in the 'primordial' era as the cosmic, timeless creator. SOLITARY: Tumbuka theology gives him no parents, consort or divine offspring (he is self-existent), so no kin edge is asserted. In the highlands he was approached, and rain solicited from him, through the serpent-divinity Chikang'ombe (tumbuka_chikangombe); that is a cult relationship of medium-to-high-god, not a kinship, and is recorded in the domains/faculties rather than as a relation.
Domains
creation
sky
rain
thunder and lightning
the rainbow
Powers
Exists of himself and creates the world
Sends and withholds the rain
Epithets
Mulengi
Mwenco
Wamtatakuya
Chiuta wa makora
Sources
T. Cullen Young, Notes on the Customs and Folk-lore of the Tumbuka-Kamanga Peoples; and Notes on the History of the Tumbuka-Kamanga Peoples of the Northern Province of Nyasaland (1932)
Molefi Kete Asante & Ama Mazama (eds.), Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009), s.v. Chiuta
Chiuta, Oxford Reference (Dictionary of African Mythology)
Steven M. Friedson, Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1996)