Namarrkon- Aboriginal Australian GodDeity"The Lightning Man"
Also known as: Mamaragan, Namarrkun, and Namarrgon
Titles & Epithets
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Description
The lightning deity of the Gunwinggu people of Arnhem Land who rides thunderclouds during the wet season, hurling bolts down upon the earth. His rock art depictions in X-ray style show stone axes on his elbows and knees, the instruments with which he splits the clouds and produces lightning.
Mythology & Lore
The Lightning Man
Stone axes hang from Namarrkon's elbows and knees. When he strikes his limbs together or swings them through the air, the axes produce the electrical discharge that appears as lightning. He rides the thunderclouds of the Gunumeleng, the wet season that dominates the annual cycle in western Arnhem Land from October through April. When the monsoon breaks and tremendous storms roll across the landscape, Namarrkon is at work, hurling lightning bolts down upon the earth, striking trees and starting fires.
He appears in the rock art of western Arnhem Land painted in X-ray style, his internal features shown alongside external outlines: limbs bent to display the axes, body positioned as if about to strike. At Anbangbang in Kakadu, his image watches over the rock shelters where people have taken cover from his storms for thousands of years.
Relationships
- Associated with