Bila (also occasionally rendered Belah[1][2]) is the personification of the Sun among the Adnyamathanha people. She is a solar goddess, as befitting the general trends among Australian aboriginal peoples, which largely perceive the Sun as female.[3]
Bila is said to be a cannibal, roasting her victims over a fire, the origin of sunlight. To do this, she sent black and red dogs to drag her victims, resulting even in an entire village being slaughtered.[4] In a myth, the Lizard Men Kudnu ("Goanna")[5] and Muda ("gecko")[6] were appalled by these acts and attacked, prompting her to flee and cast the world in darkness. He then used a boomerang, catching her and making her move in a slow arc across the sky as it returned, it illuminating the world. For this act of heroism, lizards like goannas and geckos are respected by the Adnyamathanha.[7][8]
A similar, albeit likely unrelated myth, occurs in Woodlark Island.[9]
See also
References
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