Baranxi
In the pantheon of Ēmandē, Baranxi is one of the supreme deities. He is the son of Mēlēja and Marxi. Although he is usually represented as being omnipotent, he is especially the god of the circle of life, including fertility, health and disease, death, knowledge and love. Although not married himself, he is nevertheless also the patron of marriage.
Baranxi is portrayed as a rather human god, full of emotions, but also the wisest and most knowledgeable of all gods. He is depicted usually hiding himself behind wide dark green robes, his eyes often obscured. He carries a staff made from either an ash or an oak tree, and he is accompanied by his faithful cat Sami, sitting on his shoulder, and the tigress Zihana, standing next to him.
Contents
Historical Background
The historical background of Baranxi is not clear at all. He seems to be the product of a merger of a number of deities from different religions, and it remains highly debated where his exact origins lie, which part of his story was imported to Baranxtuan Religion and if he even is indigenous to it.
Etymology
The problems already start with the name Baranxi. It is not analyzable as a Meleiyan word, and modern Baranxeï words known to be related to the name are derived from it (as for example ranhia (disease) ).
It is however widely suggested that Baranxi is derived from either Padnkeheim (the name of a forerunner of Baranxi) or Balanoguhe (a Nidajan god of disaster); the earliest attested form of Baranxi appears around 900BCE, written as pā-taū-ẽ-ge-hī and probably pronounced /pA.4aUG.hi/ (the knowledge about the pronunciation of this language - Ilatemaian - is shaky, as it was written in a syllabary adopted from another language that did not really fit Ilatemaian phonology).
In later times, when Ilatemaian was written using a new, better suiting syllabary, the name appears as <pa-dau’n-k0-hi>, pronounced /pA.daUn.k_hI/, which gave rise to Early Baranxeï Badankji and ultimately Baranxi.
Origin
Although the exact origin of Baranxi is not clear as well, it is at least a little more transparent than his name.
As a part of the Second and Third Generation of Gods (Majeðυa), a predecessor of him was likely already part of the pantheon of the Proto-Meleiyans, the predecessors of the Baranxtuan people. The probably oldest and most original glimpse of Baranxi can be seen in the story describing how the Majeðυa appeared at the First Divine City. In its oldest surviving version, it simply says that
'And behind the Maušaā Lanhωanartā (black-clad distributor) stood the Hum Minhā (blue spirit) and looked up and said "I am the Hum Minhā, so let us enter." And then the Hum Minhā smiled.'
In later versions, 'Hum Minhā' is usually replaced by 'Baranxi'. It should also be noted that grammatically Hum Minhā is neutral, which in turn indicates that originally, Baranxi was either sexless or intersexed.
It thus appears as if the most original indigenous version of Baranxi was either a sky or water deity (or both); the fact that minhā is also the source of the name of Maña strongly supports the latter theory. Indeed, it appears that Majja and Baranxi are so strongly linked together because they were derived from the same source; it is supposed that later the Hum Minhā was split into a god (Humki Minhai) and a goddess (Minhā). Whereas Minhā later developed into Majja with her convoluted backstory, Humki Minhai is usually seen as being indeed the forerunner of Baranxi.
At some point, Humki Minhai merged with a probably non-Meleiyan fertility deity (possibly Talitrian Padnke) and took over the role that had previously been assigned to Baðηχi, the First Generation God of wisdom. In this form, he is called Padnkeheim.
His backstory of being the son of Marxi, the god of fire, is very likely imported from the story of the Nidajan god of disaster, Balanoguhe. He was born out of the fire, and is armed with a staff carved out of an ash tree. When the Meleiyans merged him Balanoguhe with Padnkeheim, they created what many call the modern form of Baranxi.
Interpretation
Mythological Background
As Baranxtuan Religion is relatively old, there are many, sometimes conflicting versions of a number of stories. The overview given here uses officially approved sources and tries to be as exact as possible.
Birth and Childhood
One day, before the Majeðυa had revealed themselved to the other gods, Mēlēja was looking for wood to build a house when she cam across a bamboo grove whose spirit, Žβari, wouldn't let her pass. And when she tried to go around it, the spirit of the surrounding meadow, Žajugη, didn't allow her to pass, as well. She was the wife of the bamboo grove and they were looking for a bride for her brother, the brush spirit Žajunimi.
As she was trapped, Mēlēja had to agree. The day before her wedding were to take place, however, she went into the desert to meditate. There, she met the fire spirit Marxi, who agreed to help her. On her wedding night, he burned down the bamboo grove and the brush, killing Žβari and Žajunimi, which drove Žajugη into suicide. Mēlēja and Marxi, however, eventually fell in love; their union produced one child, Baranxi.
Baranxi was born in winter, and the moment he entered the world, outside the room he was born in all trees and flowers started to blossom and a sweet smell hung in the air.
After Mηlηja had blessed her son, Marxi gave him a fire that seared all falsehood, his older sister Atamja gave him an emerald that could shake the earth and his sister Ašygena gave him his ash staff and a bow.
