Odosha
Ye'kuana · deity · Ye'kuana traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Odosha is the malevolent counter-creator of the Ye'kuana, the source of death, sickness and all evil, and the direct antithesis of Wanadi. In the Watunna he springs up on earth from the rotting placenta that Wanadi's first spirit-double, Seruhe Ianadi, buried at his own birth, emerging hairy and full of resentment. He is named variously Odosha, Kahu, Kahushawa (Cajushawa) and Woroto, and he commands the demon-host called the Odoshankomo. His corruption of the world and his sabotage of the resurrection of Wanadi's mother Kumariawa make death permanent and finally drive Wanadi back into the sky.
Domains
- death and mortality
- evil and corruption
- disease and sickness
Powers
- to bring death, sickness and evil into the world
- to rule over the host of demons called the Odoshankomo
Epithets
- KahushawaMarc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980). (secondary)
- Woroto'Wanadi,' Encyclopaedia Britannica. (secondary)
Relations
- enemy: WanadiOdosha is the direct opposite and lifelong adversary of Wanadi, opposing light and life with darkness and death.Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980). (secondary)
- slayer of: KumariawaOdosha sabotages the resurrection of Kumariawa, sending vermin to defile her rising body so that only bones and charcoal remain, and so death becomes irreversible for humankind.Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980). (secondary)
- enemy: AttawanadiAs Wanadi's agent on earth, Attawanadi continually contends against Odosha, whose corruptions repeatedly spoil his work of re-creation.Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980). (secondary)
Sources
- Odosha (also Kahu, Kahushawa, Woroto) is the Ye'kuana counter-creator and embodiment of evil and death, born from the buried afterbirth of Wanadi's first spirit-double and the lifelong adversary of Wanadi.: Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980; repr. 1997). (secondary); David M. Guss, To Weave and Sing: Art, Symbol, and Narrative in the South American Rain Forest (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989). (secondary); 'Wanadi,' Encyclopaedia Britannica. (secondary)