Maban

Last updated January 07, 2026

Maban, mabain or mabanba is a material that is held to be magical in some Australian Aboriginal mythology. It is the material from which the shamans and elders of Indigenous Australia supposedly derive their magical powers.^[1]

Among the Ngaanyatjarra people, practitioners are known as maparn or maparnjarra.

References

↑ Mudrooroo (1996). "Maban reality and shape-shifting the past: Strategies to sing the past our way". Critical Arts. 10 (2): 1–20. doi:10.1080/02560049685310111.

A. P. Elkin (1973). Aboriginal Men of High Degree: Initiation and Sorcery in the World's Oldest Tradition. Inner Traditions.
Munn, Nancy D. (1984). "The Transformation Of Subjects Into Objects in Walbiri and Pitjantjartjara Myths." In: M. Charlesworth, H. Morphy, D. Bell and K. Maddock, Eds. Religion in Aboriginal Australia: An Anthology. St. Lucia, Queensland: University Of Queensland Press.

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[1] Mudrooroo (1996). "Maban reality and shape-shifting the past: Strategies to sing the past our way". Critical Arts. 10 (2): 1–20. doi:10.1080/02560049685310111.

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