Wanadi
Ye'kuana · deity · Ye'kuana traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Wanadi is the supreme creator of the Ye'kuana (Maquiritare, So'to) of the upper Orinoco and Caura. Born of the Sun in the heaven called Kahuña, he is the being of great light who, though one, acts on earth through a series of spirit-doubles (damodede). He creates by dreaming, by blowing tobacco smoke, and by singing with the maraca. Across the Watunna cycle Wanadi's emissaries struggle against Odosha, the counter-creator who brings death and evil into the world; finally Wanadi returns to the sky and ceases to interfere directly in human life, leaving humanity in a world contested by his agents and Odosha's demons.
Domains
- creation cosmogony
- sun and light
- shamanic knowledge
Powers
- to bring beings into existence by dreaming, smoking tobacco and shaking the maraca
- to send avatars of himself down to the earth
Epithets
- Kahuña WanadiMarc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980), on Wanadi of Kahuña (the sky). (secondary)
Relations
- enemy: OdoshaWanadi, light and life, is the lifelong cosmic adversary of Odosha, the source of darkness, deception and death.Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980). (secondary)
- creator of: KumariawaThrough his spirit-double Nadeiumadi, Wanadi dreams his own mother Kumariawa into existence.Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. David M. Guss (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980). (secondary)
Sources
- Wanadi is the luminous sun-born creator-demiurge of the Ye'kuana, who fashions the world and the first people and withdraws to heaven after his struggle with Odosha.: 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)