Significance of the Djanggawul

Djanggawul, used collectively, is a name given to three Ancestral Beings; alternatively, it may be Djangga or Djangg’gau. Usually it refers to two Sisters and a Brother, although in the Milingimbi version the latter is not mentioned. ¹ In north-eastern Arnhem Land, as in the version presented in this volume, the Brother and his two Sisters are always represented. The Brother, known by himself as Djanggawul, is also called, less frequently, Ganjudingu. ² His ‘inside’ ³ name is Gundanguru, which means the ‘nail’ or spike of a ‘nail’ fish; an alternative ‘inside’ name is Balwadjar, which has a similar meaning. The elder Sister is Bildjiwuraroiju (or Bildjiwuraru), a name derived from the sacred term duldjijuldji, meaning the point of the sacred mauwulan rangga emblem. ⁴ She has the alternative names of Reiwurjun, meaning, ‘getting tired (after long paddling)’, and referring to the Djanggawul’s paddling from Bralgu to the Australian mainland; and of Ganinjara, which means also the point of the mauwulan (its point enters her vagina, for the mauwulan is a symbolic penis). The younger Sister is usually called Miralaidj, Malalait or Mandalaidj, which means the ‘younger’ green-backed turtle called deirei. She is also called Djurdjunga, ‘clouds coming up’, or Balmabalma, which means a ‘sacred shade’ used on the ritual nara ground; this latter has the ‘inside’ name Mal’marangu.