Tala (Glossary)

Tala is the name for the Morning Star, the planet Venus, in various languages of the Philippines.

In Kapampangan myth, Tala descends to earth sent by his grandfather the Sun to save the world from the great flood. He is born in human form and brings the gift of rice agriculture among other things.

Venus coming to earth as a human savior is rather a common theme. In Irian Jaya to the south, Papuan nationalists emblazon the Morning Star on their flag based on a local legend of the descent of Tala as bringer of good.

Dissecting the Kapampangan myth, I have suggested that Tala is associated with a epoch-making volcanic eruption involving the two peaks Pinatubo and Arayat. After this eruption, there is a political change in which one clan network emerges as victorious over another.

Probably due to the eruption itself, and the resulting clan warfare, both clans are dispersed broadly throughout the Nusantao maritime trade network. This dispersion actually acts in their favor and they gain control over vast reaches of this network. Both groups constantly fight over control over important trading routes and their conflict is coded in the mythology of this region and beyond.

Of these clan networks, one establishes itself in the region dominated by the sacred volcanoes. In doing so, it actually displaces the former ruling clan network, which becomes its main adversary.

That clans of the sacred mountain trace the descent of their priest-king lineage to Tala, the culture-bearing prince associated with the Morning Star and whose totemic symbol is the dog.

The idea of the celestial descent of a dog or dog-man is preserved near by in the Tinguian myth of Kimat, the lightning dog, who is sent by the Supreme sky god Kadlakan. Lightning is a common symbol of the descent of heavenly bodies to earth.

Tala may have been the name for a local Nusantao trading prince who helped transmit the knowledge of rice agriculture over vast expanses of the trade network. Whatver the case he is credited with bringing rice culture to the local area.

In many regional mythologies, we find the theme of a dog coming at the time of a great flood bringing knowledge of rice farming.

As the Nusantao greatly expanded their network geographically around this time (4th millennium BCE), I have suggested that these motifs spread also into other cultures.

For example, the dog is associated with Venus in many cultures spread from ancient Egypt to ancient Mesoamerica.

Furthermore the dog is closely linked with royal lineage in most of the same cultures. In Egypt, J. Griffiths suggests that the word anpu from which we get the name of the dog-god Anubis, means both "dog" and "king's son."

During the Pyramid Era, the king was said to have the body of Atum and the face of Anubis. When the king died and united with Ra, the sun god, he was said to take Anubis/Anpu with him on his neck.

In biblical literature, the Morning Star symbolizes both the princes Lucifer, expelled from heaven, and the Messiah.

Among the Dayak, the god-ancestor Mahatala may be related in some sense to Tala of Kapampangan myth. Mahatala actually refers in this case to the hornbill creator god who unites with the female watersnake, Jata. The union of the bird and dragon clans.

Tala is rather the son of the male rooster and the female dawn serpent.

Jata is linked with the Mountain of Gold, while Mahatala with the Mountain of Diamonds.

In comparison, Manalastas, the father of Tala, comes from the Mountain of the Moon, Pinatubo, while Munag Sumalâ, Tala's mother, hails from Arayat, the mount of her father, the sun god Apung Sinukuan.

Dayaks believe that Mahatala created the Sun and Moon from clay, the same clay later used to fashion sacred Dayak jars.

Alternatively, among the Ngaju of Borneo, Mahatala represents the Sun and the sacred spear, while Jata is the Moon and the sacred cloth.

After the union of the two, Mahatala is enthroned on the primeval mountain which is supported on the back of Jata. In the Kapampangan version, Tala, the prince arising from the union of dragon and bird clans, takes the throne over the holy mountains which rest on the back of the great dragon Apung Iru.

Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Sacramento