Someone Else to Take Her Place

Inanna was allowed to leave the dreaded Underworld on one condition: that she found another willing to take her place. This is the story of how the demons accompanied her as she looks for a replacement.

As Inanna ascended from the Underworld with the galla, the demons in tow, she found Ninshubur waiting outside. Still dressed in her mourning attire of a single coarse garment, she threw herself at her mistress’s feet, weeping.

‘Ah . . . maybe she can take your place,’ hissed the galla in Inanna’s ear.

‘Not she, my faithful companion,’ replied Inanna. ‘Can’t you see how she has mourned for me? For me, she has sought the help of the gods and has always kept my counsel. She is too precious for me to give up.’

‘Then walk on, let us see who can take your place,’ said the galla as the group made their way to the holy cities where the gods dwelt. First they came upon the shrine of Umma, which was the seat of Shara, the son of Inanna. He too was dressed in soiled sackcloth mourning his mother. On seeing her accompanied by the macabre apparitions, he too fell at her feet and wept.

‘Your son Shara! We’ll take him instead. He looks like he’ll be glad to give up his life for you,’ whispered the galla in Inanna’s ear. ‘You dare not!’ screamed Inanna. ‘My dear son Shara, he sings me hymns, he combs my hair and cuts my nails. I will never allow you to take him.’

‘Proceed then, so we may find another,’ said the galla and they continued on their journey. Soon, they reached Badtibira where at the shrine they saw Lulal, another son of Inanna. Lulal, like his brother Shara, was grieving for his mother, attired similarly in tattered, dirty sackcloth. When he saw Inanna, he rushed to her and threw himself at the dust of her feet.

‘Oh! Yet another child of yours who weeps at your plight! Shall we take this one?’ asked the galla.

‘No!’ cried Inanna. ‘Not my dear son Lulal! He is a leader among men. He is my right arm and my left arm. I shall never give him up.’

‘Then let’s walk to your city of Uruk, Inanna. We’ll go with you to the big apple tree there,’ said the galla.

As they came to the city of Uruk, they saw Dumuzi, Inanna’s shepherd husband, clad in royal finery, seated on his magnificent throne by the big apple tree. He did not notice them and continued to play his reed pipe. Evidently, he did not miss his wife or mourn her passing.

If you remember, Inanna was not too impressed with this shepherd husband of hers in the first place. It was her brother, the sun god Utu, who had chosen this groom for his sister. On seeing him, Inanna was enraged. Uttering curses, she looked upon him darkly and thundered, ‘Seize him! This man Dumuzi, my husband, who revels in playing king! He shall take my place!’

The galla sprang upon Dumuzi. They emptied the milk from his seven churns (he was a shepherd, remember?) and broke his reed pipe. They beat him up and wounded him with axes. Dumuzi screamed in pain and called out to his brother-in-law Utu for help.

‘Oh Utu, the great god of justice! Save me, the husband of your sister! Turn my feet into the feet of a snake, turn my hands into snake hands, so that I may get away from the clutches of these evil demons who will drag me to hell!’

Utu, in his mercy, transformed Dumuzi into a serpent and thus, he was able to wriggle himself free of the galla and escape. On the advice of his sister Geshtinanna, Dumuzi hid in the home of a friend. But unfortunately for him, the friend betrayed him when the galla bribed him with the gift of water and the gift of grain.

As the galla closed in on Dumuzi, once again he invoked Utu, who turned him into a gazelle so that he could flee as quickly as possible.

No place is safe, thought Dumuzi and hid in the sheepfold in his sister Geshtinanna’s dwelling. But the galla came for him there too and this time there was no escape.

Geshtinanna wept inconsolably at the passing of Dumuzi. When Inanna saw the sister’s grief, she was moved to pity. ‘Please, Inanna, I would gladly take my brother’s place . . . I would, I would,’ cried Geshtinanna.

‘So be it,’ decreed Inanna in her compassion. ‘Half a year Dumuzi will spend in the Underworld and the remainder of the year you shall take his place.’ Thus it came to be—Dumuzi would die in the spring, a time of the year when grain is harvested. And, when he rose in autumn, his sister Geshtinanna would take his place.