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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{One source|date=April 2020}}

In the mythology of the [[Wunambal]] people of northwestern Australia, '''Ungud''' is a [[snake]] god who is sometimes male, sometimes female and sometimes androgynous. He is associated with [[rainbow]]s by the fact Ungud may be a [[symbol|symbolic representation]] of rainbows and the fertility and erections of the tribe's [[shaman]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lurker |first=Manfred |title=Dictionary of gods and goddesses, devils and demons |date=1987 |publisher=Routledge and K. Paul |isbn=978-1-135-00102-5 |location=London |page=358 |oclc=823292643}}</ref> In the beginning, when only the sky and the earth existed, Ungud lived underground as a giant python. Ungud is associated with earth and water and is credited with causing rain to fall and also has connections with monsoons.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=O'Connor |first1=Sue |last2=Balme |first2=Jane |last3=Fyfe |first3=Jane |last4=Oscar |first4=June |last5=Oscar |first5=Mona |last6=Davis |first6=June |last7=Malo |first7=Helen |last8=Nuggett |first8=Rosemary |last9=Surprise |first9=Dorothy |date=2013-06-01 |title=Marking resistance? Change and continuity in the recent rock art of the southern Kimberley, Australia |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003598X00049115/type/journal_article |journal=Antiquity |language=en |volume=87 |issue=336 |page=543 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00049115 |s2cid=163092229 |issn=0003-598X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> At night, Ungud and Wallanganda, the sky deity (associated with the [[Milky Way]]), created living beings through their [[Dreamtime|dreams]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of world mythology|date=2000|publisher=Dempsey Parr|editor=Cotterell, Arthur |isbn=0-7550-0063-3|location=Bath, UK|pages=239|oclc=46836408}}</ref> The [[Mother goddess|Mother Goddess]] [[Kunapipi]] who is also at times is called the [[Kunapipi|Old Woman]] is connected to Ungud. The Rainbow Serpent made paths for her to walk around creation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leeming |first=David Adams |title=Sex in the world of myth |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-78914-034-7 |publisher=Reaktion Books |location=London |page=176 |oclc=1048922298}}</ref> Both The mother goddess and Rainbow serpent are the embodiment of creative powers that live within the earth.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dupré |first=Wilhelm |title=Religion in primitive cultures : a study in ethnophilosophy |date=1975 |publisher=Mouton |isbn=978-3-11-087005-3 |location=The Hague |page=98 |oclc=841172273}}</ref> Through Ungud Dreaming itself into new forms natural species making it part of what life is based on becoming an archetype of life.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sahlins |first=Marshall |date=2017 |title=The original political society |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.14318/hau7.2.014 |journal=HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=108 |doi=10.14318/hau7.2.014 |s2cid=148775099 |issn=2575-1433|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Only a few places in Australia is the [[Rainbow Serpent]] has any real impact outside of [[Ritual|rites]] and precautions to avoid attacks that being tribes along the Northern coast which it does affect how the tribes organize socially<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buchler |first=Ira R. |title=The Rainbow Serpent : a chromatic piece |date=1978 |publisher=Mouton |others=Kenneth Maddock, Charles P. Mountford, International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences |isbn=978-3-11-080716-5 |location=The Hague |page=76 |oclc=561922860}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Dhakhan]]
*[[Galeru]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Androgynous and hermaphroditic deities]]
[[Category:Fertility deities]]
[[Category:Rain deities]]
[[Category:Rainbow serpent deities]]


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