Bathala

Category
MYTHOLOGY

Language
TAGALOG

In the indigenous religion of the ancient Tagalogs, Bathala/Maykapal was the transcendent Supreme God,[1] the originator and ruler of the universe. He is commonly known and referred to in the modern era as Bathala, a term or title which, in earlier times, also applied to lesser beings such as personal tutelary spirits, omen birds, comets, and other heavenly bodies which the early Tagalog people believed predicted events. It was after the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines in the 16th century that Bathala /Maykapal came to be identified with the Christian God, hence its synonymy with Diyos. Over the course of the 19th century, the term Bathala was totally replaced by Panginoon . It was no longer used until it was popularized again by Filipinos who learned from chronicles that the Tagalogs' indigenous God was called Bathala.[2]

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