Verse:Yunyalīlta

The Yunyalīlta ([ˌjunjaˈɴ̆ʲiːɴ̆ta], Chlouvānem for "nature's path"), also referred to, amongst others, as lañšilīlta (braid path) or camilīlta (the great path), is the Chlouvānem people's traditional religion, the state religion in the lands of the Chlouvānem Inquisition, majority religion in a number of countries of Márusúturon, including notably iKalurilut, Brono, Fathan, and Gorjan, and also a minority in communities scattered across the planet, notably in most of Márusúturon, parts of Evandor (with a particularly strong presence in southwestern Holenagika), eastern Védren, Queáten, and parts of Ogúviutón.

The Yunyalīlta was born in the late First Era (following the Lällshag-Chlouvānem calendar) in the areas of the southeastern part of the Great Chlouvānem Plains around Lake Lūlunīkam (present-day Galiākñijātia, Lgraṃñælihaikā, Nanašīrama, and Kanyāvālna, which are herefore considered the cradle of Chlouvānem culture) through the teachings of the Chlamiṣvatrā Lelāgṇyāviti who, after, according to chronicles (many details are, however, inconsistent), a difficult childhood and youth, conceived her life philosophy which she taught to peoples in the various multicultural villages of the Plains of that era - her teachings were the key factor in the birth of the Chlouvānem people as a new, métis ethnicity, from the many different peoples of the late First Era Eastern Plains.
About a hundred years after the physical death of the Chlamiṣvatrā, Yunyalīlti preachers called murkadhānai (sg. murkadhāna) founded a congregation called murkadhānāvi - known in translation as the Chlouvānem (or Yunyalīlti) Inquisition, still existing today as the institution that controls the teaching of the Yunyalīlti doctrine all around Calémere and acts as the ruling body of the theocratic country known, metonymically, as the Chlouvānem Inquisition, the largest country on the planet. The founding of the Inquisition marks the beginning of the Second Era of the Chlouvānem calendar.

Throughout this whole article, unless differently specified, Yunyalīlti concepts will be presented according to the Chlouvānem tradition. Even if the doctrine is controlled by the Inquisition, rites in the various Yunyalīlti areas vary, as do cultural implications which arose through syncretism with pre-Yunyalīlti religious forms and practices; this applies even to the core Chlouvānem area. Concepts typical of a certain, non-Chlouvānem Yunyalīlti tradition, will be presented, if necessary, with their native terms. Terms are cited in Chlouvānem and, if a faithful translation is possible, in English; terms for Yunyalīlti concepts in languages different from Chlouvānem are usually phonologically adapted loans - cf. Lillamurḍhyā being iqaLilamutiiaa in saKalurilut, Liṅamotriyá in Bronic, and Ṅiṅamurdjiá in Holenagic amongst others.

Fundamental principles

The Yunyalīlta may be described as a nontheist or an animist religion: there is no notion of a God or Gods as omnipotent and supernatural beings that are above all, but nature (yunya) herself is treated as a godlike element. "Godlike" supernatural beings, incarnating various traits of the yunya, are however present in folklore and are most probably vague remnants of a pagan pre-Yunyalīlti shamanism.
The central focus of the Yunyalīlta is, however, the interaction between humans and the rest of the nature, as a subset of the interactions that living creatures (lileñšai, sg. lileñšah) make with all other existing creatures (jallašai, sg. jallašah) in this existential sphere (jallajāṇa).

Lillamurḍhyā

The central concept around which everything is based is the lillamurḍhyā. The exact definition of this concept is actually debated even among Inquisitors themselves, as it can mean either the utopian stage of perfect harmony inside nature where every single fundamental principle of goodness in acting is respected by a living creature's actions (the most commonly accepted interpretation), or what is done in order to ensure this state of things. Both interpretations may be accepted as correct, as this state is the ultimate goal for any person and every single creature's life is an attempt to keep this natural harmony.

According to the Chlamiṣvatrā, there is a distinction between different aspects of nature. Humans and the other intelligent species are considered a "partially flawed" creation, as they can drift away from the lillamurḍhyā: this is considered a weakness and something that humans have to actively avoid during their entire life.
To keep lillamurḍhyā, in the Chlamiṣvatrā's words (yamei chlamiṣvatrī hælinaika naviṣya, 3:9-10):

ridvūkire maiyai pridoldi garpirena tageranai mæn tatarlasyirįm : ostemimilkasyįm : garpyāvęs udvī lilah tomąu maišildṛneja lā demi mayį jaluṣyilden ।।

[we] have to know our flawed instinct's evil tendences, prevent them, and enhance the self by learning from who harmonically lives without evil.

Focal point of the "learning from who harmonically lives without evil" is the exhortation to humans not to waste materials as humans can't stop accumulating things far more than necessary. The path to keep the state of lillamurḍhyā happens by the means of three important qualities called lailādumbhāšanai (sg. lailādumbhāšanah, lit. "that which brings to a well-lived life"): self-restraint (demitadmālas), moral discipline (nailīglidaranah), and knowledge (tarlā).

Lillamurḍhyā may also be explained as "harmony of everything" or, in a human perspective, "state of least impact". According to this interpretation, humans are the most flawed part of nature and to harm is their own character, so that they need to reach the state where they harm (or, in other terms, impact) the least on the other faces of nature. This is a more recent interpretation, pioneered in the early part of the Third Era by the monks of Yælklintas Monastery in the Southern Far East.

Some philosophers, notably the monks of Vīramāṇaka Monastery in the Western Plain, consider yunya and lillamurḍhyā to be essentially the same thing, lillamurḍhyā being the main, abstract concept and yunya being its tangible state. The term lillamurḍhyāyunya refers to this interpretation.

The Sacred Disciplines

All Yunyalīlti practices are based on five "disciplines" that, by means of the lailādumbhāšanai, lead to keep the state of lillamurḍhyā. These disciplines are called brausadarenyāvai (sg. 'brausadarenyāva, lit. "sacred discipline") or, especially in earlier texts, lailālętaivai (sg. lailālętaivah, "pillar of a well-lived life"). They are the following:

• faṣṭišam "weakness": humans are inherently weak and inferior to other fellow living creatures, therefore in order to act one has to keep in mind they are not superior to non-humans (as they cannot stray away from perfect harmony). Humans thus have to restrain from unnecessary killing or any other act of destruction or harm towards the rest of the yunya. This is a form of demitadmālas (self-restraint).
• yuninailī "natural mind": survival instinct is natural, exploitment isn't. Yuninailī means not exploiting nature (including fellow lillamurḍhyādhaus to obtain more than what is needed; this is thus a form of both self-restraint and moral discipline. A strongly related concept is the one of gomaimiąryāva, meaning that those actions that are considered good are natural ones only: those that pure, non-flawed organisms do. Not acting that way is considered detrimental in the long term to the lillamurḍhyā.
• nailīlāṇa "group of minds": often described as the most intuitive thing to be interpreted from the concept of lillamurḍhyā, the nailīlāṇa concept highlights how every thing done does not only affect who does it, but also the nature around it. Acting selfishly is thus a grave "sin", because only by acting towards the lillamurḍhyā - that is, aiming at causing the least possible harm - it is possible to really make something good, both for oneself and the others. Most post-Chlamiṣvatrā interpretations define every single life form as a unified entity that acts towards the lillamurḍhyā, which means that everyone has the same ultimate goal and going against this common goal is the worst possible thing to do.
• miąrvirdas "right violence": the original meaning of "right violence" as meant by the Chlamiṣvatrā was that, in some cases, violence is just a natural feature of beings and it is impossible to keep living without being violent when needed, as it is a reaction dictated by one's own survival instinct. This, herefore, is strictly connected to the concept of yuninailī. Violence must thus be right, with survivalism as its main goal: miąrvirdas herefore means that one must be strong and follow the natural survival instinct.
  In Inquisitorial times, this concept has been more strongly linked to the nailīlāṇa: as the collective goal of everyone is to maintain the lillamurḍhyā, who does not act towards this goal is an enemy of everyone and a threat to the whole community. The main instrument of miąrvirdas is thus the ḍāṣṭhirāṣa, the killing of heretics.
• lillanah "believing" (or "faith"): being faithful and believing in the virtues of how one acts is the key to self-development, as it makes human beings - who are, as for the concept of faṣṭišam, naturally weak - aware of what they do and of how they have to act. According to the Chlamiṣvatrā, "the one who believes in the good of what he does is more rightful than the one who, randomly, does a good thing" (yamei Chlamiṣvatrī hælinaika naviṣya, 7:19).

The Leading Words

The brausadarenyāvai are *not* fundamental behaviour rules, but the few "commandments" that are part of Yunyalīlti doctrine are readily derived by their interpretations. These are called tulьjimaivai (sg. tulьjimaiva "leading word(s)") and are not presented as fixed rules - if they are, it's because Inquisitorial laws agree with them -, being instead only explained during a dialogue where the Chlamiṣvatrā answers the questions of the dwellers of a lakeshore village (this is the first chapter of the Third Book of the Chlamiṣvatrā (yamei Chlamiṣvatrī pāmvende naviṣya)). Once again, it should be noted that the Chlamiṣvatrā never wanted to declare her words as laws, instead she tried to make the people themselves aware of how, in her opinion, the best possible society could be created; the way tulьjimaivai are expressed is no exception, as Lelāgṇyāviti only talks about she, on her own, behaved in order to live in a way respectful to the Yunya.
The present day interpretation of tulьjimaivai as absolute rules is Inquisitorial, derived by how the Inquisition frequently only considers the Chlamiṣvatrā's interpretation (or, sometimes, its own) as orthodox.

The four main tulьjimaivai are:

• gošopranah "un-killing": a Yunyalīlti must not kill a righteous being if it is not forced to do it in order to survive. This does not, according to the Inquisition, apply to killing heretics, as they are not righteous beings and in that case killing them is a mandatory act (called ḍāṣṭhirāṣa or delkhāmima).
• govivāmeya "restraint from superfluous things": one of the most important, if not the most important aspect in order to understand Chlouvānem culture. Particularly emphasized everywhere in the Yunyalīlta is how everything that is superfluous is harmful to natural harmony. The first explanation given by the Chlamiṣvatrā is that species such as humans are inferior because they can't control their capacities and their objectively superior intelligence becomes a downside as they show their intelligence by claming they are superior as a whole - but they show this apparent superiority by accumulation of superfluous things which do not have a real utility towards the lillamurḍhyā. In fact, to keep more for oneself means to not leave it available to other elements of nature - this, according to the principle of nailīlāṇa, is an ultimately harmful behaviour. The concept of govivāmeya is extremely influential in every aspect of Chlouvānem, Bronic, and Kalurilut society, and is what contributes to the huge cultural and economical differences (for the latter, think of "luxury goods", which are an unknown concept in Yunyalīlti societies) between them and the Western Bloc.
  Historians, both Western and Eastern ones, consider govivāmeya to be the key concept Chlouvānem civilization was founded and developed on.
• bobhyāva "humility": to overrate oneself is a wrong mistake as it is a disruption of the "group of minds", as well as being an action that goes against the principle of gomaimiąryāva. Being humble is how people can keep working together to strive towards natural harmony, as, according to the Chlamiṣvatrā, what is worthy of being noticed will be noticed anyway without external influence or "advertising".
• demikaminairīvyanah "self-study" (or demyāndaranah "self-construction"): in other words, this concept underlines that a person never ceases to learn throughout its bodily life. Learning about oneself and one's own interactions with the rest of nature is the key towards fighting "the darkness of ignorance" and be able to properly aim towards lillamurḍhyā.

Syncretist beliefs

Due to the mostly philosophical nature of the Yunyalīlta, it rarely completely destroyed preexisting cults or religion, as these remained in some way as a substrate to the faith. This is notably the case even in the Chlouvānem tradition, as the pre-Yunyalīlti shamanist cults remained as an important folkloric element, albeit reïnterpreted in order to agree with the Yunyalīlta.
This is noticeable even in the Chlouvānem language, as the former word for "shaman", vālireh (from a common Proto-Lahob root *wāʕirer, cf. Łaȟ. vor, Yeł. Lawo lwara "shaman") came to mean "deacon" - a layperson working for Inquisitors (the current Chlouvānem term for "shaman", kanurmāka, is a Kalurilut borrowing (from kanurmaaq), but "shaman" in the context of the pre-Yunyalīlti Plain is translated as vālireh). Among languages of other Yunyalīlti traditions, for "deacon", Bronic and saKalurilut borrowed the Chlouvānem word (valire, kauaalire), while Skyrdagor uses the same word used for Jeranist priests' servants (zythygro), as does Holenagic but with Aselist "deacons" (siuiliuht, from Late Íscégon ciúliuten, ultimately from Ancient Nivarese kylhosen).

While the Yunyalīlta is nominally an atheist religion, both the Yunya and the Chlamiṣvatrā Lelāgṇyāviti are represented and referred to as godlike. The Yunya is described as a sacred mother, that is everything and must not be betrayed, for there would be nothing if there were not nature.
The Chlamiṣvatrā is represented and usually thought of as a god more than as a person (completely unlike what she herself said, despite it being clearly written in the Holy Books), with a knowledge above the one of any other person; she is also the most important figure in Chlouvānem identity, being often referred to as "mother of all Chlouvānem" - for Chlouvānem civilization was only able to form after the Chlamiṣvatrā "awakened and enlightened" people.

Afterlife and rebirth

The Yunyalīlta as preached by the Chlamiṣvatrā, born as a philosophy more than as a religion, does not speak on the theme of afterlife and rebirth: there is no mention to them in the Books of the Chlamiṣvatrā and, despite a few mentions in the Lallaṣvatrāṇāveyai, there is no general consensus on the theme, with different monastic currents having their own beliefs.

The common (non-monastic) Yunyalīlta considers the being to be the soul (devoe), and not the body (mædhram), which is just the vehicle that souls use to fulfill the Yunya's tasks. When the body dies, righteous souls - those who have not acted against the Yunya - remain in this world as paṣlilendevenī (sg. paṣlilendevoe, literally "soul(s) beyond life"), who are basically spirits who, invisible to those souls who inhabit a living body, wander around as "little helping spirits" (there is no general consensus on what they actually do), waiting to be reborn. According to most people, fetuses are not alive when they start to form, because they lack a soul - it is when paṣlilendevenī help, or come in contact in some way, with a pregnant woman that they "choose" the soon-to-be-born as their new body; stillborn children are those that couldn't get any paṣlilendevoe into them.

Sacred texts

The fundamental texts of the Yunyalīlti religion are the Holy Books (sg. brausanaviṣya, pl. brausanaviṣyai), which also make up the Constitution - or, better said, its equivalent as a fundamental law - of the Lands of the Chlouvānem Inquisition. The most important among the holy books are the three Books of the Chlamiṣvatrā (yamei Chlamiṣvatrī naviṣyai), which collect everything Lelāgṇyāviti said during her teachings; the Third Book also includes chronicles about her life.

In order of importance, after the Books of the Chlamiṣvatrā, come the Lallaṣvatrāṇāveyai (sg. Lallaṣvatrāṇāvi), the "words of the Great Masters (lallaṣvatrai)": these are texts written during the Second Era where some themes treated in the Books of the Chlamiṣvatrā are explained further and where are also treated various concept of maišāyikā (philosophy) and špeisātarlā (ethics). The other Holy Books, according to Chlouvānem tradition, include the two Books of Chants (yamei laiji naviṣyai), which include the main liturgical chants, and the two Books of Community (yamei lilālāṇi naviṣyai, literally "books of living beings", defining people who really live as Yunyalīlti people, contrasting with the "non-life" (for it is wrong and harmful) or heretics), containing the principle norms the Yunyalīlti community adheres to. All of these books are considered sacred by all Yunyalīlti currents. In some secular countries where the Yunyalīlta is followed by a sizable minority of people (most notably all of Greater Skyrdagor), personal matters among people of this community may be judged partially according to these books.

The Preachers' Book (yamei khlakullaili naviṣya), mainly a historical text about the very first preachers after the Chlamiṣvatrā Lelāgṇyāviti, is sacred in the Chlouvānem, Bronic, and Holenagic currents but not in the Skyrdegan and Kalurilut ones. Its continuation, the Book of the Inquisition (yamei murkadhānāvīyi naviṣya) is only sacred in the Chlouvānem tradition, as are the Sacred Encyclicals (brausirena yaivjātietadholtiė) - a.k.a. Book of the Sacred Encyclicals (yamei brausirena yaivjātietadhaulti naviṣya) -, a collection of encyclicals of particular theological, philosophical, or liturgical importance, usually encyclicals written in particularly important historical moments and later santified by later Great Inquisitors. The Book of the Sacred Encyclicals is the only holy book that is periodically updated and changed, by adding new relevant encyclicals and, sometimes, by removing some that have become obsolete in the meantime; this revision process is carried out by a special tribunal, whose members are chosen by the Inquisitorial Conclave.

Also considered important but not sacred, in the Inquisition, are the Books of Law (kūmarṇaviṣyai): as the Lands of the Chlouvānem Inquisition are a theocratic country where religious laws apply, the most important ones are written in the holy books, while the Books of Law are used as an "addendum", collecting all laws that need to be written. Anyway, many parts of the Books of Law are chronicles of uses, in Inquisitorial tribunals, of interpretations already included among the Lallaṣvatrānāveyai or in the Book of the Inquisition. Obviously, this one is the only main Yunyalīlti book which is not recognized at all outside the Chlouvānem Inquisition.

Spread

Currents

The Yunyalīlta is a fairly unified religion but, for it is often more of a philosophy rather than a religion in our sense, there are different currents depending on the area it is followed in. Anyway, most followers, independent of their current, identify the Inquisition as the defender of the faith. The principal currents are:

• Chlouvānem Yunyalīlta (Chl.: Chlouvānumi yamei Yunyalīlta or more simply yamei Yunyalīlta: it is the main current, followed in the Lands of the Chlouvānem Inquisition and in most of the scattered smaller communities, including ethnically Chlouvānem settlements across the former Kaiṣamā.
• Kalurilut Yunyalīlta (Kal.: ruIunialiinnga ngaSulurilut): it is the Yunyalīlti current followed in iKalurilut and parts of the former Kaiṣamā - notably Leny-tḥewe and Ebed-dowa - and Ylvostydh in Greater Skyrdagor.
• Bronic Yunyalīlta (Bro.: Trangá siYonye fa Baroánoa; Fth.: Rhaŋá sheu-Yony fə-Fathəŋeu): the current followed in Brono, Fathan, parts of southern Skyrdagor, most of Gorjan, and parts of the Chlouvānem area around the former Bronic city of Moamatempony—Måmatempuñih.

These three currents are those that are followed by the majority of people in at least one country (the Chlouvānem Inquisition, iKalurilut, Gorjan, Brono, and Fathan). There are at least two other major currents from other areas:

• Skyrdegan Yunyalīlta (Sky.: Junjasz fezseskjely e-Skyrdeganok [ˈjunjəs ˈfɛʒəɧjɛl(ɨ) e ɧɯ˞de(ː)ˈnok]): it is the current followed in the countries of Greater Skyrdagor (except most of those in Gorjan, who follow a Bronic rite, and in Ylvostydh, who follow a Kalurilut rite), with important influences from Jeranism, the traditional Skyrdegan religion, with which it is often syncretic.
• Holenagic Yunyalīlta (Hol.: qorhdof e Njunja e Ṅoailnaigkäe): it is the current of a small but influent minority in the southwestern part of Holenagika, which saw for some time in the mid-late Third Era some Chlouvānem commercial outposts which became also culturally influent in most of the populated parts of the island. It coexists with Aselism, the typical religion of Western Calémerian countries, which has a particular, Yunyalīlti-influenced rite on the island. The community has seen some stigmatization and persecution in the last century, however, as the nationalist dictator Uiskehg Ohdsqoaihd ([ˈuʃkeː ˈojsqɔj]), who carried out the three Northern Wars in Evandor and later allied with the Nāɂahilūma-led Chlouvānem during the deadly East-West Global War against other Evandorian countries, was a member of this community and built his ideology of Holenagic racial supremacy basing it on extremist interpretations of Yunyalīlti themes.