Austroasiatic roots of Sora mythology. Origin and development of the image of the god Kittung (ethnolinguistic analysis)
https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-4158-2023-4-14-37
Abstract
The article deals with the origin and development of the image of the god Kittung in the traditional Sora beliefs, as well as its transformation in the «new» religions that arose among the Sora as a result of active proselytism. Based on ethnolinguistic as well as comparative mythological analysis, the paper concludes that the god Kittung goes back to the Austroasiatic mythological ancestor deity, who escaped during the Deluge inside a giant gourd and recreated all life anew. At the same time, the «gourd» anthropogenic myth has a large number of parallels in Southeast Asia and southern China, so it can be assumed that the myth of Kittung dates back in time to the migrations of the Munda peoples to India. In the 20th century, Kittung goes beyond traditional beliefs and becomes God in Christianity and the supreme deity in neo-Hinduism, and is also embodied in one of the letters of the sacred alphabet of the Mattar Banom cult.
About the Author
E. A. Renkovskaya
Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Evgeniya A. Renkovskaya, Cand. of Sci. (Philology)
1, Bolshoi Kislovskii Line, Moscow, 125009
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Review
For citations:
Renkovskaya E.A. Austroasiatic roots of Sora mythology. Origin and development of the image of the god Kittung (ethnolinguistic analysis). Studia Religiosa Rossica: Russian Journal of Religion. 2023;(4):14-37. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-4158-2023-4-14-37
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