troduced. The original father created the earth and all things
of the world from the archetype (naino), the “not-substance,”
of each individual entity. On the other hand, in a myth that
explains the creation of the organic world, Moma extracts all
the plants and animals from his own body. The blossoms of
the food plants used by humans are evidence of his omnipo-
tent presence, and when the trees of the earth no longer bear
fruit they go to Moma in the underworld. In addition to
being the moon in the heavens, he resides below as master
of the dead. He was the first being to experience the suffering
of death, but in the fruits of the plants he is continually resur-
rected.
Among the Witóto, such a representation demonstrates
intensely the character of a particular form of culture hero,
that is, one who is at the same time a supreme entity. Jensen
applied the term dema deity in describing such a culture hero
among the Marind-anim of New Guinea (Jensen, 1951).
The distinguishing characteristics of this deity are revealed
in his slaying, which occurred in primal times, and the conse-
quent growth of all food plants out of his body.
Waríkyana supreme being. A supreme god is also
manifested among the Waríkyana (Arikena), a Carib-
speaking tribe of the Brazilian Guianas. The highest deity in
the religion of the Waríkyana is Pura (a name that, according
to the Franciscan missionary Albert Kruse, means “god”).
With his servant Mura, Pura stands on the zenith of heaven’s
mountains and observes all things that take place below
(Kruse, 1955). At the command of Pura, the rain is sent from
the sky. Pura and Mura are small men with red skin and are
ageless and immortal. They appeared at the beginning of the
world, together with water, the sky, and the earth. In early
times Pura and Mura came down to earth and created hu-
mans and animals. Because mankind did not obey the ethical
precepts of Pura, he retaliated by sending a great fire that was
followed by a deluge. A segment of the human race survived
this catastrophe, and the Waríkyana people believe that
when the end of time comes, Pura will create another holo-
caust. It was therefore Pura to whom prayers were directed,
and in his honor a celebration took place in which manioc
cakes were offered to him.
Protasius Frikel, another Franciscan, completed Kruse’s
description, noting that the Waríkyana view the supreme
being as a reflection of the primal sun (Frickel, 1957). Pura
continues to qualify as the superior god, and in addition he
was also thought of as the world onto which the primal sun
pours its blinding light. Pura also represents universal power,
a belief that Frikel considers to be relatively recent among
the Waríkyana.
In another instance, Pura is considered to be a “primor-
dial man” or culture hero (ibid.). In any case, Pura resides
in heaven and reigns over all elements. His companion and
servant Mura is somehow connected with the moon and dis-
plays some features of a trickster. Such dual relationships as
sun and moon, god and companion, culture hero and trick-
ster—pairs that are often represented as twins—are encoun-
tered frequently in South American mythology. According
to the Waríkyana, death is the beginning of the soul’s jour-
ney to heaven, where it will be reincarnated—a journey that
is modeled after the eternal cycle of the sun.
Yanoama and Mundurucú supreme beings. Kruse’s
work stimulated Josef Haekel to write an article about mono-
theistic tendencies among Carib-speakers and other Indian
groups in the Guianas, as well as among those groups border-
ing the western areas of the Guianas (Haekel, 1958). Accord-
ing to Haekel’s findings, reference to the name Pura in con-
nection with a supreme being occurred in no other Carib-
speaking tribe except the Waríkyana. To the west of their
territory in the Guianas, however, the expression is used with
only slight variation, even among different linguistic groups
such as the isolated Yanoama (Yanonami) on the Venezuelan
and Brazilian borders. According to the beliefs of some
groups in Brazil, Pore is the name of a supreme being who
descended to earth (Becher, 1974). Together with the moon,
who is known as Perimbo, Pore established a dual relation-
ship composed of both sexes—male and female—that was
conceptually unified as a supreme entity who controls heav-
en, earth, and the underworld. As the most well-informed
researcher of the Brazilian Yanoama, Hans Becher considers
their mode of life to be strongly influenced by myths con-
nected with the moon; the sun, on the other hand, is entirely
unimportant. The awe in which these Indians hold Pore and
Perimbo is so intense that they do not call on this supreme
being directly. Instead, they employ the indirect services of
intermediaries in the forms of plant and animal spirits
(hekura) that reside on specific mountain ranges. Shamans
identify with these spirits and when intoxicated with snuff
come into contact with them.
There are strong similarities between the supreme being,
Pura, of the Waríkyana and the figure of Karusakaibe, the
“father of the Mundurucú” (an expression coined by Kruse,
who was also a missionary among this central Tupi tribe).
Karusakaibe once lived on earth and created human souls,
the sky, the stars, game animals, fish, and cultivated plants,
together with all their respective guardian spirits, and he
made the trees and plants fruitful. Karusakaibe is omniscient:
he taught the Mundurucú how to hunt and farm, among
other things. He is the lawgiver of the tribe and the origina-
tor of its dual social structure. Karusakaibe is immortal. Be-
cause he was treated badly at one time by the Mundurucú,
he went off to the foggy regions of the heavens. He is also
credited with having transformed himself into the bright sun
of the dry season. When the end of the world comes, he will
set the world and all mankind on fire. But until that time
he will look after the well-being of his children, the
Mundurucú, who direct their prayers and offerings to him
when fishing and hunting and in times of sickness. Martin
Gusinde (1960) is of the opinion that Karusakaibe was once
a superior god among the Mundurucú. Later his status
changed to that of a culture hero.
Tupi-Guaraní supreme beings. Resonances of a su-
preme being concept among the Tupi-Guaraní linguisticSOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW 8577