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« on: June 25, 2019, 04:05:23 PM »
The following Buriat tale gives a description of the con- fining and liberating of the heavenly lights, a theme greatly favoured in the stories of many peoples. When Heaven and earth through the intermarriage of their children became re- lated to one another, the “ Lord of the Earth ” once made a visit to the god of Heaven. On leaving he begged for the sun and the moon as presents. The god of Heaven, who wished to observe the sacred customs of hospitality, dared not refuse, and the w Lord of the Earth ” took the lights of the sky with him and shut them into a box. Then all nature be- came dark. The god of Heaven had no other resource than to turn to the porcupine, asking him to help by, bringing back the sun and the moon. The porcupine agreed to try and made a visit to the “Lord of the Earth.” When the guest was about to depart, the host asked him what gift- he wished as a token of hospitality. “ Give me the mirage-horse and the echo-spear,” answered the porcupine, and as the “ Lord of Earth ” could not fulfil so difficult a wish he gave his guest the sun and the moon. The porcupine put the lights back in their former orbits and the world became bright
* 14
again.
In the tales of Turco-Tatar peoples the porcupine appears as a wise and wily creature, sometimes as the inventor of fire, or the originator and teacher of agriculture.15 Seeing that this animal also occupies an important position in the beliefs of the ancient Iranians, one might assume that the above mentioned tales have come to Central Asia from them.
The Altaic Tatars describe the nature of the sun and the moon by relating how Otshirvani took fire, placed it on his sword and slung it in the sky, and thus created the sun, and how he made the moon by striking the water with his sword. The reason why daylight is burning hot, say the people, is that the sun is made of fire, whereas moonlight is cold because this star came out of the water.16 The Dolgans say that the sun was created in the day, the moon in the night.17 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
422
Most of the peoples of Turkish origin living in Siberia imagine, when addressing these heavenly lights, the sun to be feminine (Mother sun) and the moon masculine (Father moon, Old man moon). Often, especially in tales, we also hear of the Sun Khan and the Moon Khan. According to Chinese sources the Mongolian and the Old Turkish rulers used to worship the sun in the morning and the moon in the evening.18 The Chuvash until quite lately brought the Sun god white sacrifices. Concerning moon-worship we have not much other information than that it has been a custom to greet the new moon and to utter a wish that he would bring good luck and prosperity. The most northern peoples of Turkish origin, who have eagerly retained their old customs, do not sacrifice to the sun or the moon, although these orbs seem to have played an important part in the rites of the shamans. Yet both are considered by them to be living beings. They believe that the sun sees all that people do, and therefore often appeal to it: u May the sun see! ” or “ May the sun know! ” In swearing, the Yakut turns towards the sun and says: “ If I have made a wrong oath may, the sun refuse me light and warmth.” It is said that the Tungus believe the sun to watch their conduct and to punish their wicked actions.19
As is natural, the tribes of Turkish origin, like all other nations, keep account of time by the cycles of the sun and the changes of the moon. Plano Carpini says that the Mongolians never undertook a war expedition or any other important work except at the time of the new or the full moon. Weather prophesying by the sun is the same in Central and Northern Asia as in Europe. The Tungus and the Yenesei Ostiaks consider a ring round the moon in winter to be an omen of cold, in summer of rain, saying that the moon protects himself from the weather by making himself a tent. The Ostiaks on the Ob also know this saying.20
The spots on the sun and the moon, especially those on the latter, have always been interesting themes for tales among all THE STARS
423
peoples. The Yakuts tell of a poor orphan girl for whom life was so hard that the moon pitied her and determined to take her to him. One frosty night when the girl had gone out to get water the moon descended, raised the child to his breast, and ascended again to the heavens. Wherefore, we now see in the moon a girl bearing a yoke with two buckets on her shoulder. In other places there is a story, of two children, a brother and a sister, who, having gone out to fetch water, stayed to watch the moon until he became angry and snatched them to him. The Yakuts never allow their children to watch the full moon.21
The Buriats see more than a girl with her yoke and buckets in the moon. They see also a willow-bush. The girl had had a strict and hard-hearted step-mother, who once when the child was a long time fetching water cried to her in anger: “ Oh, that the sun and the moon took thee! ” When she was bearing water the girl saw the sun and the moon descending towards her. In her fright she grasped a willow-bush. When the sun was about to take her the moon said: u Thou walkest in the day and I in the night. Give the girl to me.” The sun agreed to the moon’s request, who immediately lifted up the child with buckets, bush and all. The Yakuts also know this tale in the same form.22
This tale about the water-fetcher, of which we find a variant in the Edda of Snorri, is very widely known in Asia and in Europe.
The Altai Tatars tell of the old man of the moon, who in former times lived on the earth and caused great havoc as a man-eater. The dwellers of Heaven wished to save the people and gathered together to take counsel. The sun said: a I would willingly descend to free the poor people from that monster were not my heat harmful to them.” On hearing this the moon remarked that they could well stand his coldness, and he descended to the earth, where he found the man-eater picking berries from a hawthorn. The moon at once seized SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
424
the wretch and his tree and returned to the sky, where the man-eater and the hawthorn can still be seen in the moon.83
The primitive peoples of the District of Turukhansk see a shaman with his drum in the moon. This formerly mighty man undertook to fight against the moon, but scarcely had he drawn near it before the moon made him its prisoner.24
The Mongolians and the peoples of the Altai imagined also that a hare dwelt in the moon.25
The waning of the moon is said by the Yakuts to be caused by wolves and bears eating its disc. Every time the moon has grown to its ordinary size the beasts again attack it.26
According to Buriat tales an eclipse of the sun or the moon takes place when a certain beast, which is ever persecuting the lights of the sky, swallows the sun and the moon. Once when this monster, Alkha, again darkened the world, the gods be- came so angry that they, cut his body in two. The hind part fell down, but the living forepart still haunts the sky. Every time Alkha now swallows stars they soon appear again, as the beast is unable to retain them in his body. The Buriats say that when Alkha is troubling the sun and the moon they pray for help, and the people have a custom of screaming and making a noise, throwing stones and even shooting up into the sky in order to drive away the monster.27
A tale recorded in another Buriat district relates that Arakho, as the beast is here called, f ormerly lived upon the earth and consumed the hairs off the people’s bodies, which at that time were quite hairy. Seeing this, God became angry and inquired of the moon Arakho’s hiding-place. On finding the beast he
struck it in two, and the living forepart is forever eating the
• 28 moon m consequence.
It is also told that Otshirvani, wishing to sweeten life for people and animals, let the sun and the moon prepare water of life, but Arakho drank it up and soiled the cup. Having inquired the beast’s dwelling-place from the moon, God hurried there and cut him in two. The forepart, having thus THE STARS 425
become immortal, pursues the moon. Some see the “ body ” of the monster in the moon-spots.29
The Arakho who causes eclipses of the sun and moon, and who has only a head but no body, is known to the Mongols also. The tale originates in India where the monster’s name is Rahu. Arakho and Alkha are corrupt variants of this name.
The conception prevalent among the peoples of North-East Asia that the persecutor of the lights of heaven is a dragon has come from China. The Altai Tatars say that the eclipse of the moon is the work of a man-eater living in a star. The Russian Tatars and the Chuvash speak of a vampire which sometimes swallows the sun and the moon but soon leaves them in peace again, as the stars begin to burn his mouth.
THE POLE STAR AND THE LITTLE BEAR
The significance of the Pole Star in the universe has al- ready been mentioned. The fact that other surrounding stars seem to circle round that “ golden ” or “ iron pole ” has given rise to a fancy that bonds exist between them. The Kirghis call the three stars of the Little Bear nearest the Pole Star, which form an arch, a “ rope ” to which the two larger stars of the same constellation, the two horses, are fastened. One of the horses is white, the other bluish-grey. The seven stars of the Great Bear they call the seven watchmen, whose duty it is to guard the horses from the lurking wolf. When once the wolf succeeds in killing the horses the end of the world will come.®0 In other tales the stars of the Great Bear are “ seven wolves ” who pursue those horses. Just before the end of the world they, will succeed in catching them.31 Some even fancy that the Great Bear is also tied to the Pole Star. When once all the bonds are broken there will be great dis- turbances in the sky. The Tatars by Minusinsk say that when the “seven dogs” are let loose the end of the world will come.32 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
4.26
The numerous tales about the one or more bound beasts, which are to be set free before the end of the world, were possibly originally similar star-myths. The Slavs have a story about a bound dog whose iron chains form the Little Bear. When the dog, who is ever endeavouring to bite his chains in two, once gets loose, the end of the world will be at hand.33
THE GREAT BEAR
Many North Siberian primitive peoples and even the Russians living in those parts call the Great Bear a u stag.” The Samoyeds of the District of Turukhansk fancy that the Pole Star is a hunter chasing the stag and trying to kill it.34 The Yenisei Ostiaks see a stag and three hunters in this con- stellation. The stars forming the square are the stag, those in the arch the hunters, the first of these being a Tungus, the second a Yenesei Ostiak and the little star, Alcor, glimmering by his side, his kettle, the third a Russian. In addition, the three stars forming the forepart of the stag are also specially explained: one is the beast’s nose, the other two its ears.35 This same tale is known among the Tungus of that district and it is possible that even the following Yakut variant, which is said in different places to refer to different stars, e.g., to Orion, also belongs to the same series. The Yakut variant is as fol- lows: Once upon a time three Tungus chased a stag up into the sky, where they wandered long in hunger. In the end one of the hunters died, but the other two, together with the stag and the dog, were changed into stars (the stag-star) .3S
For the sake of comparison it may be mentioned that even the Indians of North America see an animal in the Great Bear, usually a bear, with three hunters at his heels.37
The Buriats call the seven stars of the Great Bear a seven old men.” According to one tale they are the skulls of seven smiths. A hero once killed u seven blacksmiths ” and pre- pared from their skulls seven cups, out of which he gave his THE STARS
427
wife to drink until she was intoxicated. When she had drunk she threw the cups into the sky, where they formed the seven stars of the Great Bear. All blacksmiths are said to be under the protection of these stars.38
The Mongols, who also callthis constellation “the seven old men ” or “ the seven Burkhans,” sacrificed milk and kumiss and even devoted some domestic animals to it.39
Very widespread is a tale in which the “seven old men” or the “ seven Khans ” as they are also called, are accused of theft. The Mongols tell that “ the seven Burkhans ” stole a star from the Pleiades, which numbered seven before but are now only six. This little stolen star (Alcor) is to be seen close to the central star of the arch of the Great Bear. With the Mongols it has developed into the god of thieves, to whom these always call on their predatory excursions to give luck in their wickedness.40 It is in order to be revenged on the Great Bear, so say the Altai Tatars, that the Pleiades pursue the “ seven Khans ” although they never overtake them.41 The Kirghis also call the Great Bear “ the seven thieves,” and accuse them of having stolen one of the two daughters of the Pleiades.42 In Northern Caucasia .there is a tale of how a certain Khan left his child in the keeping of “ seven brothers ” and how they were already on their homeward journey when the Pleiades attacked them, wishing to kill the child, but the “ seven brothers ” succeeded in saving it.43
The tales about the “ seven brothers ” and their “ little sister ” who was taken up into the sky, belong to the same series. That the “seven old men” of the Buriats also are originally robbers of a star-maiden appears from the following story, which has been recorded among them. There was once upon a time a poor man who received the gift of understand- ing the speech of birds. One day, when he was resting under a tree he heard two ravens discussing how to heal the son of a Khan who had long lain ill. On hearing the method agreed upon by the ravens, he at once hurried to the Khan and healed 428 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
his son. Greatly thankful, the Khan presented him with seven steeds. On his homeward journey he met six men, each of whom attracted his attention in a peculiar way. The first was so strong that he could lift a mountain from the ground. The second had so keen a sense of hearing that he could tell what was happening under the earth. The third was an archer of such power that with his bow he could bring down a piece of the “ heavenly mountain.” The fourth was so clever with his hands that he easily transplanted the feathers from one kind of bird to another. The fifth was able to suck a whole river into his mouth and squirt it out again. The sixth was so nimble of foot that he outran a wild-goat on the prairie. These heroes now joined the poor man who understood the language of birds. Then the one who had the keen sense of hearing happened to hear how a certain Khan, wishing to choose a husband for his daughter, set all the suitors-elect three diffi- cult conditions to fulfill. The heroes, determining to try their luck, went, to the Khan and asked him for his daughter’s hand. Having easily fulfilled the most difficult tasks they took the maiden with them. The servants of the Khan pursued them, but the seven heroes escaped with their booty. In the end God took them up into the sky where they were changed into the Great Bear. The little star Alcor by the arch is the maiden whom they won.44 The same story-motif would seem to have been known to the ancient Greeks also. They told how Elek- tra, one of the seven Pleiades, who is said to have been the an- cestress of the Trojans, took the fall of Troy so much to heart that she left her original place in the Pleiades. Hence, ac- cording to them, this constellation now has only six stars. Elektra is said to have moved to the Great Bear where she now glimmers as a little star beside the central star of the arch. It is possible that the ancient Greeks had mixed up two tales, viz., that of the robbing of the maid who caused the Trojan war, and that of the robbing of the star, belonging to an earlier period. THE STARS 429
ORION
As with the Great Bear, a hunting-myth is also connected with Orion. Once upon a time, according to the Buriats, there lived a famous archer who hunted “ three stags ” and was just about to overtake them when the animals suddenly, rose into the sky. The hunter had time, however, to send an arrow after them. The stags then suddenly changed into the three stars of Orion (“the three stags ”), and a little lower down one can see the hunter’s arrow as a star in the sky.45
In the district of the Altai this tale has been taken down in various other forms also. The Teleuts tell of a hero named Kuguldei-Matyr who chased three stags on horseback. Hav- ing speeded to and fro over the earth in all directions without finding a resting-place, the animals at last sprang into the sky. But the hero followed at their heels, shooting at them with two arrows. His steed appears as a great star in the east, near the “ three stags ” (the belt of Orion), and there also are his two arrows, the one white, the other red. The latter, having passed through the bodies of the stags, is bloody. The hero himself has also become a large star.46
Another tale tells how God cursed this hunter, who had in- tended to kill all the stags on the earth, and therefore changed the “ three stags ” into the belt of Orion, around which hunter, steed, hound and arrows now twinkle as stars. Some see in Orion, besides the stags, a hunter, a hound, a hunting-hawk and arrows. Some speak of two hounds. Hunters are said to worship this archer-hero and to pray, to him for good luck in hunting.47
The Mongols also call the belt of Orion “ the three stags.” They see in addition, an archer, a horse, a hound and an arrow in this constellation.48 According to a Buriat tale this hero was born of a cow, and had a human head and a horse’s body.40
The Kirghis see in the belt of Orion three deer, the sur- rounding stars being the “ three hunters ” and their “ arrow.” SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
430
These hunters are said to have lived on the earth in former times, but as no animal could escape their well-aimed arrows God took the deer into the sky.50
The centaur of the Buriats brings into mind the ancient Greek tales in which Orion appears as a hero who was regarded as an exceedingly mighty hunter. The ancient Greeks be- lieved, like the Siberian Tatars, that this hero intended to de- stroy all the animals on the earth. “ The hunt of Orion ” was reflected in the sky, where the hunter had even a hound (Sirius) with him.
The Yenisei Ostiaks call Orion “ stag’s head.” Their ideas do not, however, appear to be connected with the series of myths just referred to. Thus they tell how this stag carried off a bride for the hero Alba.51 For the Yenisei Ostiaks, Orion, and not the Great Bear, is the maiden-robber. Ideas corre- sponding to this are found among other peoples.
Orion has also many names taken from objects. The most common of these are: “the scales ” or “the hand-scales” (Turkish, Kirghis, Tatar, Votiak, etc.) and “ the yoke ” (for buckets) (Volga Tatar, Cheremiss, Vogul, etc.).
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« on: June 25, 2019, 04:04:14 PM »
The same being was known to the Chuvash living on the Volga, in their belief that the god of Fate, Kaba, sends to the earth at the birth of each child a being called Püleh, who decrees the fate of the child and notes down its name. Having accomplished his task, he returns to heaven and relates the matter to the god of Fate.18 Possibly, the same being is to be SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
410
found in the Cheremiss “ Propounder of God,” to whom, when sacrificing to the Heaven god, a special offering is prepared, in order that he may lay before his master the troubles of the Cheremiss people.19 The Votiaks also, at their horse-sacri- fices, have a custom of sacrificing a goose, without knowing any longer to which deity it is intended, remarking only that the goose escorts the sacrificial horse to heaven.
In searching for the origin of the Writing god, we must turn again to the land of the twin rivers, where the art of writing was known earlier than elsewhere in Asia, and where, from ancient times, the Tables of Fate and the Book of Life were known. A god corresponding to the “ Writing man ” of the Ostiaks is also to be found among the ancient Babylo- nians, who call this scribe of the gods Nabu. As the writer of the Book of Fate he is pictured with an object resembling a pen in his hand and the art of writing is itself called “the wisdom of Nabu.” Among the planets he appears as Mercury. The same being is met with in another land where the art of writing was known, Egypt, where Thout is the counterpart of the Babylonian scribe. This ibis-headed deity is often pictured, like Nabu, with a tablet and writing materials in his hand.20
In addition to the groups of gods just mentioned, we meet in the mythology of Central Asia with more numerous groups, these forming also a closed ring, the origin of which the people can no longer explain. As in the Altaic tale of the Sumeru mountain, the thirty-three gods (Tengeri) believed to live on this world-mountain have come from India. Most prob- ably connected with these gods is the information given by Verbitskiy regarding the cosmos of the Altaic peoples, that “ in Heaven there are thirty-three discs, one higher than the other.”21
Three times greater is the crowd of Tengeri in the Buriat Heaven. These were divided either according to their disposi- tions into good and evil, or according to where their habitations
X
1
i
s. PLATE XLVII
Hides of Buriat Offerings (See page 404.) i THE SONS OF GOD 411
were supposed to be, into “western 55 and “ eastern.5* The
u western,55 friendly to man, were called a white 55 j the eastern, bringing all kinds of evil, fogs, diseases, and other misfortunes, were called “black55 Tengeri. Of the former there are fifty-five, of the latter forty-four. The Mongols have also known these ninety-nine Tengeri of Heaven. The Buriats relate how these gods, who formerly, lived in peace together, quarrelled among themselves. In the beginning there were then fifty-four western, good Tengeri and forty-four eastern, evil ones, one being on the border of each group but belonging to neither. Being in the minority, the a easterns55 begged this solitary god, the name of whom is said to have been Segen- Sebdek-Tengeri, to join their side, but the “ westerns 55 put up a resistance and tempted this god to their own side. In some districts the source of the disagreement, and even of the war among the gods, is mentioned as being the beautiful daughter of Segen-Sebdek-Tengeri, whom both groups passionately wished to own.22
That these ninety-nine gods are not the invention of either Buriats or Mongols, appears already from the fact that these peoples do not know the grounds for the above division, nor do the names given by the Buriats to these gods throw light on the question. To judge from all the data, this idea has arrived complete from elsewhere.
More difficult is the explanation as to how this fancy has originated. An idea has spread among the Altai Tatars, that besides this earth of ours, the smallest and lowest, there are ninety-nine other worlds.23 It is further related that when Ülgen thrust out the devil Erlik and his company from Heaven, Erlik pronounced the following words: “ Thou hast cast out my servants and myself from Heaven to the earth, these falling in forty-three different places. Therefore shall I send out these forty-three kinds of servants (etker) and these shall work evil each in the place where he has fallen from Heaven, and trouble men up to their death.55 Counting Erlik 412 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
himself there are thus forty-four of these Altai Tatar evil spirits, or as many as the evilly-disposed Tengeri of the Buri- ats.24 The placing of the evil spirits in the east and the good in the west by the latter is peculiar, all other peoples having a contrary opinion. Most probably some star-myth is at the back of these beliefs also. For the sake of comparison it may be mentioned that the Chinese know of seventy-two good and thirty-six evil Star gods. CHAPTER XII
THE GREAT MOTHER
AMONG the eastern Finno-Ugric peoples we have already met with a mighty, goddess of birth, called by the Chere- miss and the Mordvins the “ Great birth-mother,” whose dwelling-place these peoples, like the Votiaks and the Ugrians living on the Ob, believe to be in the sky. The same goddess is known to certain peoples of the Altaic race. When cele- brating their spring-festival at the time when the flowers break forth, the Altai Tatars, among other deities, remember a goddess called u The Lake of Milk.” In many prayers she is referred to as the a Milk Lake mother” and worshipped as the giver of all life.1 That this great goddess was known earlier over a comparatively wide area among the Turco-Tatar peoples, is proved by the fact that the a Milk Lake mother ” appears also in the list of deities of the Chuvash living by the Volga.2 But according to the ideas of the peoples mentioned, this mythical, deified lake is situated, as we have seen earlier, beside the tree of life in the centre of the earth. Certain Altaic tribes, who believe paradise to be situated in the third Heaven, speak of the “ milk lake ” to be found there, from which the god of birth, Jajutsi (“ the deereer ”), takes a life- force each time a child is born into the world.”3
A Central Asian tale would also seem to place the fabled lake in Heaven, describing as it does how a certain mighty Khan had promised his daughter in marriage to him who would pro- cure him a wing of the Garuda eagle. To the heroes partaking in this quest, a youth joins himself, who wishes to know where this mythical bird dwells. When the heroes have arrived at a high mountain, they notice how the sky above them begins to SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
414
grow white. The youth then asks: “ What is behind that sky? ” The others explain that it is the lake of milk. ... “ But what is the dark thing in its centre? ” the youth asks again, and is told that it is the forest, in which the bird dwells.4 Quite plainly, therefore, the “ milk lake ” of the story has been imagined as situated on a mountain reaching to the heavens, up which mountain the heroes have to climb. The forest in the centre of the lake of milk answers to the tree of life, in the crown of which other tales also declare the fabled bird to dwell.
The conception of a lake of milk, believed to be the source of all life, and worshipped as a female deity, is not a product of Turco-Tatar mythology, but has drifted there from elsewhere. A parallel to this belief is to be found in the ancient Iranian paradise myths, where the lake of milk is represented by the lake Ardvisura Anahita, which gleams from under the tree of life on the Hara Berezaiti mountain, the said lake being re- garded by the Iranians as a goddess of birth, to whom, in their poetry, they ascribe anthropomorphic features. Without doubt, the Yakut Kubai-Khotun, dwelling in the tree of life or under its roots, is the same deity, and was regarded by them as the great mother of both men and animals. As such she has a breasts as large as leather sacks.’*5 Sometimes she is men- tioned as the wife of the Heaven god, the plenteousness of her milk being described in a Buriat tale about the origin of the Milky Way. This phenomenon is explained by them as having been caused by the overflow of milk from the breasts of the Heaven goddess (Manzan Görmö).6 A corresponding myth was known to the ancient Greeks, who declared the Milky Way to have been formed when Hera snatched her breast from the mouth of the infant Heracles, whom she hated, so that drops of milk were scattered over the sky. From this, the name met with in many European languages — the Milky Way (cf. ancient Indian Soma-Dhara, “ Soma Way ”) — has obviously been derived. THE GREAT MOTHER 415
In Yakut prayers, the above-mentioned goddess of birth has most often the name Ajysyt (“ Birthgiver,” “ Procreator ”) or Ajy-Khotun (“ Birth-giving mistress”), and children are prayed for from her, whom she is believed to present at her fancy to the woman who has gained her favour. As she is regarded at the same time as birth-giving and nourishing, she is referred to by a name with these significations, “ Birthgiving Nourishing mother ” (Ajysyt-Ij aksit-Khotun) / In some dis- tricts the great mother is believed to pour down from Heaven a white elixir of life to one who is in the throes of death.8 Tales relate how a woman during severe birth-cramp directs a prayer to the Heavens and how, shortly afterwards, two Ajysyts sink down to the earth, and coming to the woman, give their assistance, after which she gives birth to a son.9 Generally, however, the people speak only of one goddess, who is said to bring the soul of the child from Heaven, as according to the prevalent belief, mortals give birth to the embryo only, life being furnished by Ajysyt. In one prayer the child-bearing woman says to her protective genius: “ Thou, my mild Crea- tress, the first day on which thou didst let down me to the ‘central place* — i.e., the earth — thou didst say: ‘Be pro- vided with a ceaseless breathing, with an eternal life. May the cattle brought up by thee flourish, may the children borne by thee be many.’ ”10 Probably connected with this belief is the conception that the souls of animals also are let down from the heavens.
Further light is thrown on the foregoing by the belief of the Ostiaks, that the great Birth-giving mother dwells in Heaven on a mountain with seven storeys, where she fixes the fate of all, by writing at the birth of each child in a golden book or on a “gold-ornamented seven-branch,” i.e., the tree of life, the forthcoming events of its life.11
The Siberian peoples, after a successful delivery, have been in the habit of preparing a feast to the goddess of birth, in which only women may take part. The Yakuts usually cele- 4i6 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
brate this feast three days after a birth, at which time the goddess of birth is believed to depart. Flesh of the votive animal is placed for the deity at the head of the bed, and especially butter, a little of which each one present throws laughing merrily into the firej at the same time the women rub their hands and faces with butter “ in order to become fruit- ful.” In some districts, after the birth of a boy, a small tent of birch-bark is made by the fireside, and horses and cows and a bow and arrows made of the same material placed within it. The intention of this magic ceremony is the developing of the boy as a capable member of the community.12 CHAPTER XIII
THE STARS
HE NOMADS of the Altaic race, like most other peoples
of the earth, early turned their attention to the stars and believed that they, in some mysterious way, occasioned the changes of season and weather. The stars were also most im- portant guides for travellers on the prairies, in the forests, and on the tundra. For a thousand years the Great Bear, regularly moving round the Pole Star, that ever-stationary “pole” of the sky, and never disappearing below the horizon, has played an important part in the lives of all the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere. Not only the Altaic race but innumerable other peoples have used it, in addition to the sun and the moon, for measuring time. The ancient Finns are also said to have gone to “ see the moon, to learn of the Great Bear.” In Central and East Asia the Great Bear even determined the seasons. “ When the tail of the Great Bear points eastward it is spring over all the world, when it points southward it is summer, when westward, autumn, but when it turns to the north it is winter over all the world.” Some peoples foretell changes in the weather by this constellation. The Ostiaks on the Ob, who call it “ the stag,” say that when “ the stag shrinks,” i.e., when the stars of the Great Bear seem to draw together, there will be frost, but contrariwise, or when “ the stag expands,” mild weather and snowfalls may, be expected.1
The greatest changes in the weather are believed, however, to be the work of the Pleiades. Even in other countries, such as America and the South Sea Islands, the rising and the setting of this constellation are considered as signs of the com- ing of cold or warm weather, a rainy or a dry period. In the SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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beliefs of European peoples also, the influence of the Pleiades on the climate plays a certain part. In the question-forms which were used by Forbus as guides in gathering Lapp folk- lore there is a question: “ Have you worshipped the Pleiades that they might give warm weather? ”2 The Turkish peoples believe the Pleiades to be chiefly, the causers of cold. The Yakuts say that they “ bring the winter.”3 The foundation of this thought is naturally to be found in the fact that a colder period follows the appearance of the Pleiades, whereas their setting takes place at the beginning of the warm season. The Yakuts say that the winter in former days was much colder and drearier than it is now, but since a shaman hacked in twain the binding-rod of the Pleiades, they have been able to move more quickly, and thus the winter has become shorter. When the shaman struck, splinters flew into the air, which are now the innumerable stars.4
The idea of the Pleiades as the cause of cold weather is fur- ther reflected in the old name of this constellation, which is the same in several languages of Turkish origin: Urker, Orgel, etc. Gorochov says that in Yakut Orgel means “ air-hole.” 5 Further weight is given to this idea by a Yakut tale. This tells how a hero once gathered together thirty wolf-leg hides and from them made himself a pair of gloves with which to stop the Orgel, as it “blew upon him endless frost and wind.”0 The Votiaks and even the Lithuanians and the Baltic Finns called this constellation “ the sieve.”
The Siberian peoples seem to have considered it impossible to solve the question of what the innumerable stars of the sky really are. The belief of the Yakuts that they are small holes through which heavenly, light shines is easy to understand. In other places they are declared to be “the reflection of the heavenly ocean.”7 THE STARS 419
THE SUN AND THE MOON
The Altaic peoples speak of a time when there was no sun and no moon. They say that people, who then flew in the air, gave out light and warmed their surroundings themselves, so that they did not even miss the heat of the sun. But when one of them fell ill God sent a spirit to help these people. This spirit commenced by stirring the primeval ocean with a pole 10,000 fathoms long, when suddenly two goddesses flew into the sky. He also found two metal mirrors (toli), which he placed in the sky. Since then there has been light on the earth.8
This tale is doubtless grounded on a previously-mentioned conception, that people living before the fall in paradise were a kind of luminous beings. The Kalmucks distinctly say that at the time of paradise there was yet no sun and no moon. It was only when the people, by eating of the forbidden fruit, fell into sin, and the world around them became dark, that the sun and moon were created.9
The idea of the sun and moon as metal mirrors in the above tale is also to be found in beliefs and customs connected with the prophesying? of Central Asian shamans. It is commonly supposed that everything that takes place on the earth is re- flected in the sun and the moon and from these again in the magic mirrors of the shamans. There is a story of how a cer- tain hero holds his magic mirror toward the sun and the moon in order to see in their reflections where the colt which he is seeking has disappeared.10 This manner of finding out things has spread among the peoples of North Siberia. Even in Ostiak countries the sun is an important means of prophesying by sight j by watching it the magician can tell the life and the fate of a person far away.11 Possibly the Siberian shaman’s custom of fixing metal objects representing the sun and the moon on his dress originates in this belief. It is another ques- tion whether this belief and this custom are original with the SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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Altaic race, or whether they have wandered there from lands where prophesying from the stars has long been known and common.
Besides those tales which say that the sun and the moon were created comparatively late, there are others according to which the lights of the sky already existed when the vast primeval ocean yet covered all. In Mongolian tales the sun and the moon are called sisters, of whom the former says to the latter: “ Travel thou in the day, I will travel in the night.” The moon remarked: “There will be so many people about in the day, I shall be ashamed to walk abroad then.” The sisters finally agreed, but the sun regretted that the earth was so smooth and that there were no hillocks or mounds above the water for the people to live on. The tale does not go on to tell how the earth on which the people dwell came to exist. We might suppose the moon to have had her share in its creation, the ebb and flow of the tide which she causes having early attracted the attention at least of coast-dwellers. A tale of the Votiaks says that the god of Heaven, Inmar, sent two people out during the flood to find earth and to scatter it on the surface of the ocean. The first went out in the day, where- fore he made the earth smooth, but the second, going out in the night, sowed the mountains and valleys on the earth.
In Central Asia tales have been taken down according to which there were three or four suns in primeval times. At ' that time it was unbearably hot upon the earth. The Buriats tell how a hero named Erkhe-Mergen shot three suns down into the sea with his bow so that only one remained to light and warm the earth.12 In a legendary tale of the Torgouts it is said that the devil (Shulman) created three suns in order to burn the earth made by God (Burkhan-Bakshi). In answer, God covered the earth, on which there were as yet no dwellers, with a flood, so that the devil was forced to submit. Only one sun remained in the sky, the others God plunged later into the bottomless pit given to the devil for his dwelling-place.13 THE STARS 421
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The idea of the purity of Heaven would also seem to be of great antiquity. More even than the rest of nature, the sky loves cleanliness. Very, widespread is a tale of how the clouds were at an earlier 'time lower down, but, after being soiled by the people, rose higher. An example of the purity of the sky, from which later sprang the belief in the holiness of God, is given by the Tungus of the North Siberian primeval forests. According to them, a woman, during her period of unclean- ness, should not look up at the sky.. Common also is the belief that the lightning strikes places where something evil or filthy is hidden.
Where the Heaven god has begun to be regarded as a kind of anthropomorphic being, the heavens have become merely the dwelling-place of this being. Countless tales relate how God has a magnificent home in the sky, sometimes also a wife and children, servants, cattle, and other property. In the brilliant palace of God a Tatar hero was once on a visit, and was received well and entertained with food, etc.17 The special characteristics of these tales have, however, hardly been in- corporated with the beliefs concerning heaven.
The old Babylonian idea of the seven or more storeys of Heaven gave rise to the thought that the Over-god dwells in the topmost storey of Heaven. The Yryn-Ajy-Tojon of the Yakuts dwells sometimes in the seventh, sometimes in the
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1. Dolgan shaman-pillars representing the nine storeys of heaven, with wooden figures of birds. With the help of these birds the shaman will fly through the heavens. (See page 400.)
2, Yakut custom of erecting trees, representing the storeys of heaven, before the victim offered to the god dwelling in the highest storey of heaven. (See page 401.) ?f •:
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THE HEAVEN GOD 401 . ' I
ninth storey of Heaven, depending on the number of storeys believed to be in the sky. The Es of the Yenisei Ostiaks lives in a transparent palace over the seventh Heaven, and accord- ing to the Ugrians the dwelling-place of God is in the seventh Heaven.18 We see thus, that this belief has spread also among the most northern of the Siberian peoples.
In the same way as the ancient Babylonians regarded the navel of the sky as the throne of Anu, whence he ruled over the earth, the Central Asian peoples place the abode of the Over-god somewhere around the North Star.18 Wherever the belief in a Heaven-mountain has spread, God is regarded as dwelling on the summit of this mountain, which touches the North Star. In connection with the world-pillar it has already been mentioned how some of the North Siberian peoples wor- j
ship the Heaven god in connection with this pillar, as shown, e.g., by the “ seven-divisioned Sanke ” of the Ostiaks. A more suitable throne in the sky than the stationary, changeless region of the sky-navel near the North Star, whence he can best direct the countless, varying activities of the earth, can hardly be imagined for the Over-god.
Many flattering attributes are given to their Over-god by the Central Asian peoples. The Altai Tatars call him “Great” (ÜlgÖn, Ülgen), or “Rich and Great” (Bai- Ülgön). “ Merciful Khan ” (Kaira-Khan) and other general j
names are also given to him. The term Burkhan-Baksi (really j
“ Buddha^master ”), which the Mongols, Buriats and Soyots have begun to use for their highest god, was brought by Bud- dhists from China. ... CHAPTER XI
THE SONS OF GOD
CLOSELY connected with the Heaven god, according to the Siberian peoples, are certain other gods living in the sky, the number of which is precisely fixed. Extremely common is a group of seven gods, said to act as the assistants of the Over-god.
More especially in the beliefs of the Kirghis and the Siberian Tatars, do these gods play an important part. In the Altaic tales mention is made of seven beings named Kudai (“ god ”), situated in the third storey of Heaven on the Sürö (“ Maj- esty ”) mountain.1 The Yakuts call this group of seven gods, which they declare forms “the suite of the Over-god Ai- Tojon,” Satta-Kurö-Dzüsagai-Ai {salt'd, “ seven ”) > they are supposed to be the tutelary genii of horses, and a sacrifice of kumiss is poured into the fire for them at the spring festivals.2 Often these grouped spirits are called the sons of the Over-god. Certain of the Altaic tribes can recount the names of these useven sons”: Jashigan, Karshit, Bakhtagan, Kara, Kushkan, Kanym and Jaik.8 Much cannot, however, be grounded on these names, as they vary greatly in the different districts. As little known as the names of this group are the spheres of activity ascribed to each. In the corresponding list of the Lebed Tatars, Kanym appears as the wife of Ülgen. Kara (“ Black ”), also Kara-Khan, according to these last, has left his father and, instead of the light-filled abodes of Heaven, has chosen the dark holes of the underworld as his lot. Jaik or Jaik-Khan is the prince of the flood and at the same time a kind of escort to the souls bound for Hades.4
Names for the seven “ sons ” of the Heaven god have also been invented by the Voguls and the Ostiaks, although these THE SONS OF GOD
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are for the most part the names of their own district gods. The list of the Voguls comprises, according to Gondatti, the following spirits: the god of Pelym, the god of the upper field of the Ob, the god of the Holy Ural, the Prince of the river Aut, the god of the Little Ob, the god of the Sosva centre, and the “ Earth-watching Man.” In the information ob- tained by Munkacsi from Sygva the following are named: the god of Pelym, the Old Man of the village Tek, the Holy Prince of the Lozva-water, the god of the Sosva centre, the god of the Little Ob, the Old Man of the village Lopmus, and the “ Earth-watching man.” Part of the corresponding catalogue of the Ostiaks by Tremyugan deserves mention: “ The Forest-game-sharing man ” and the u youngest son ” of the Heaven god, Khan-Iki (“ Prince old man ”). The former is a deity living in the sky, from whom game is prayed for, and to whom, as to a Heaven god, a white animal has to be sacrificed.® The greatest interest is, however, awakened by the “youngest son” among this group, the Vogul “ Earth- watching man,” the Khan-Iki of the Ostiaks, to whom many tales are attached and who is certainly not an original Ugrian god.
The fact that these seven gods are but little known to the Siberian peoples, as is often true of their names also, draws our attention to their number. We know the Iranians to have had a group of gods of the same number, Amesha Spentas, and similarly, the Adityas of the Rgveda were originally seven gods, the duties of whom, like that of the Siberian sons of God, was the watching over and the control of the heavenly laws of nature. We arrive thus at the assumption that these Asiatic gods, wherever they may be met with, have the same origin. But where and how did this heavenly group first take shape?
Light is thrown on the problem by the picture of Heaven of the Vasyugan Ostiaks, seen by, the a eyes of the soul ” of the shamans, and described by them in songs. From these we 404 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
learn that the heavens are seven-storeyed, in the topmost of which the Over-god Num-Torem himself lives, and in the lower ones his sons* The dwellers in these storeys of the sky are called also by names borrowed from the Tatars, Torem- Talmas (“Heaven interpreter”; talmas — Tatar tolmats) or Torem-Karevel (“Heaven watcher”; karevel — Tatar kara- vel). The names of the separate “ Interpreters ” are unknown to the Vasyugans, neither can their activities be explained, but they are believed to live one in each storey of the heavens. Usually, they are called after the sacrifices offered up to each. I. “ The arrow-sacrifice Torem ” receives arrows shot any- where into the sky; 2. “ The cloth-sacrifice Torem,” who re- ceives a cloak of white cloth, which is hung up on forest expeditions in some birch in a primitive forest; 3. “ The sable- sacrifice Torem,” who is given a sable-skin, kept in a box taken on forest expeditions; 4. “ The cup-sacrifice Torem,” for whom a special tin cup is kept in the storeroom; 5'. “The horned- deer-sacrifice Torem,” for whom the hide of a deer killed in the forest is left, with horns and hoofs attached, hanging on a birch. This spirit is believed to let down game and fish upon the earth for men, and is the same being as the previously mentioned “Forest-game-sharing man.” As the sixth a Russian saint, Nikolai the miracle-maker, is mentioned, the latter being the protective spirit of travellers by water, to whom the Ostiaks hang up the skin of a marten in their store-rooms as a sacrifice.®
As Karjalainen points out, this Karevel arrangement is not an invention of the Ostiaks, but has reached them in the first instance from the Tatars. It is unfortunate that we should know so little of the beliefs of the pagan period of the Tatar tribe geographically nearest to the Ugrians, a tribe from which these have acquired much interesting culture, but among the tribes further south, which have better preserved the beliefs of their forefathers we find a corresponding idea to the Ostiak Karevel arrangement, appearing in such a manner that each THE SONS OF GOD
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son of the Over-god is given a different storey of the heavens as dwelling-place. Radloff relates that he obtained from the Lebed Tatars on his travels the following description of their heaven: “ The original Father, the Creator of everything, is Kudai Bai-Ülgönj he has four sons: Pyrshak-Khan, Tös-Khan, Kara-Khan and Suilap. The son of Suilap is Sary-Khan, and the son of Pyrshak-Khan is Kyrgys-Khan, the protective spirit of the local Tatars. All of these gods except Kara-Khan bring happiness to men. They give food and protection against dangers. To the highest god, Ülgön, white horses are sacri- ficed, to Pyrshak and his descendant brown ones 5 to all the gods, grain is further sacrificed. The gods live in Heaven, which according to these Tatars, is seven-storeyed. In the top- most lives Ülgön and his wife Kanym, in the next Pyrshak- Khan, in the third Tös-Khan, in the fourth Kyrgys-Khan, in the fifth Suilap, in the sixth Sary-Khan, and in the seventh the messengers sent by the gods down to men. Kara-Khan (“ Black Prince ”) is said to have deserted his father and re- moved from the light-filled dwellings of Heaven to the under- world.” 7
It is to be understood that this heavenly order is not an invention of the Turco-Tatar peoples, but has come to them from elsewhere. For this reason the signification of the dif- ferent gods is so vague to the people $ from the investigator, however, these gods dwelling in the seven storeys of the heavens cannot hide their origin, pointing plainly as they do to the Babylonian Planet gods, which, in their distant fatherland, ruled over seven discs of the sky situated one above the other.
In another description recorded by Radloff, in which seven- teen storeys of heaven are spoken of, a detail that is only an accidental transformation found amongst a certain Altaic tribe, the sun is mentioned as dwelling in the seventh, and the moon in the sixth storey of Heaven.8 Thus the sun and the moon govern two sky-discs situated one above the other. In the seventh storey, together with the sun, lives an omniscient SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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Mergen-Tengere (<£ Sharpshooter-god ”), who reminds one of the Ostiak “ Arrow-sacrifice Torem.” Dare one assume this deity to reflect an ancient god of lightning?
As the spirit of the ninth Heaven, Radloff mentions Kysa- gan-Tengere. The corresponding Kisagan-Tengri of the Mongols was the god of war, believed to protect the army, to direct it in dangerous and difficult places, and to procure victory for it by vanquishing the enemy. In the fifth storey lived Kudai Jajutshi, If these, as seems probable, were originally Star gods, the counterpart of the former would be the Babylo- nian Nergal (Mars). Of the spirits of the upper storeys of heaven only Kaira-Khan (“ merciful khan ”) and Bai-Ülgön (“Rich and Great”) are mentioned, the former being placed in the seventeenth and the latter in the sixteenth storey of Heaven 5 according to the most general belief, however, these names apply to the same Over-god. The ££ black ” Kara or Kara-Khan of the earlier lists, who descended from Heaven to Hades, being doubtless a Star god, deserves special attention 5 on account of his colour and other attributes he may possibly correspond to Saturn, called ££the black star” by the ancient Babylonians.
Instead of the more original group of seven, a group of nine “sons” or “ servants ” of God appears in some districts. Thus, in the tales of the Mongols we often meet with “nine Tengeri, protectors and brothers,” these words denoting attri- butes often ascribed to them.9 The Buriats can give the names of the <£ nine sons ” of the Over-god. These are, however, exceedingly artificial and vary in the different districts. Doubt- less, these “ nine sons ” or “ brothers ” originally signified the Planet gods, from whom the names of the days of the week have been taken, although others have come later to join them as the storeys in Heaven were increased , to nine. Banzarov says expressly that the Mongols worshipped “ nine great stars, which corresponded to nine Tengeri.”10 The group of nine has not been as common in Asia as the group of seven, which is THE SONS OF GOD 407
known also in Eastern Asia. In ancient times the Chinese worshipped the a seven rulers ” or “ directors ” of the sky, by which they are said to have meant the sun, the moon and five planets. Where the numbers seven and nine have started to compete among themselves, one notices that the former has often given way to the latter.
These sacred numbers of the gods have in places left their mark on the sacrificial cults. The descriptions of the sacrifices among the Chuvash living on the Volga often mention nine sacrificial priests, nine sacrificial animals, nine cauldrons, etc.11 Naturally the recipients of these sacrifices were formerly as numerous; therefore the people even now try to arrange their gods in a series of nine. Built on a similar foundation is the custom of the Finnish tribes in East Russia, especially of the pagan Cheremiss, of placing in some districts, when sacrificing to the Heaven god, nine sacrificial loaves and as many bowls of honey-drink on their altars.12 On the sacrifice platform of the Yakuts one may also see nine small bowls.13
But let us return again to the older group of seven gods, the members of which the Ostiaks call “the Interpreters” or “ the Watchmen of Heaven.” The conception of the Planet gods as a kind of interpreters seems to be of great antiquity. Diodorus already speaks of it in describing the Chaldean fore- casting from the stars in the following words: “ Most impor- tant to them is the examination of the movements of those five stars, which are called planets. They call them the c In- terpreters 5 (èpfjLTfveïs) ^ to the one we call Saturn they give a special name, c Sun-star,5 as they have it to thank for their newest and most important forecasts. They call the planets 4 Interpreters5 because, while the other stars never deviate from their routes, these go their own ways and thus interpret the future and reveal to men the mercy of the gods.”
The duties of these heavenly 44 Interpreters 55 is thus made clear by Diodorus. According to the Chaldeans the starry heavens are a book of fate, reflecting the path of life on earth, 4o8 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
and also affording to the wise an opportunity of reading the future. That the ancient Babylonians already knew the “Tables of Fate” and the “Book of Life” is known to us from the Bible. Founded on these ancient models is the belief of the Ostiaks, that the helpers of God write in the “ Book of Fate,” according to his dictation, each time a child is born, the length and all the varying fortunes of its life.14 That these helpers or assistants are the previously described seven gods appears from the old tales of the western Tatar tribes of Siberia, in which seven Kudai live in a tent in the sky, before which is the “ golden tethering-post.” Here the gods sit in their abode behind a curtain, with the great “ Book of Life ” before them, marking down births and deaths and deciding the fate of men.15
Though these fatalistic beliefs may have spread with Islam wherever this religion obtained foothold, and thus among the Turco-Tatar peoples also, it is still evident that, even much earlier, they had taken deep root in the conception of life current among the Central Asian peoples. It is to be noted that the “ Interpreters ” and the “ Sons of God ” already appear in the pagan beliefs. The Kudai of the Tatar tribes already referred to have clearly come from Persia, as their name, a Persian loan-word, shows.
The most interesting of all the assistants of the Heaven god is a certain being, who, through the Turco-Tatar peoples, has reached the distant Ostiak territory. This being has a special duty, to perform, as the name “ Writer man ” shows. On the Demyanka he is regarded as the “ first assistant of the Heaven god ” and is believed to live in heaven, a little lower than the Over-god himself . His duty is said to be “ to write in the Book of Fate, according to the dictation of the Over- god, how long and in what circumstances a mortal may live on the earth.” When a person dies, the Ostiaks say: “His days written by the ‘Writer man’ have finished.” In other Ostiak districts a deity, of this name is unknown, and for this THE SONS OF GOD 409
reason Karjalainen assumes him to be of late origin and to have sprung from the Heaven god himself, in other words, he is a being developed from one of the Heaven god’s attri- butes, as, according to an explanation recorded by the author in question at Tsingala, the name “ Life-time writing man ” is one of the names of the Heaven god.10 This assumption is hardly correct, since besides being the writer of the Book of Fate, this deity appears also as the bearer of God’s commands. The Irtysh Ostiaks call him by a name borrowed from the Tatars, Pairekse, and believe that his duties are to come down to the earth on reconnaissances as the messenger of the heavens, and to write in the Book of Fate the length and circumstances of the life of each person being born. As the messenger and spy of the Over-god he has been given the attribute “ the Man of many lands,” “the Travelling man.” According to the Ostiaks these journeys are often made in the shape of some animal, occasionally as a goose. As such he resembles more the “ younger son ” of God, “ the world-watching man ” or Ort- iki, who in the shape of a goose or “ sitting on the wings of a goose goes to the place he desires,” and who, in tales, is called the “goose spirit.” Further, the winged steed of the deity under discussion, on which as the mediator between God and man he flies through the air, and from “ one nostril of which fire darts out, from the other smoke,” is spoken of.17 However great the number of tales mixed up with these names may be, it is probable that this messenger of God, the “ Man of many lands,” the “Travelling man,” did not originate among the Ostiaks. Still less can a “writing” god have had his birth among people who have never been able to write.
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A word of their own language, used by the Mongols as a name for their “ one ” god, is Tengri, a name used for the Heaven god in many other Altaic languages (Kalmuck Tengri, Buriat Tengeri, Tatar Tangere, Yakut and Dolgan Tangara, Chuvash Tura). This word meant originally, “Heaven,” Among the Chuvash the meaning “ Heaven ” for Tura seems to have become extinct, and among the Yakuts also, Tangara appears only, in folk-lore as meaning “the sky.” Having acquired the meaning of a god living in Heaven, this word began to be used in many languages for “ god ” in general (= Latin deus). The Yakuts use it when speaking of their idols, i.e., wood, stone or birch-bark Tangara. The disap- pearing significance of the word, a “ sky ” appreciable by the senses, shows plainly that in the beginning the “ Heaven god ” of the peoples related to the Turks was the animated sky itself with its wonderful, mystical powers. At this stage, when as yet no humanlike or otherwise specially shaped being is thought of, with the sky merely as his dwelling-place, the heavens and the Heaven god do not require separate names as they did later. An irrefutable proof of this original point of view is the old title given by the Mongols to the Heaven god when worshipping him: “Blue Tengri.”
Examples of the deification of the heavens themselves are met with among the other surrounding peoples. Herodotus already tells how the ancient Persians worshipped as their god (Zeus) “ the whole area of the sky.” The name Tien of the Chinese Heaven god meant originally “ the sky.” The Finnish races also used the word “ sky ” when speaking of their Heaven gods without any resulting confusion of thought. Similar examples are offered by the most northern peoples of Asia, the Samoyeds and the Yenisei Ostiaks.
In Mongolian folk-lore two expressions are met with: “ Blue Tengri” and “Eternal Tengri,” which, according to Banzarov, denote two different stages of development. The most common name, “ Blue Tengri,” for the power behind SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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all the different phenomena of the sky, which gives to the earth fruitfulness and productivity, cannot, according to this investigator, apply to a spiritual being j but the “ Eternal Tengri ” who rules the world and decrees the fates of peoples and individuals, does seem to be a spiritual entity.1 We can- not on our part, however, discern any such sharp division in the use of these qualifying terms, both being often used simultaneously.
In the beliefs of the Mongols the determining activities of the sky are extremely conspicuous. They speak frequently of the “ Fate ” (Dzajaga) of the heavens. In the Chronicle of Ssanang Ssetsen it is said that Jenghiz Khan, “that lion among men,” appeared on the earth through “ the Providence (Fate) of the blue, eternal sky.” But not only rulers and princes, “ sons of Heaven ” in a special meaning, but also ordinary mortals were born into the world through the agency of the same “Providence.” Everything that happens was believed to have been decreed by, the sky. When the Mongol princes published their laws, they added to their authorization the words: “By the Providence of the eternal sky,” in the same way as Christian monarchs exercise their power “by the grace of God.”
As this Providence belief is not met with among the more northern peoples of the Altaic race, at least not in any such developed form, our attention is drawn to the Indo-Iranians, the proximity of whom to the Mongols cannot but have left some trace. The Dzajaga idea of the Mongols corresponds in fact with the Rita of the ancient Vedic poems and the Asha of the Avesta, by which a power watching over the world was meant. This Providence does not seem to have been per- sonified, neither were sacrifices offered up to it in the begin- ning. The relations of men towards it may be compared with those of the Greeks of Homer’s time towards Moira, under whose laws even the gods existed. But it is to be noted that this Providence or Fate, the decrees of which were unrecall- THE HEAVEN GOD 393
able, was always connected with the sky, according to the ideas of the Central Asian peoples. In a similar way Fate was regarded by the Chinese, who call Fate Tien-ming (“'the sky-order ”) being in this respect entirely of the same opinion as the Mongols. Both these peoples see in the complete sub- ordination of Heaven to its own laws an example for all earthly order.
In the list of gods of the Chuvash living in Russia, a spirit named Kaba (“'Fate,” “Providence”) corresponds to the Dzajaga of the Mongols; from the former the Cheremiss have taken it as Kava-Jumo and the Votiaks as Kaba-Immar, and unaware of its origin, sacrifice nowadays to it as to a Heaven god. Among the Eastern Cheremiss even sacred groves (Kawalan pumas") were consecrated to Fate.2
Obviously, Dzajaga, Kaba, Rita, Asha, Tien-ming and Moira, called Fatum by the Romans, are closely related to one another in their meaning. The question arises, therefore, as to whether this fatalistic belief is a general product of the human intellect, born among each of the separate peoples, or whether we have here a result of the so-called “ migration theory.” The dependence of fate on the heavenly rules pre- supposes so naturally a certain stage of development that we cannot avoid turning our glance to the cosmology of the ancient Babylonians. Nowhere else, in this early period, do we meet with such admiration of the constant order of the sky and such blind belief in its mechanically, working powers, the latter affecting all life down to the smallest details. Here the sky has truly been “ a Book of Fate ” in which the wise can read future events. For this reason it is more than probable that just this star fatalism of the Babylonians has been the model and the source of the Providence beliefs of all the above mentioned peoples.
As the fate of everything is thus dependent on the sky, it is natural that one should say, like the Mongols: “ The sky decrees ” or “ the sky commands.” In the same way as the SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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Vedic poems speak of the “ director of Rita,” so the ruler of Providence, Dzajagatsi {dzaja — “to decree,” “allow,” “order,” or “command”), appears simultaneously with Dzajaga in the beliefs of the Mongols, meaning the god of Heaven. The qualifying attribute of the sky is often “Dzajagatsi Tengri.” In the inscriptions of Orkhon, where the “ heavens ” are mentioned also as the god of armies, we meet with the word dzaja with the meaning of “ to com- mand ”: “ The sky commanded our armies- in the war and we were victorious.”
The Dzajagatsi of the Mongols has a counterpart in the Jajutsi of the Altaic race, the Dzajan of the Minusinsk Tatars, and the Buriat Zajan (Mongol dzaja = Altaic Tatar jaja s= Buriat zaja). The Buriats by. Khudinsk call the Over- god of the heavens Zajan-Sagan-Tengeri {sagan, “white”). Another qualification of the Heaven god with the same mean- ing is the Tatar Bujuruktsi (<bujur, “ to decree,” or “ order ”), loaned also by the Ugrians (Ostyak Pairekse). The Voguls append to the name of their god in their own language, “ Num-Torem-paireks.” The same word is further met with in the god-name of the Chuvash, Pürdan-Tura, and in that of the Cheremiss, Puirso-Jumo (Cheremiss fujurem = Chuvash fur-=Kazan Tatar bojor-).
We see thus how this idea óf a Fate bound up with the heavens is common to all the Turk-related peoples. In addi- tion to all the more fateful occasions of life, birth in especial is dependent on the providence of Heaven. Dzajagatsi, Jajutsi, Bujuruktsi, etc., are often spoken of as the decreers of birth, and at the same time as a kind of gods of birth. Sometimes some other than the actual Heaven god is given this title. The Altai Tatars, who speak of several storeys in the heavens, believe Jajutsi to live in-the fifth of these.3 Here he is thus a being apart from the Over-god. Each mortal having his own fate, each has been given a special ruler of fate, which follows him faithfully from the moment THE HEAVEN GOD
395
of birth. The Mongols call this spirit, which does not desert man as long as he is in favour with the heavens, Dzol- (a hap- piness”) Dzajagatsi.4 It is said to watch over the health of its ward, his property and his prosperity in general, protecting him at the same time from all dangers. Similarly, each mortal has, according to the Altai Tatars, his own Jajutsi, which, having received orders from above, brings down life- force from the wonderful a lake of milk ” in the third storey of Heaven, then brings the embryo alive into the world, and follows the man thus born from his infancy onward as a kind of good spirit. Besides this, each mortal is supposed to have a lifelong evil companion, Körmös, which from his birth tries to harm him. The former, which writes down the good deeds done in life, is said to be on man’s right shoulder, the latter, which notes down his evil deeds, at his left. These Jajutsi, like the blessed dead, live in the lands of paradise in the third storey of Heaven.6 It is hardly necessary to point out that these beliefs in good and bad angels reached the Tatars from the Iranians.
The belief that each mortal has a special arbiter of his fate in Heaven, seems to be closely related to the idea that each mortal has his own star in the sky. The appearance of a new star signifies birth, the “ falling ” of a star, death. When the Chuvash see a shooting-star they shout at once: “ My star is still up above! ”6 Several North Siberian peoples also, e.g., the Tungus, speak of the stars of each mortal.7
Plano Carpini says that the Heaven god, according to the Mongols, is also the <c avenger.” This punishing activity, of Heaven is closely related to its “ providence ” or a decreeing.” When once Heaven has decreed anything, it is not good for men to show resistance. The Mongols believe that Heaven a sees ” everything, and that therefore no one can conceal his actions from it. In taking an oath, the Mongols say: a May Heaven know! ” or “ May Heaven judge! ” The revenge of the heavens has not, however, been regarded as something 396 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
occurring beyond the grave, but is believed to fall on the guilty already in this life. In its judgments Heaven is com- pletely neutral, punishing princes as effectually as peasants. Punishment is believed to follow crime as a kind of inner necessity.8
Without being in any way inconstant the sky can sometimes make troublesome demonstrations, reflecting in its own way disturbances on the earth. Neither were the ancient Baby- lonians unfailingly logical in their conception of the unwaver- ing laws of Heaven, but saw at times “signs” in the sky, which were interpreted as showing the dissatisfaction of the gods. Heavenly demonstrations of this description were, ac- cording to the Mongols, comets, meteors, years of famine, floods, etc., at the threatening of which rulers and subjects had to review their plans and intentions and humbly submit to the will of the “ eternal sky.”
The Chronicles containing the history of the Mongols men- tion many illuminative examples. It is related in them how Mogan-Khan (during the Tukiu dynasty) having held am- bassadors from China for a long time in captivity, freed them and made peace with their ruler after Heaven had by long storms shown its dissatisfaction at the tyrannous acts of the Khan. In the fifteenth century the Mongols seized the ruler of China and sentenced him to a long term of hard labour, but noticing once how the cup from which the emperor had drunk, glowed with a purple light, they sent him with all honours back to China, as they believed this to be the will of Heaven. Especially have the leaders of the people to follow closely all the "signs” of the sky. The Mongols regard Jenghiz Khan as having taught them the following wisdom: "The highest happiness, with which nothing can be compared, is for the ruler of a land to be in the favour of the eternal heavens.”9
In crossing over to the most northern peoples of Siberia, we no longer find this deep belief in the Providence of Heaven. M
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Phallus Erected Before a Mongol Mon astery to Frighten away a Female Demon
(See page 398.)
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f THE HEAVEN GOD 397
The Heaven god of the Tungus, Samoyeds and Yenisei Ostiaks is generally regarded as a being so apart, that he in no way directs towards men any action of a commanding or avenging character. It is therefore unnecessary to fear the heavens. It is also expressly said, concerning the Heaven god of the Yakuts, that he does not concern himself with doings on earth or the fates of men. A certain tale shows God as saying of mortals: ££ In letting them down upon the earth I did not say to them: £ Come back! ’ If they increase, let them increase, if they die, let them die.”10 In other places, however, conceptions differing from the foregoing appear.
Extremely widespread among the peoples of Central Asia is, further, the belief that Heaven is some kind of a giver of life. As a life-creating god of this description the sky is imagined as male, though not anthropomorphic, with the earth, as its opposite, female. Both are then gods of birth, the former acting the part of father, the latter that of mother: the sky procreates, the earth gives birth. Doubtless, this con- ception is founded on observations made in nature. The effects of light, warmth, rain and wind on vegetation in particular, awakened in the mind of primitive man the idea of similar effects on all that has life. Thus the thought arose that the sky gives the spirit, the Earth Mother the material body.
In this same connection there is perhaps reason to point out that certain Central Asian peoples, as, for instance, the Buriats, have for the sake of fruitfulness worshipped a certain kind of stone, said to have dropped down from the sky. A very famous “fallen stone” is near the town of Balagansk. Dur- ing a long drought the Buriats sacrifice to it in order to obtain refreshing rains. The stone, which is white in colour, is said by the people to have originally fallen on a mountain, whence it has later removed to several different places. Among the Buriats by Khudinsk, each village is said to possess a smaller “fallen stone,” kept in the middle of the village in a trunk attached to a post. In the Balagansk District, where these 398 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
stones are larger, they, are generally placed on a platform sup- ported by four posts. In the hope of a rainy and fruitful summer they are wetted in the spring and offerings are made to them. Probably, these stones dropped from Heaven, which in shape often resemble the longish weapons of the Stone Age, are, as Agapitov assumes, relics of a Mongol phallus cult.11
The belief in the procreative powers of the sky is reflected in numberless tales, in which it is explained how the children of men and the young of animals have come from Heaven to the earth. Generally, however, it is believed that only the souls of these come from Heaven. The Yakuts believe that the soul of a child comes down to its mother in the shape of a bird.12 According to a Mongol tale the soul of the founder of the power of the Sjanbi tribe, Tanshikai, came down from above as hail, which fell on the lips of his mother. A certain ancestor of the Mongols was born in such a manner that a descending ray of light fructified his mother. Jenghiz Khan is said by the tales to have been born of a virgin, wherefore he could call the sky“ father.”18 All these ideas spring from the same original idea, viz., that the sky is the giver of the spirit and life.
Whether the name of the Yakut Heaven god, Ajy-tangara (“Creator god,” really “Creative Heaven”), springs from the preceding belief, which is doubtless extremely old, we do not know for certain. The Chuvash, however, seem to possess a counterpart, Suratan-Tura (really “ Birth-giving Heaven ”), a name connected also with the Aurora Borealis. They believe that the sky, during this phenomenon, “ gives birth .to a son.” Suratan-Tura is said to ameliorate the agonies of a woman in child-birth.14 Otherwise, the idea of this deity is somewhat confused. Among the Yakut gods we find also other names for the Creator god, Ajy (“Creator”), .Yry11- Ajy (“ White Creator”) or Yryn-Ajy-Tojon (tojon “lord ”) and Aihyt-Aga (“Creator Father”). Although the same names may be used for the Creator of the Christian teachings, THE HEAVEN GOD 399
the ideas in question cannot be said to have arisen from these teachings. By the side of Ajy-Tojon, appears a special deity of birth, Ajysit, the name, like Ajy, being derived from the verb at (“to give birth to,” “to create”). Ajysit, of whom we shall speak later, is generally regarded as a feminine being (Ajysit-Khotun, “ Ajysit-mistress ”), and brings the soul from heaven to the child while being born, helping also the woman in the pains of child-birth. In prayers this deity, is often re- ferred to as Ajysit-Ijaksit (“Procreating-Nourishing ”), a term corresponding to the qualifying term of the Votiak Heaven god, Kildis-Vordis. Possibly from the Turco-Tatar peoples the Volga Finns obtained their Creator-god (Votiak Kildisin, Cheremiss Satsektse or Sotsen, Mordvin Skajj), names derived from verbs denoting procreation and birth- giving.
It is certain that the conception of the creative power of the heavens of the Central Asian peoples is extremely old. Among the more northern tribes the conception does not appear quite as clearly, although they also, like the Yenisei Ostiaks, believe that not only men, but animals also, have the sky to thank for their existence: Heaven (Es) “ gives,” Heaven “ sends,” even “lets fall,” what the earth needs.1,5 A similar giver of everything good is the Buga or Savoki of the Tungus, also called “ the Lord ” (Amaka).
The close connection between the Heaven god and light and the sun, appears from the sacrificial rites. Sacrifices to the Heaven god are offered always towards the direction of the “day” or the dawn, and at the same time the votive animal, when such is used, has to be white in colour. Sacrifices to the Heaven god among the most northern peoples are, however, comparatively rare. In some places it has been the custom to consecrate some live domestic animal, a horse or a reindeer, which is then never worked and is looked after well. In older times a consecrated animal of this description was driven far to the eastward. 400 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
A curious custom, which occurs among the Yakuts, is that several trees are erected before the victim, of which seven bear leaves and a few have figures of birds upon them. All these trees, which are ranged in a row, represent the different storeys of heaven, through which the victim is to wander to the Supreme God in the highest Heaven. A corresponding custom exists among the Dolgans, who, at the shaman cere- mony set up, one behind the other, nine stumps, on which are figures of birds. There also these stumps represent the nine storeys of Heaven through which the shaman, with the help of these birds, will fly to God.16
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An earlier mentioned Yakut tale also tells of the seven first men whom the devil marred before God had given them life. This tale also has a continuation in which the numbers three and four are specially noticeable. It tells how God gave a wife to four only, Wherefore the other three were dissatisfied. They complained to God and, as he took no notice, adultery came into the world. These three got wives in the end when the daughters of the first four women grew up. One of the 38o SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
daughters, however, could find no husband and became there- fore a prostitute.
More ancient than the fancies in these creation tales of the origin of man’s deficiencies are those tales in which man first succumbs to evil suggestions after God has given him life. CHAPTER VIII THE FALL OF MAN
IN CONNECTION with the creation myths we have touched on many, tales, in which already at his creation, man was corrupted by the devil and, therefore, never attained the perfection which God had intended for him. In the fol- lowing we shall see how man, after his creation by God, has of his own accord drawn disaster on himself.
In most of the tales of this series, man was originally en- dowed with a special covering, which protected him from cold, moisture, wind and other matters liable to affect his health. Some of the tales provide him with a coat of fur, others with a nail-substance or horn covering. With the eating of the forbidden fruit man loses his natural, protective covering.
Very interesting is the following Altaic tale:
A lonely tree grew without branches. God saw it and said: “A single, branchless tree is not pleasant to look upon, let nine branches grow on it.” The nine branches grew on the tree. God continued: “ Let nine human beings appear under the nine branches j from the nine human beings nine races.” Further on in this tale only two people are spoken of, man and wife, who were at first covered with fur. The name of the man was Töröngöi and of the wife Edji (“ Mother ”). God said to these people: “Do not eat of the fruit of the four branches growing towards the sunset, but eat of the five towards the sunrise.” And God placed a dog under the tree as its guardian, saying: “ If the devil comes, seize him.” In addi- tion he stationed the snake there, saying to it: “ If the devil comes, bite him.” Further, he said to both dog and snake: “ If man comes to eat of the fruit towards the sunrise, let him 382 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY }
approach the tree, but if he wishes to eat of the fruit of the forbidden branches, do not let him come near.” Having said which God returned to Heaven.
The devil then arrived at the tree, where he saw the snake, f
which had just happened to fall asleep. He crept cunningly into the snake and with its help climbed the tree, from where he tempted first the woman and then, through her agency, the man, to eat of the fruit of the forbidden branches. Having eaten, the couple see to their astonishment how the hair begins m
to fall from their bodies. Ashamed, they hide frightened |
behind the tree. I
When God came on to the earth and saw what had happened j
in his absence, he said to the man: “ How is it with thee? ” j
The man replied: “The woman has pushed into my mouth the forbidden fruit.” God turned admonishingly to the woman: “ Why hast thou done this? ” The woman answered:
“The snake tempted me to eat.” God said to the snake:
“Snake, what hast thou done? ” It replied: “Not I, but j
the devil who had crept into me tempted her.” God said:
“How did the devil creep into thee? ” The snake replied:
“ As I slept, the devil arrived.” God turned thén to the dog, saying: “How was it with thee, why didst thou not drive away the devil? ” The dog answered: “ Mine eyes saw him not.”1
The introduction to this tale, in which nine people are men- tioned, mystically connected with the nine branches of the tree, resembles greatly an earlier related tale of seven trees and seven men. In both tales these trees were at first branch- less. The later tale goes on to relate that the first woman gave birth to nine sons and nine daughters, destined afterwards to become the ancestors of nine races. A few North Siberian tales speak of the seven ancestors of the human race.2 The numbers seven and nine would seem, therefore, to have alternated in these tales.
In the Central Asian tales, our attention is drawn to the THE FALL OF MAN 383
fact that as the guardians of the forbidden fruit both the snake and the dog are mentioned. The latter, which is no longer mentioned in the punishments following on the dis- obedience, would seem to have been introduced only tem- porarily into this tale from the earlier related creation-tales.
Otherwise, the tale is very similar to the ancient Semitic story of the fall as known to us from the Bible. Only in details does it differ from the latter. In the paradise of the Bible, two trees are mentioned, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, both growing in the centre of paradise, the fruit of the latter being forbidden to man. The Central Asian tale mentions only, one tree, the fruit of the five eastward branches of which were intended as nourish- ment for man, but the fruit of the four westward-growing branches of which was fraught with misfortune. This tree was at the same time the tree of life and death $ in the Bible story life and death were represented by separate trees. The latter differs also from the former in the fact that it attempts to explain the origin of death spiritually, as a consequence of disobedience or the fall. The Central Asian tale would seem to represent a more primitive state by connecting the misfortune with the fruit itself. Starting from this, we may perhaps assume that the original form of the so-called story of the fall has come into being merely to explain how man, believed to have originally been created for eternity, could die. Death was thus not originally regarded in the light of a punishment, but as the natural consequence of eating of the fateful fruit, as, having lost its original covering, the power of resistance of the human body declined and diseasès fol- lowed. Generally, primitive peoples tell how sickness and death, non-existent in the beginning, have since become the scourge of mankind.
The idea of an original covering of hair on the human body is widely-spread in Central and Northern Asia. The Voguls relate that in the beginning God created human beings 384 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
covered altogether with hair, and that they were allowed to move everywhere and eat of everything but the a forest- spirit-berry ” (Vactinium uliginosttm, growing in swamps). God then went off to Heaven, but returning to look at his creatures, he had great difficulty in finding these at all. In the end God found them hidden beneath some bushes. When they! crept out at God’s command, he saw that the human beings whom he had created had lost their covering of hair and shivered naked before him. This had come about by their eating of the fateful berries, against the express command of God, and thus becoming a prey to cold and moisture.3
In this tale of the Voguls, the mighty and beautiful tree of paradise of the ancient Semitic race has been transformed to a modest plant growing in the barren unfruitful north.
Besides the covering of hair, we have in the creation-tales met with another protective covering of the human body, i.e., the horn-covering, lost so completely by mortals that the only reminder of this primitive state is the substance of which our finger-nails and toe-nails are made.
This form of the tale, common also in Eastern Europe, appears already in old Jewish and Arabian tales, in which it is related how the bodies of Adam and Eve in paradise were covered with a horny substance so that they did not need clothes. Not until the fall did they, with the exception of the finger-nails and toe-nails, lose their covering.4
The idea of the hair-covering of the first human beings is also probably from Nearer Asia. It is related in an Arabian tale, how, on the diamond mountain of paradise, Adam and Eve had long hair reaching to the ground, protecting the whole body, and how this fell off when they had eaten of the forbidden fruit, so that their unprotected bodies darkened in the sun. The Bible story also obviously presupposes the exist- ence of some covering, as it is expressly stated that when the first people had eaten of the forbidden fruit they saw them- selves to be naked and in need of some garment. j
) THE FALL OF MAN 385
The Astrachan Kalmucks relate further that during the time of paradise the first people were some kind of illuminated beings. At this time there was neither sun nor moon, these f being unnecessary, as human beings then lighted up their
I surroundings themselves. The eating of the fruit extin-
I guished their light altogether, all nature became dark, and
IGod was obliged to give mankind the sun and the moon.5 This belief is also founded on Nearer Asian tales.
Another consequence of the fall, according to the Kal- j mucks, was the shortening of the age of man and a reduction
in his size. In the beginning men had been immortal or could at least live through a world-epoch, eighty thousand years, but gradually their age decreased, one year each cen- tury, so that their present average age is only sixty. This shortening will continue with the growth of sin until people will live to be only ten years of age. At the same time, after j having originally been giants, they will decline to the length
of a thumb. Then the messenger of the Bodhisattva Maidere and his apparition Berde-Gabat will arrive on the earth, and begin to better the state of men, increasing their age and size, until they have again attained their former age.8 J With these Lamaistic beliefs may be compared the ideas of
the modern Jews, reflected in the following words taken from j a collection of their tales: a When Adam was created, his
enormous volume filled all the earth, but when he fell into sin, he became very small.” Concerning the shortening of the age of man we find comments in the Bible itself. CHAPTER IX
THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSQUITO
A QUESTION of special interest to the Northern Siberian peoples is the origin of the myriads of mosquitoes, which during the light summer of the north are an unbearable plague for both men and animals.
The Yenisei Ostiaks declare that a cannibalistic demon woman, Khosadam, living in the farthest north, created the mosquitoes.1 Many other Siberian peoples have a special myth to explain their origin.
The Ostiak Samoyeds tell of a hero named Itje, whose parents had been devoured by a man-eating giant named Pünegusse. He himself succeeded in escaping and making his way to a desert, where he was brought up by his relations. When he had grown to be a strong and heroic youth, he decided to free his people from this demon from the north. He succeeded in killing it, but the demon kept on being born again. He resolved therefore to bum up the carcase of the man-eater, but even in the fire the demon continued to exist. Its jaws ground against each other when the fire had burnt out, and its voice cried out that even when burnt up it would continue to plague mankind. The wind would scatter its ashes into the air, whence they would everywhere suck the blood of men. From these ashes the innumerable mosquitoes of Siberia arise each summer.2
In a Samoyed variant a small black bird is born of the flesh of Pünegusse. This bird is called “ a bit of Pünegusse’s flesh.”8
Among the Ostiaks of the river Vach this story runs briefly as follows: A great bird once caught a great pike and gave it to its sister to cook. The latter prepared 'instead a meal THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSQUITO 387
of dog’s' offal, which so enraged the bird that it flew away until at last it came to the man-eater. Finding the hut empty, the bird ate its fill out of a large kettle of fat, but was caught by the man-eater. To save its own life the bird prom- ised its sister in marriage to the giant and was set free. It then hurried home and to save its sister, fastened the door so that only a small hole was left. The man-eater, coming for his bride, tried to get through this hole, but stuck fast there. The bird then killed him with a great knife and set fire to the house. The body of the man-eater was burnt to ashes, but here also the spirit spoke, foretelling that its ashes would each summer be born anew as mosquitoes and would continue to live on the flesh of men.4
Corresponding myths, apparently of Indian origin, are to be found among the Altai Tatars. The evil Erlik created a water-giant named Andalma-Muus, who put out his long tongue to seize men, whom he then swallowed. Three of Ülgen’s heroes, Mandyshire, Tyurun-Muzykay, and Maidere, decided to kill this demon. Tyurun-Muzykay declared him- self to be the strongest giant-killer. Having said this, he came down from heaven, was given birth to by, a virgin, and became a man. While he was still quite young he was run- ning about once on the sea-shore when he saw the giant stick out his long tongue to seize him and drag him into the depths. The young hero, however, was not helpless in this danger, but grasped the demon’s tongue and pulled so mightily that the earth was in danger of sinking under the water. To avoid this the hero drank so much of the sea that the water sank until he could see the feet of the demon. The youth then grasped his feet, pulled the giant out of the sea and beat him against the rocks so that his blood squirted out and his entrails were scattered over the rocks. From this originates the mixed colouring of rocks. After this, the hero cut the body into little pieces, out of which certain insects, including also mosquitoes, were born.6 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
388
According to a Yakut cannibal myth, the man-eating giant was burnt up, and from the fragments of his bones all kinds of destructive insects, and also frogs and snails were born.8 Similarly, in Mongol tales it is related how a hero named Karaty-Khan vanquishes a demon, grinds it into fragments and throws these into the air, thus giving birth to mosquitoes and other insects.7
Far away to the east, among the Goldes, tales of a similar character are met with. These tell of two sisters who lived in the same hut. While one of them was away, the man- eater came to the other, enticed her from her hiding-place and tricked her into putting out her tongue, which the man-eater at once plucked out of her mouth. When the other sister came home, she found out what had happened in her absence and decided to avenge her sister’s death. She sought a long time for the home of the man-eater, and at last she found four store-houses, of which one was full of human hands, another of human feet, a third of heads, and in the fourth numerous human tongues hung from the roof. Among these she discovered the still warm tongue of her sister. She wrapped this in a clean cloth and went on, until, in the depths of the forest, she found the man-eater’s dwelling hidden away. The demon was away, but his sister, who was a good person, was at home and promised to help in killing him. In the evening he came home, bringing a human body with him and devouring this for supper, after which he went to sleep. The women now came forward and broke the demon into pieces with hammers, scattering the pieces in all direc- tions. While doing so, they said: u Man-eater, thou fedst thyself on human flesh, may the pieces of thy flesh and thy bones change into small insects, which like thee shall eat human blood. Of the smallest fragments may gnats be born, of those a little larger mosquitoes, and of the largest flies, beedes, etc.” Immediately great clouds of insects arose, which spread over the earth.8 THE ORIGIN OF THE MOSQUITO 389
The Goldes have still another tale related to this. A brother and sister lived in a hut in peace. Once when the brother came home from the forest, he noticed that his sister had altered considerably* He began to suspect that some one kept company with her. For this reason, he strewed ashes outside the hut when setting off again on a hunting-trip. Returning the next morning, he was astounded to see the foot-prints of a tiger in the ashes. He hid his suspicions, however, until it became apparent that his sistër was encemte. Then he decided to thrust a knife into her breast as she lay murmuring shaman songs to herself. While singing she said: aI have lived with the tiger, he is my husband, his spirit is in me; thou canst not kill me, but if thou wilt cut off my little finger, I shall die.” The brother cut off his sister’s little finger and when she was dead, built a large log-fire and threw the body on to it. While the body was burning, instead of sparks, all kinds of evil spirits in the form of birds and insects flew out of the fire.9
Cannibal myths of this description, which are to be found also among the Tungus, and are extremely characteristic of the more northern peoples of Siberia, have been noted down also on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. As in Siberia, North American Indian myths tell of the birth of blood-suck- ing insects from the ashes of a man-eater.10 It seems prob- able, therefore, that these primitive tales have a common origin. CHAPTER X
THE HEAVEN GOD
AS FAR back as the thirteenth century, Plano Carpini relates in his Historia Mongolorum that a The Mongols believe in one God, whom they regard as the creator of all things visible and invisible.” Rubruquis also remarks that the Mongols acknowledge the existence of one God, but that despite this they prepare idols for themselves. Similarly, the Arabian historians mention the “ one ” God of the Mon- gols, whom, according to a decree of Jenghiz Khan, all the subjects of the Great Khan had to honour and worship.
We might perhaps assume the above reports of “ one ” God to have been coloured in some way or other, but on closer acquaintance with the beliefs of the Central Asian peoples, we find that the Heaven god has actually had an exceptional position among them. These reports are, further, of such late date, that alien, and, more particularly, Persian currents of civilization have long before their time exercised a considerable influence on them. As a relic of Mazdaism we find in the folk-lore of both the Mongols and the Tatars the name of Ahura-Mazda (Mongol Hormusda; Altaic Tatar Khurbystan). It is also a well-known fact that Mani- cheism and Nestorianism had by then spread their doctrines into this territory j the wife of Jenghiz Khan himself would seem to have been a Nestorian Christian. Matters being thus, we have no reason to doubt these old reports j they, are trust- worthy at least regarding the time of which they speak. An- other question is whether they may be regarded as expressing the oldest beliefs of the Central Asian peoples concerning the god of Heaven. THE HEAVEN GOD 391
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The Altai Tatars say that when Ülgen sends Maidere (a Buddhist Bodhisattva) from the sky, who will teach people the fear of God and convert the greater part of mankind, the evil Erlik will become angry and say to Maidere; “ I am strong enough to kill thee with my sword.” At the same time the devil will attack Maidere and fulfil his threat. The blood of Maidere, said to turn the whole world red, will take fire, the flames surrounding the earth and rising to the heavens. Then Ülgen will arrive and clapping his hands together shout: “ Ye dead, arise! ” And at once these will arise from their hiding-places, some out of the earth and some from the sea, others from the fire or the places in which they had hidden when overtaken by, death. In the world-conflagration Erlik and all wicked people will be destroyed.21
This mighty drama of the end of the world, in which the powers of good and evil engage in a final contest and in which evil is completely destroyed, is probably Iranian eschatology, preached perhaps in Central Asia by the apostles of Manicheism in their time.
Comparable with the eschatology of the Bible is also the belief of the Buriats, that at the end of the world a great river of fire will flow from the east to the west, throwing its sparks everywhere so that the whole of creation will be set alight. In the place of this old earth it is believed, however, that a new one will appear with new inhabitants.22 CHAPTER VII
THE CREATION OF MAN
THE TRANS-BAIKAL Tungus relate how Buga (the Heaven god) made the first two people out of various materials which he gathered from the four quarters of the earth. From the east he brought iron, from the south fire, from the west water, and from the north earth. Out of the earth he created the flesh and the bones, out of the iron the heart, out of the water blood, and out of the fire warmth.1
According to a Yeside creation story God made the body of Adam by mixing the four elements, fire, water, air and earth. Old Jewish, Arabian and Syrian tales describe also how God, when creating the first man, gathered material from the four corners of the earth.2 According to the Jewish story, these materials of which God made the body of Adam in the centre of the earth, were of different colours, red, black, white and brown, from which we may assume that, as in the Tungus* tale, each contained some element connected with some quarter of the earth. Thus the first man was a kind of microcosmos, closely related to the macrocosmos.
This ancient fancy is to be found also in Russian tales of creation. In one manuscript from the twelfth century the four quarters of the earth have been doubled, the story relating that God gathered material from eight directions. In later tales, of which one is from the sixteenth century, it is said that Adam’s body, i.e., the flesh, was made of earth, his bones of stone, his ligaments of roots, his blood of water, his eyes of the sun, his thoughts of clouds, his spirit of wind and his warmth of fire. According to another tale God made the body of earth, the bones of stone, the ligaments of roots, the blood - ,:1
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372 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
of water, the hair of grass, the thoughts of wind (clouds) and the spirit of clouds (wind).3
How close the connection is between man and nature accord- ing to this Asiatic conception appears also in Persian literature ('Bündahishy 30) in which the resurrection is described in the following words: a At that time the bones will be demanded back from the earth, the blood from water, the hair from plants, and life from fire, all these having been at the time of creation ordered to return to their respective sources after death.”
But this relation of man with nature appears also from a contrary conception, according to which the macrocosmos itself is born of man, the microcosmos. According to a tale of the Kalmucks the world was formed from the body of Manza- shiri (=the Buddhist Bodhisattva Manjucri), the trees from his blood-vessels, fire from the warmth of his interior organs, earth from his body, iron from his bones, water from his blood, grass from his hair, the sun and the moon from his eyes, the seven planets from his teeth, and the other stars from his back,4 In the same way is the cosmos formed when the Chinese demiurge Pan-ku expires: from his spirit is born the wind, from his voice the thunder, from his left eye the sun and his right eye the moon, from his blood the rivers, from his hairs the plants, from his saliva the rain, and from his vermin man- kind.® Already the Vedic literature of India (Rgveda, X. 90) tells how the world was formed from the body of a human- shaped primordial being, Purusa. The Manicheans have a similar tale,8 and even far in Europe, in Scandinavia, we find a variant of it. In the Edda of Snorri it is told how the sons of Bor slew the giant Ymir, and of his flesh created the earth, of his blood the water, of his bones the stones and rocks, of his skull the sky, of his brains the clouds, and of his eyebrows the circle surrounding Midgard, Doubtless all the above stories have some connection with each other and have not arisen separately. y
': T:
? ;Vf PLATE XLIV
Old Turkish Memorial Image in North
Mongolia
(See page 301.)
After photograph by S. Palsi, ?ï,
-.1 THE CREATION OF MAN 373
In the tales of the Central and North Asian peoples the materials of which the first man’s body was made, vary. The most common conception among the Buriats is that the flesh was made of red clay, the bones of stone, and the blood of water.7 The Altaic peoples believe that bones were created from reeds and the rest of the body from clay.8 The North-West Siberian peoples, like the Voguls, relate how God u took willow-twigs, bound them into skeletons, covered them with a layer of clay, set them before him and blew into them.” In other tales they tell how God created man and animals from earth and snow,® The Yenisei Ostiaks relate how God rubbed a piece of earth in each hand for a long time and at last threw them away. The piece thrown by the right hand became a man, that from the left hand, a woman.10
Although some Siberian peoples seem to have partly shaped their own creation beliefs, we can in nowise decide from this that the idea of creation itself was their own. The tales themselves, to which these original fancies are connected as separate details, are the best proof of their being of foreign origin.
As in the stories about the origin of the earth, so also in tales telling of the creation of man we find two antagonistic beings, God and the devil, the latter in some way marring the work of the former. In most instances the devil succeeds in approach- ing man before God has had time to give him life. The dog, whom God sets to watch over man, has a very, important part in these tales.
Among the Black Tatars there is the following story: When the great Pajana formed the first people from a piece of earth, he could not give them life. He was therefore compelled to go to Heaven to Kudai to seek a life-giving spirit for them. When going he left a dog to guard the people. While he was away the devil Erlik arrived and said to the yet naked dog: "Thou hast no fur-covering, I will give thee golden hairs, give thou to me those soulless people.” The dog was delighted SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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with Erlik’s proposal and gave the people whom he was to guard into the keeping of the devil. Having thus come near the people the devil defiled them by spitting on them, but fled when he saw Kudai approaching to give them life. When God saw that the devil had befouled the bodies of the people and that it was impossible to make them clean again he turned them inside out. From that time the interior of man is full of filth and spittle.11
A similar explanation of the origin of the filth inside man is given by a Yakut tale. When God had created the world he built a great stone house in which he placed seven stone images and “ Man ” to guard them. Day. by day the devil begged for entrance into the house, endeavouring to bribe the guardian without success, until he promised a Man ” an indestructible garment, which he need never take off. He was then allowed to approach the images and to soil them with his evacuations. When God came to look at his images and saw what the devil had done in his absence he grew angry, reproached the guardian, and fulfilled his wish by changing him into a dog. The images he turned inside out and blew a spirit into them. For that reason the interior of man is full of filth.12
Corresponding tales are met with among the Volga Finns, the Cheremiss, Votiaks and Mordvins. The purport of these tales also is to explain why the interior of God-created man is unclean. The Mordvin tale tells in addition that internal diseases are caused by the spittle of the devil.18 Certain diseases, a cough in particular, are given a similar origin in Russian tales. In the Samoyed tale which does not contain the turning inside out of man, serious eruptions, pox, and gatherings are the result of the deviPs saliva. In this tale also appears a dog, naked as man himself, on whose body the devil causes hair to grow by stroking it.14
In another cycle of tales, in which the devil soils the people whom God had created by spitting on them, these people had originally some covering, hair or nail-matter. THE CREATION OF MAN 375
The Buriats of the Balagan District tell how three creators, Shibegeni-Burkhan, Madari-Burkhan, and Esege-Burkhan made the first pair of human beings, using red clay for the flesh, stone for bones and water for blood. Doubtful as to which of them should procure a spirit for these as yet soulless beings, they determined to find out by placing a torch and a vessel of water before each and going to sleep beside them. The one whose torch took fire during the night and in whose water-vessel a plant appeared should have the honour of giving life to man and of being his tutelary genius. Shibegeni- Burkhan awoke in the night before the others and seeing that the burning torch and the plant were in front of Madari- Burkhan he stealthily lighted his own candle, putting out that of the other, and removed the plant into his Own vessel. In the morning, when the Burkhans awoke and saw that the fire and the plant had appeared before Shibegeni-Burkhan they decided that fate had determined him to be the life-giver and the guardian of man. But Madari-Burkhan suspected Shibegeni-Burkhan of having acted deceitfully, and said: “Thou hast stolen the fire and the plant from me, therefore the people thou givest life to will ever steal from one another and quarrel together.”15
This story, a product of Buddhism, which evidently en- deavours to explain the origin of quarrelling and robbery, in the world, is in itself a complete tale, although in this Buriat tale it appears only as a preface to another story. The tale tells further how Madari-Burkhan and Esege-Burkhan de- parted to heaven, leaving these earth-created beings, which at that time were covered with hairs, in the keeping of Shibegeni- Burkhan. When the latter also had to visit heaven to bring a spirit for man, he set a dog, which had then no hair, to guard the sleeping people. While he was away the devil Shiktur bribed the dog with a promise of hair resembling that of mortals, and was allowed to defile them by spitting on them. When Shibegeni-Burkhan came down from heaven and saw SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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that the devil had succeeded in soiling the bodies of the people, he became angry and cursed the dog on whose body he saw the devil’s hair-covering, saying: “ Thou shalt ever suffer hunger, gnaw cold bones and nourish thyself with remains from man’s repasts, and man shall beat thee.” Then Shibegeni-Burkhan cleaned the peoples’ bodies of the hairs which the devil had soiled, and they became naked except in those parts which the devil’s saliva had not touched, such as the head, which they in sleeping had happened to cover with their hands.16
A corresponding tale of the Buriats of Alarsk, in which we do not meet with the preface mentioned above, also tells how Burkhan created a hair-covered man out of various materials, set the dog to guard him and went to heaven to fetch a spirit for him, and how the wicked Sholmo, having deceived the dog, de- prived man of his hair, leaving only a remnant in some parts of the body. The tale tells at its close that had the devil never succeeded in touching man, man would never have known sickness or death.17 In a tale recorded among the Voguls of the Losva, the covering of the first man was nail-matter or horn-matter. But while God was absent, seeking a spirit for man, the devil (Kul-oter) managed to spoil his body so that the nail-matter remained only, on the ends of his fingers and toes. The surface of the body having thus become tender man was an easy prey for sickness and death.18
In this form the tale is known also to the Mordvins. By giving the dog a hair-covering the devil secures the opportunity of spoiling the first horn-covered man so that only the ends of the fingers and toes keep their coverings.19
This original hair-covering or horn-covering of the human body is met with even in other tales which remind one of the Biblical story of the fall of man. Seeing that the last men- tioned covering is comparatively rare in creation tales, but in paradise-stories quite common, we may conclude that it has been taken from the latter into the former.
In some Central Asian creation tales in which the dog also THE CREATION OF MAN
377
appears, the devil, during God’s absence, blows a spirit into the man whom God has created.
The following Altaic tale relates that Ülgen created the first man, using earth for flesh and stone for bones, and made a woman of the man’s rib. But he had no spirit to give them and was forced to go in search of one. On starting he created a hairless dog to guard the pair. This time the dog received its hair-covering by eating the excrement of the devil. The latter then blew a spirit into the people with a reed, which he inserted in the rectum of the sleeping bodies. When Ülgen returned and saw his people alive he was doubtful as to what he should do, whether to create new human beings or not. While he was considering, the frog came up to him and said: «Why shouldest thou destroy these beings. Let them exist for themselves. Who dies, let him diej who lives, let him live.” And so Ülgen let the people live.20
In another tale two creators, Otshirvani and Chagan- Shukuty, built together a human body. The latter said to the former: “We have created a man, we must yet find him a spirit to make him alive.” Otshirvani remarked that the devil might steal the body in their absence, and therefore they de- cided to set a naked dog to guard it. While they were away the devil arrived, bribed the dog by promising him hair, and light- ing some flax blew the smoke into man’s nostrils. Then man arose and began to walk. To their surprise the gods on re- turning saw that man had already begun to live.21
We find thus that in Central and Northern Asia two cycles of tales are known, in one of which the devil soils the human body which God has created, while in the other the devil gives life to a God-created man. The purpose of both these cycles of tales is to explain the unexpected deficiencies in a being of God’s creation. The former tales represent perhaps a more materialistic conception, dwelling as they do on the weaknesses of the human body, and chiefly on the filth inside it and the diseases caused by this, although in certain East European
i 378 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
variants wicked, sinful tendencies also are the result of the devil’s touch. The latter cycle of tales endeavours to explain man’s mental deficiencies. This appears even from the fol- lowing Altaic story, in which, however, only the capricious character of woman is under consideration.
When Ülgen had created the earth he made seven masculine beings upon it and seven trees, one tree for each man. After that he created yet an eighth man named Maidere and a tree “upon the golden mountain.” Having created these beings God left them to their own resources and departed. After seven years he returned and saw that each tree had grown seven branches, one branch each year, but the number of men had not increased. God said: “ What is the meaning of this? The trees bring forth new branches but the number of men does not increase?” Then Maidere replied:“How could they, increase when there is none able to procreate? ” • God now gave Maidere the power to rule freely over men and to take care that they increased, and so Maidere stepped down from the golden mountain, went to the men and began to create a woman, just as Ülgen had created him. On the third day, when he had finished, the woman was ready, but without a spirit, so Maidere went out to meet Ülgen and left the dog to guard the being he had made. The wicked Erlik, by brib- ing the dog, succeeded in approaching the woman. He blew at once into her nostrils with a seven-toned flute and played into her ear with a nine-stringed instrument, woman thus receiving a spirit and an intellect But for this reason woman has seven tempers and nine moods. When Maidere hurried back, he saw the living woman and said to the dog: “ Why didst thou let Erlik come so near, how did he deceive thee? ” The dog replied: “ Erlik promised me a fur-coat which should last unto my death and be neither hot in summer nor cold in winter,” Then Maidere said to him: “ The garment promised thee shall be a hairy covering which shall grow fast on to thy body.” At the same time he cursed the dog, prophesying that THE CREATION OF MAN 379
people should always treat him ill, that he should be compelled to live under the sky, etc.22
Thus, even in this tale, the originally naked dog has an important part. The existence of this common feature in all the creation tales gives us reason to assume that they all have a common root, in whatever variants they may appear. To this common root both the devil as spoiler of the people whom God had created, and the dog which guards them, have be- longed. The strictly dualistic conception of this original root, a conception which appears early in the religion of the Iranians, where also the dog, that originally, sacred animal, the expeller of evil beings, and the creation of Ahura Mazda, had a very important place, raises the assumption that our tale, as Dahn- * hardt has indicated, is the outcome of an Iranian mental at- mosphere, originating probably among the Syrian Christians, and from them wandering both to Eastern Europe and to Central and North Asia. The access into Western Europe for this, as for later oriental-syncretistic legends, was more difficult.
Our tale about the seven men continues by relating how Maidere inquires of these, which of them will take the woman to whom the devil has given life for his partner. Three of them at once refuse absolutely and escape to the golden moun- tain where they become assistant spirits to God, or Burkhans. The other four remain on the earth, and Ülgen takes two ribs from each side of one of them, Targyn-nama, and of them makes him a wife.23
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That these four rivers of the Kalmuck tales have their source at the very centre of the earth, is shown by the fact that they are believed to carry with them the materials decorating the sides of the central mountain. The eastern river contains silver sand, the southern blue jewel sand, the western red jewel sand and the northern gold sand.
There can be no doubt of the fact that these ideas of the Kalmucks have come down to them from India along with the currents of civilization, even though these four rivers of paradise have, as the Bible shows, been known also to the Semitic race. CHAPTER VI
DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD
BESIDES the destruction caused by the subsidence of the pillar supporting the sky, other dangers also are be- lieved to threaten the earth peopled by men. To the idea that the earth is situated on the bosom of a great cosmic ocean is at- tached the fear that the foundations of the earth may give way or that it may become inundated. The Asian tales of the dif- ferent periods of the earth relate how a great flood once de- stroyed all life on it, and how a human being who escaped became the ancestor of a new race of men. Tales of this description are met with also among the Altaic peoples. Whether these are founded on ancient borrowings, and whether they contain any direct remainders of such loans, is difficult to conclude 5 in their present state, as known to us, they would seem to represent later currents of civilization. One may as- sume, however, that later arriving legends have been prone to sweep aside the more ancient forms of this tale.
A very common modern form is found in the following Buriat tale: Before the flood arrived, Burkhan advised a cer- tain man to build himself a great ship. Following the advice of God, the man went to the forest, where he worked through- out the days. At last his wife, becoming curious, wished to know what her husband worked at so industriously in the forest. To keep his intention secret, the man replied that he chopped wood there. While the man was away, the devil, Shitkur, came to the woman explaining that her husband had deceived her and that he was building a great ship in the forest. And in the end the devil begged the woman to help him, saying: “ The ship will soon be ready and thy husband will 3$2 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
invite thee to enter it, but do thou refuse, and when he be- comes angry and strikes thee, say to him: ‘Why, dost thou strike me, Shitkur? ’ When thou enterest the ship after this, I shall accompany thee.” The woman promised to follow the advice of the devil. Soon a great flood threatened to destroy the whole earth and the builder of the ship exhorted his family to enter his vessel, but the wife resisted so long that the man became angry and began to beat her. The wife then said, as the devil had taught her: £< Why dost thou strike me, Shitkur? ” When she finally went on board, the devil was enabled to accompany her. The tale tells in addition hows with the help of Burkhan, the man gathered specimens of all the animals into his ship with the exception of the Prince of animals (Argalan-Zon), which deemed itself so large that no flood could drown it. Having entered the vessel, the devil changed himself into a mouse and began to gnaw holes in the bottom of the vessel, until Burkhan created the cat to catch the mouse. As the flood was so great that it destroyed all the animals left on the earth, the Prince of animals, whose bones may be found in the earth today, was also drowned.1 Ac- cording to other tales the animal which failed to survive the flood was the mammoth.2
In a tale recorded among the Sagaiyes, in which the builder of the ship is called Noj, the devil tempts his wife to inquire what he is building in the forest, and having found out, begins to destroy by night what Noj builds during the day. Thus, when the flood begins, the vessel is not yet completed, and God is forced to send down to the man a vessel of iron, in which Noj with his wife and family and all kinds of animals are saved.3
In both tales, our attention is called to the part played by the devil; otherwise they resemble the Bible story of the flood. The Nor .of these tales is unquestionably the Noah of the Bible.
The corresponding tales of the Irtysh Ostiaks and the South- DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 363
ern Voguls make the devil give the wife of the hero of the flood a strong drink, by the help of which she entices her husband to relate his secret. The Ostiaks call the man by a name borrowed from the Tatars, Pairekse.4
A legend corresponding in all its details is known also to the peoples of East Europe, where it is probably of literary origin. It is to be found at least in the Russian version of the Revelations of Pseudo-Methodius. With Russian settlers it may possibly have migrated in this form to Siberia, where told by these, it has been written down, e.g., in the territory behind the Baikal. In its chief points, this Russian legend is as follows: In order to find out why Noah is building his ark, the devil advises his wife to prepare a strong drink, having drunk of which Noah, in a state of intoxication, informs his wife of the secret entrusted to him by God. The devil dis- turbs Noah in his work, and when the ark is at last completed, he creeps into it in the company of Noah’s wife, who has tempted her husband into pronouncing the devil’s name. Ar- rived in the ark, in the guise of a mouse, he gnaws holes in the bottom of the ark.5
The flood tale of Pseudo-Methodius is without doubt a late Eastern apocryphal legend founded on the Bible story. That the wife of Noah, who is not especially mentioned in the Bible, was also the subject of tales among the Arabians, is suggested by the passage in the Koran, in which Noah’s wife is mentioned, together with the wife of Lot, as being among the damned. Further, the manner in which the devil succeeds in entering the ark in the company of Noah’s wife, greatly resembles the following Islamic tale, as already pointed out by Dahnhardt: When the ark was completed and all the animals hurried there in pairs, Noah saw that the ass lingered behind j annoyed, he shouted to it: u Come in, thou accursed! ” This moment was taken advantage of by the evil Iblis, who answered, when the astonished Noah asked him how he had come into the ark: “I came at thine invitation, there being among the 364 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
creations of God none accursed but I.”6 There are, how- ever, no indications that the already cited tales could have spread into Siberia from Islam.
Nearer the Bible story than any other ancient flood tale known to us, is the following Altaic tale: “Up to the time when the flood (jmk) hid all the earth, Tengys (Sea) was lord over the earth. During his rule there lived a man called Nama, a good man, whom Ülgen commanded to build an ark (kerep). Nama, who had three sons, Sozun-uul, Sar-uul, and Balyks, was already failing of sight and therefore left the building of the ark to his sons. When the ark, which was built on a mountain, was completed, Nama told his sons to hang from its corners and walls eight cables of eighty fathoms each, by the help of which he could later determine c how many days it takes for the water to rise eighty fathoms/ After this had been done, Nama entered the ark, taking with him his family and the various animals and birds which, threatened by the ris- ing waters, gathered around him. Seven days later the cables attached to the earth gave way and the ark drifted free. This showed that the water had already risen eighty fathoms. When seven days had elapsed again, Nama told his eldest son to open the window of the ark and to look around. Sozun-uul looked in all directions and then said: c Everything has sunk under the waters, only the summits of the mountains are in sight/ Later, when ordered by his father to look out again, he was able to answer: c Nothing is to be seen, only the sky and the waters/ At last the ark stopped on eight closely situated mountains. Then Nama himself opened the window and set free the raven, which, however, did not return. On the second day he released the crow, and on the third the rook, but neither of these returned. On the fourth day. he sent out the dove, which returned with a twig of birch in its beak. From this bird Nama also heard why the other birds had not returned. The raven had found the carcase of a deer, the crow that of a dog, and the rook that of a horse, Which they had DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 365
stayed behind to devour. Hearing this, Nama became enraged and laid a curse on these birds, saying: 1 What they are doing now, let them continue with to the end of the world! 9 99 The tale goes on to relate that when Nama had become very old, his wife exhorted him to kill all the men and animals he had saved from the flood, so that, being transferred to the other world, they would be under his power there also. Under the ceaseless exhortations of his wife, Nama became restless and did not know what to do. Then his son Sozun-uui, who knew the intentions of his mother but did not dare to oppose her openly, related to his father the following incident: WI saw a blue-black cow devouring a human being so that only the legs were any longer to be seen.” Having understood this fable, Nama seized his sword and cleft his wife in two, begin- ning at the head. Finally Nama removed to heaven, taking his son Sozun-uul with him, and changing the latter into a constellation of five stars.7
Thus, in this tale also, the wife of the hero of the flood is pictured as a wicked person. Otherwise, the tale differs greatly from the preceding dualistic tales and has obviously reached Central Asia apart from these. Among some of the Altaic peoples the hero of the flood has also become the object of certain beliefs. As such he is often called Jaik-Khan (<£ the Flood Prince ”) and is prayed to as the intervener between the Over-god and man, and as the protector of man. In some places a white lamb is sacrificed to him annually in the spring. The sacrifice is carried out on a high mountain. He is also supposed to be the ruler of the dead, and as such is invited to the house-purification ceremonies forty days after a death, and begged to return the domestic animals, which the dead, according to the people, sometimes take with them. In the shaman rites also he is often spoken with and desired to con- vey the prayers of the people to the Over-god.8 His dwelling- place is situated in the third heaven, where the paradise of the blessed is, and from there, at suitable times, he sends his mes- $66 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
senger with a soul for a child born on the earth. In this capacity he is called Jajutshi (a the Orderer ”).9
These ideas of the Altai Tatars correspond to those which the Irtysh Ostiaks have borrowed for their Pairekse from the Tatars. As we have already seen, the latter also is regarded as the hero of the flood, appearing besides in some tales as the a Writer man,” who writes in heaven, in the Book of Fate, according to the dictation of God, how long and in what cir- cumstances a human being is to live on the earth.
Not only as the ancestor of the present human race, but also as a kind of Creator does the hero of the flood appear in the flood tales of the Soyots: When the giant frog (turtle) supporting the earth happened to move once, the cosmic ocean began to flood the earth. A certain old man who had guessed that something of the kind would happen, built a raft strengthened with iron, placed himself upon it with his family, and was saved. With the decline of the waters the raft grounded on a high wooded mountain, where it is said to be still. After the flood, this Kezer-Tshingis-Kaira-Khan re- created everything we now see around us. He is especially mentioned as having taught people how to prepare strong drinks, an invention accredited also to the hero of the Bible story»10
How deeply the story of the flood has taken root in the beliefs of the peoples around the Altai, is shown by their obstinate belief that the raft or the ark is still today on the summit of one of the local mountains, where, however, it is not good for man to search for it, as none have returned from the spot alive. In Other places, tradition tells that on the site of the grounding of the ark, great nails have been found, believed to be remains of the vessel of the flood.11
But in what manner can the hero of the flood have risen to godlike eminence, to be the object of worship, and have had ascribed to him so wide a field of action as he actually has among the Altaic peoples? Without doubt, the beliefs of the DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 367
Iranians may, be regarded as having brought this about. Their “ First Man,” Yima, who was worshipped as the ruler over souls, was at the same time the hero of the flood. This ruler is met with in Altai Tatar tales as Schal-Jime, the first part of the name being a deformation of a Thibetan word meaning “ Prince of Death.” In one Altaic creation-tale God says: “ Thou art my man, Schal-Jime j look well after the man who has tasted strong drink, and little children, foals, calves and lambs j those dying happily take to thee l ”13 According to the preceding, Schal-Jime, like Jaik-Khan, is the ruler over in- fants and those dying happily.
Some of the more northern peoples of Siberia tell how the flood brought about the origin of many races and many lan- guages, a question dealt with in the Bible in connection with the tower of Babel. The Ugrians tell how the people saved on their rafts drifted in different directions, settling after the flood in different parts of the earth.13 In the same way, with- out mentioning any special hero, the Yenisei Ostiaks relate: When the water rose continuously during seven days, part of the people and animals were saved by climbing on to the logs and rafters floating on the water. But a strong north wind, which blew without ceasing for seven days, scattered the people far from one another. And for this reason they, began, after the flood, to speak different languages and to form different peoples.14
Original and unaffected as these tales appear to be, especially in the frequently flooded Yenisei district, where the hated north wind often causes trouble, we cannot even here, in this primitive state, assume the story to have originated in North Siberia. Above all, the influence of foreign flood tales seems to be apparent in the seven-day periods of time. Compared with the former tales, however, these latter would seem to represent a new type.
Far away in the north, on the tundras of the Samoyeds, a flood tale has also been recorded, in which, as in the ancient SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
368
Indian tales, seven persons are said to have been saved in a boat. The Samoyeds go on to relate how, after the flood, a terrible drought followed, so that these survivors were nearly dying of thirst. From this disaster, however, they were saved by digging a deep hole in the ground, in which water formed. More difficult was the finding of nourishment. This caused all but one young man and one maid to die of hunger, these two having started to eat the mice which came out of the ground. From this couple the present human race is descended.15
For the sake of comparison a flood tale from North-East Siberia may be given, according to which people were saved by binding together trunks of trees into great rafts. Establish- ing themselves on these, they took with them sufficient provi- sions for the duration of the flood. To prevent the rafts from drifting out to sea, the people fastened rocks to long ropes which were then dropped to the bottom as anchors. Finally, these log-rafts grounded on a high mountain.16 In the above form this story is told, e.g., by the Kamchadales.
Besides a destructive flood, some of the North Siberian peoples speak also of a great conflagration, which once de- stroyed all life on the earth. The Tungus from behind the Baikal describe it as follows: In the beginning was the earth, but then a great fire raged for seven years and the earth was burned up. Everything became sea. All the Tungus were consumed 'except a boy and a girl who rose up with an eagle into the sky. Having wandered for a time in the air, they descended to a place where the water had dried up. With them the eagle also descended to the earth.17
Of an all-devouring conflagration the Voguls also speak, telling how God sent a sea of fire upon the earth in order to destroy the devil. The cause of the fire they call “ the fire- water.” In the destruction of all creation, only the gods and a few mortals succeeded in saving themselves. The former placed themselves on an “iron ship,” the latter on a “seven- bottomed beech-raft,” which was provided in addition with DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD 369
a fireproof, sevenfold cover of sturgeon-skin. The tale gives thus the same means of escape as the ordinary flood tales, which the conflagration tales of the Voguls otherwise resemble.
The tales of the Voguls also tell of a recurring conflagration, the fearful thunder of which the “ Earth-watching man ” hears from afar. This hero decides to ride through the fire, “ one side of which glows in the heights of the sky, the other burning at both corners of the sky.” With the help of his magic horse he succeeds also in his attempt. Munkacsi believes the Aurora Borealis to have been the original source of these ideas.18 This he assumes is meant by the “ sea of fire ” through which the hero rides for seven days. Obviously, this great phenomenon of North Siberia has played a great part in awakening the imagination of the people, the white streaks appearing among the Northern Lights being sometimes called “The track of the white horse of the Earth-watching man,” but even then this tale can hardly have been born among the Ugrians. A hero riding across a sea of fire on a magic steed is a story- theme met with over a wide area. Neither can the steed be identified with the eagle of the Tungus tale, although the con- flagration tales of the two peoples seem to have much in common. As mentioned before, the fire in the Tungus tale lasts for seven years, corresponding to the description in the Vogul tale: “Already for seven winters and summers the fire has raged, already for seven winters and summers it has burnt up the earth.”19
Conflagration tales have also been noted down elsewhere in Asia. Thus, for instance, in East India it is told how God, as mankind sank deeper into sin, sent a flood of fire on to the earth, here also called “water of fire.” Two people only, brother and sister, were saved by, hiding themselves.20 The ancient civilized peoples of Nearer Asia would also seem to have known these conflagration tales.
Quite obvious is the alien influence in such Central Asian SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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tales which tell how a great fire will occur at the end of the world and bum up the whole earth.
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This life-giving tree is, according to the Yakut tales, the dwelling-place of “ the First Man ”5 and therefore some sort of paradise. When “ the First Man,” on appearing on the earth, wished to know why he had been created, he approached this giant tree, the crown of which “ pierces through the three- storeyed Heaven ” and “ along the branches of which a light- coloured liquid flows ” bringing blessedness to the one tasting it, and saw an opening appear in the trunk, from which opening a female, visible only to the waist, informed him that he had been created to become the father of the human race.8
A variant of this same tale describes “ the First Man ” as “the White Youth.” “Above the wide motionless depths, below the seven storeys, the nine discs of heaven, in the central place, on the navel of the earth, in the quietest place, where the moon does not decline, nor the sun sink, where there is summer without winter and the cuckoo sings eternally, was the White Youth.” He set out to walk to see where he had appeared, and what his dwelling-place was like. In the east he saw a wide, lightish plain, on the plain a mighty hill and on the hill a giant tree. The resin of the tree was transparent and sweetly perfumed, its bark never dried or cracked, its sap was silvery, its leaves never withered and its cones were like a row of reversed goblets. The crown of the tree rose over the seven storeys of Heaven, being the tethering-post of the Over-god Yryn-ai-tojon, and its roots went deep down into the underground depths where they were the dwelling- pillars of the strange mythical beings there. By means of its leaves the tree talked with the dwellers in Heaven. 352 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
Walking southward the White Youth saw a calm “lake of milk ” in the centre of a green, grassy plain, which lake was never rippled by. a breath of wind and on the shores of which were curdled swamps. In the north was a dark forest, where the trees rustled day and night and where all manner of animals moved. Behind the forest rose high mountains, bear- ing caps that resembled white rabbit-skin; the mountains leaned against the heavens, protecting these from cold winds. In the west grew a low tangle of bushes, behind these a high forest of firs, and behind the forest solitary blunt-headed mountains were just discernible.
Such was the world, in which the White Youth saw the light of day. Tired of his lonely existence he approached the tree of life and said: “ Honoured High Mistress, Spirit of my tree and my dwelling-place, everything living moves in couples and gives birth to descendants, but I am alone. I wish to travel and seek a partner worthy of me, I wish to know other people and measure my strength against them, I wish to live as a man should. Do not refuse thy blessing, I pray to thee with humbled, bowed head and with bent knees.”
Then the leaves of the tree commenced to rustle and a fine milk-white rain dripped from them upon the White Youth. A warm zephyr was felt, the tree creaked, and from under its roots a female being arose up to her waist. This spirit of the tree and of the place is described by. the tale as a grave-eyed, middle-aged woman with flowing locks and naked bosom. The goddess offered the Youth milk from her swelling breasts, and having drunk, he felt how his powers had grown a hundred- fold. At the same time .the goddess promised him every happiness and blessed him so that neither water, fire, iron nor anything else could harm him.9
It is obvious that this tale cannot have originated among the Yakuts in the cold atmosphere of North-East Siberia, but, as the glowing description of Paradise hints at, in the lap of a much richer and more fertile nature. With the help of the PLATE XLIII
Old Turkish Memorial Image in North
Mongolia
(See page 301.)
After photograph by S. Palsi. ? ' r’
; f;
i
L
i THE TREE OF LIFE 353
description of nature in the tale, in which the mountains with white caps resembling rabbit-skin appearing in the north are obviously snow-clad mountains, we can endeavour to find the birthplace of this story, which pre-supposes the knowledge both of a fertile vegetation and of snow-clad mountains. We turn naturally then either to India or Nearer Asia. But the para- dise landscape cannot, however, as such be used as a guide, as the “lake of milk” and other details belong to the beliefs connected with the navel of the earth. In addition the land- scape differs somewhat in the different variants.
Before examining the above tale more minutely, we will glance at a few additional details throwing more light on the tree of life, these details being contained in the examples of the Yakut language published by Middendorff. In these the first man, a the ancestor of the Yakuts,” is called Ar-soghotoch (“ the Lonely Man ”). His dwelling also is spoken of, which is in the centre of the plain and has four silver-gleaming corners, forty windows, fifty pillars, and thirty roof-trees j the walls and the golden floor are fourfold and the silver roof threefold. Altogether this dwelling would therefore seem to have possessed seven storeys. The tree of life itself is de- scribed in the following words: “When he comes out of his dwelling on to the balcony towards the east to see the land- scape, he has before him the king of trees, which grows among the grass. This tree over which swings the blue air, is so old that its age cannot be reckoned in centuries. Its roots stretch through Hades and its crown pierces the nine heavens. The length of each leaf is seven fathoms and that of the cones nine fathoms. From under its roots foams the c eternal water.5 When its aged, starved and weary, white or dark cattle, its flying or running game, drink or lick the sap and resin which drip from this tree’s branches and cones, gathering and form- ing a brawling stream, they acquire again their former youth and overflowingness.” It is further related that when the spirit of the tree, “ a white-haired aged goddess,” mottled of SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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body like a woodcock and with breasts as large as ££ leather- bags,” appears, the tree creaks and groans, growing smaller, until with the re-entrance of the goddess it regains its former size. From this spirit of the tree the Lonely Man receives the knowledge that his father is the Heaven god Ar-tojon (££ The High Lord ”) and his mother Kybai-Khotun (££ Kybai Mistress ”), who had immediately after his birth lowered him from the third heaven to the earth so that he might become the forefather of the human race. At the same time the spirit takes water from under the roots of the tree and pours it into a bladder, which she gives to her ward, saying: ££ Fasten this Under thy left arm, in the uttermost danger it will save thee.” Later, according to the tale, the hero fights a duel on a court- ship journey with a wicked dragon, receiving a blow in the heart, but the bladder bursting at the same time and its con- tents flowing on to the wound, his heart becomes immediately whole, giving him in addition his powers back ninefold.10
Where and how the tree of life ideas in this Yakut tale may have originated in the mists of antiquity, related tales are already met with among the ancient peoples in India, in Iran, in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt. As is well known, the corre- sponding'beliefs of the ancient Semites are reflected in the Bible: <£ And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, . . .” As in the Yakut tale the first man dwells here beside the tree of life. Similarly the nourishment afforded by the tree gives eternal life. The same conceptions appear from the following words from the Book of Revelation: ££ To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” And for the belief that the water of life flows under the roots of the tree we find a counterpart in other words from the same book: ££ And he shewed me a pure river of Water of life ... and on either side of the river was there the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded THE TREE OF LIFE
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her fruit every, month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Here we find also the health-giving properties of the tree of life mentioned. It is thus obvious that the Yakut tale and the images in the Bible are derived from a common foundation idea. In the former there are several additional details, such as the milk-breasted goddess, which are unknown to the Bible and cannot be regarded as hav- ing sprung from legends formed on the Bible stories, but must have had some other tale related to this as model.
Just as many of the Central and Northern Asian tales-place the tree of life on a high hill or mountain, even in Heaven it- self, so the Semitic paradise was imagined to be, sometimes on the central mountain of the earth, sometimes in Heaven. From the fact that the ancient Babylonians already in olden times knew of the paradise-mountain of the gods, the tree, and the water of life, we may conclude that this belief, relics of which have come down to us from ancient times, is of extreme age among the civilized peoples of Nearer Asia.
The corresponding beliefs in Indian mythology are pointed to further by the above mentioned Central Asian tale in which the mighty world-tree is situated on the Sumeru mountain. That this tree was the tree of life, the following tale, likewise from Central Asia, shows: “In the beginning was no land, only water out of which rose two great mountains. On the summit of one were three temples, harbouring thirty-three Tengeri or gods. At the foot of the mountain was a triangular plain, from which rose the extremely high Zambu tree, with its crown higher than the mountain. The Tengeri ate of its fruit, but the beings living under the tree, the Asuras, shouted to the Tengeri: ‘Why do you eat from the tree growing on our land?5 The Asuras became at last so inflamed that they commenced to war against the Tengeri j in this war, however, they lost and were vanquished. The gods then threw down sand from the mountain, and even gold, and in this way the earth was created, on to which two gods, male and 356 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
female, descended in order to people the earth with their descendants.”11
In the beginning of the tale, two eternal mountains are thus mentioned, which appear thousands of years earlier in the cos- mology of the ancient civilized peoples of Nearer Asia, but only one is described in detail, the Tengeri dwelling on the summit of which are the thirty-three gods of the Sumeru mountain of Indian mythology. Similarly, the beings dwell- ing at the foot of the mountain are the Asura giants of India, who were believed to dwell in the bottomless chasms of Meru, and from there warred against Indra and other gods. The Zambu tree also, from which the gods were nourished is, as the name shows, the Indian tree of life, Jambu. According to Buddhistic mythology this tree has sixteen large branches but a multitude of smaller ones. Its ruddy-grey leaves are as fine as the purest silk and its flowers glowing like gold. In its fruit there are hundreds of sweet lumps, of the size of goose-eggs, which drive away all diseases. The golden-yellow sap of the tree drips like melting butter. The beings living around procure their nourishment from this tree of life.12
It is probable that the idea of a tree of life among the Indians has its roots in distant ages, as already in the poems of the Veda the immortality-producing nourishment of Soma, which grew on a mountain, is mentioned. Corresponding to this is the Haoma of Iranian mythology, imagined as a fertile, golden-flowered tree of life and as such placed on the central mountain of the world, Hara Berezaiti. The Rauhina tree of the Indian poem Suparnadhyaya, from which a mythological eagle, the Garuda, known as the robber of Soma, breaks off a branch, is probably also a relic of a tree of life, in which the said bird, according to earlier ideas, was believed to live. In the folk-poetry of the Iranians we meet with this mythological bird in the crown of the tree of life.
The Indian tales cannot, however, be regarded as the model for the Yakut tale mentioned. Their tree of life resembles THE TREE OF LIFE
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more the ancient Egyptian pictures, in which a date-palm de- scribed as being partly a tree and partly a woman, gives to its ward nourishment producing eternal life. Sometimes this tree is seen pictured on the brink of the spring of the water of life.13
The tree of life of the Yakuts with its goddess appearing from the roots resembles also the Yggdrasil of the Icelandic Edda, “ Which is the greatest and best of all trees,” whose “ branches cover the whole earth and rise over the heavens,” whose “ tall trunk is hidden by. a white fluid ” and which will “stagger first when the world ends.” Under this “ openly flourishing tree, dripping honey-dew” is a wonderful spring, Urdarbrunn, beside which under the roots of the tree live the three deities of birth and fate, the Norns. If we compare Yggdrasil with the Yakut tree of life, it becomes obvious that they are identical, even to their details, with the exception that under the tree of life of the Scandinavian poem there are three, and under the Yakut, only one goddess.
The eagle also of the Edda, which sits in the crown of the tree, and the Nidhugg snake under its roots are details closely connected with the tree of life of Central Asia. The Kalmucks relate how a dragon in the sea at the foot of the Zambu tree lay in wait for the leaves dropping from Zambu. The leaves which it failed to catch, sinking to the bottom, turned into gold there.14 In the Buriat poems a mythological snake called Abyrga is said to dwell at the foot of the tree in a “ lake of milk.” 18 In certain Central Asian tales the Abyrga snake twines round the tree itself, while at the same time the Garide eagle living in the crown attacks and pecks at it.16 This Garide, which when flying furiously causes storms, is, as the name indicates, the Indian Garuda, the well-known robber of Soma.
The precursors of the Yakut tales have probably been the paradise ideas of the ancient Iranians, like the beliefs of the West Siberian peoples, who place this mighty tree on “ the 35$ SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
iron mountain ” rising from the centre of the earth-disc. From ancient Persian literature we see that they, also called the cen- tral mountain of the earth Hara Berezaiti, “ the iron moun- tain,” on the summit of which they believed the tree of life to be. On this mountain where, under the tree of life, is the spring of the water of life, Ardvisura, and the paradise of the Iranians, dwells the first man, Gajomartan, as in the Yakut paradise. Like the latter the Iranians also pictured him as a a white ” being.17 With the help of these facts we can assume that the tale in question has spread along with a current of civilization from the Iranians to the Turco-Tatar peoples, and . with the Yakuts wandered to the distant River Lena, where their folk-lore was able to preserve it as near the original as has been shown, and thus to hand down to the present generation a valuable relic of the paradise ideas of the Iranians and the whole East, of which ideas only scanty and scattered fragments are to be found in ancient literature.
With the greater reason, therefore, do we turn our attention to the Yakut conception of the tree of life. From the pre- ceding tales we have seen that besides u the First Man,” the whole of the animals of creation dwell near the tree, and that it is regarded as the nourisher of them all. But in the begin- ning the tree would seem to have had a still more marvellous significance. A variant of the tale describes how the Over-god and the goddess of Birth and Fate, Kybai-Khotun, the name also of the spirit dwelling in the tree, gave birth to the first man in the third heaven, from which he was lowered down to the earth ; but despite this, the other version goes on to details showing how the ancestor of the human race really appeared in his life-giving surroundings. His curiosity as to where he has come from leads him to the conclusion that he has been born in those very surroundings. This appears, e.g., from his words: “If I had dropped down from heaven, I should be covered with snow and hoar-frost, if I had come from the south or the north, from th’e east or the west of the central THE TREE OF LIFE
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place (the earth), I should bear marks of trees and grass and I should give out the scent of the wind; if I had risen from the bowels of the earth, I should have the dust of the earth on me.”18 It appears probable, therefore, that the milk-breasted goddess of the wonderful tree has given birth to him and that “ the First Man ” is right in saying to her: “ Be my mother, as though thou hadst given birth to me; be my creator, as though thou hadst created me.” Motherly care is also defined in the words: “ Thou hast brought up me, an orphan, to man’s estate, thou hast suffered me, the little one, to grow up.”19
Further, we can hardly be mistaken in assuming that all the living beings crowded round this tree have the spirit to thank for their existence. Man at least confesses: rt Thou hast brought up my white cattle, for my black beasts hast thou cared, protected my, birds and my game, and kept together the fishes of my black waters.”20
With the Central Asian ideas of the tree of life, as an essen- tial feature, we have seen the belief connected that under the roots of the tree is a spring containing the water of life. In the tales of the Yakuts the tree itself is sometimes said to drip a sap-like fluid so copiously, that a foaming brook is formed. Under the Iranian tree of life there is a spring in which all the rivers of the earth have their source. Even the belief that the tree of life rises out of a lake or sea of wonderful water is met with.
Thus, e.g., the Kalmucks tell how the Zambu tree rises out of the Marvo Sea, which is as deep as it is broad and contains water of eight different elements. From this sea run four great rivers. These are said to flow towards the different points of the compass and, after having made seven turnings, to return to their source of origin. On their journey, each river receives the waters of five hundred tributaries. The sea itself is regarded as a mountain-lake, as each river pierces a rock, said to resemble some animal. The rivers flowing towards the east, south, west, and north emerge from rocks which are SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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respectively like the mouths of an elephant, a bull, a horse, and a lion.21 The animals in this tale represent the points of the compass, a belief extremely, old among the civilized peoples of Asia, though the animals themselves may vary. Thus, in the Chinese tale the east is represented by a blue dragon, the south by a red bird, the west by a white tiger, and the north by a black turtle. To prevent diseases the Mongols are said to have built on the site of an old Chinese town a sanc- tuary (obo), at the four sides of which they erected wooden images of the points of the compass, i.e., a tiger, a lion, an eagle, and a dragon.22
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The tree, along which the Altai shaman rises into Heaven, though furnished with divisions, is not really a post, but a leaf- crowned birch-tree. Thus, we find here an intermediate stage between the above mentioned world-pillars and the branched world-tree supposed to rise from the centre of the earth. As the holy pillars of the Ostiaks had either seven divisions or seven branches, so an Abakan Tatar hero-poem tells of wthe white, seven-branched birch-tree on an iron mountain in the centre of the earth.”22 But before describing in detail this mighty tree reigning over the earth’s centre, we must first turn our attention to the mountain in this same region, from the summit of which, according to many tales, the tree arises. CHAPTER IV
THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN HE MAJORIT.Y of the peoples of Central Asia have
tales of a mighty world-mountain, which the Mongols and Kalmucks call Sumur or Sumer, and the Buriats Sumbur. In whatever form this mountain is imagined, it is connected always with the cosmography, of these peoples, forming its centre. Assuming that the world was formerly small and has gradually grown to its present size, the folk-tales tell of a distant time, when Sumur was only a very little hill.1 Now its summit aspires to heights unattainable by man, offering thus to the gods a dwelling-place worthy, of them.
Although the Altai peoples have worshipped their moun- tains, especially the Altai, adored in many tales, which they called the “ prince,” 2 the conception of a central mountain of the earth-disc was not bound to any of the Central' Asian mountains, but came from abroad, ready-shaped to a particular cosmography. It is worthy of note that this mythical mountain is often placed in Heaven itself. Thus, the Over-god Bai- Ylgön (“rich-great”) lives in Heaven “on a golden moun- tain.” 3 Similarly, the tales of the Yakuts tell of the “ milky- white stone mountain ” of Heaven.4 Often this mountain is
i
described as rising in storeys, the number of which varies, but is generally the same as the number of storeys into which Heaven is divided among that particular people. A certain Central Asian tale describes the central mountain of the earth- disc as “ three-stepped.” 6 The Ostiaks speak of the “ seven- storied mountain ” of Heaven.6 Even Heaven itself is some- times imagined as a mountain of this description j its underside, which we mortals see, is like a rounded arch. An Altaic crea- 342 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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tion tale relates how Ülgen when creating the earth, sat on a “ golden mountain ” where the sun and the moon always shine, and how this mountain later descended, hiding the earth} the edges of the sky did not, however, reach to the earth itself/
The idea of a heavenly mountain appears also in the follow- ing tale of the Goldes living in North-East Siberia: “When the gods built Heaven, they made it of stone, but when it was ready, the people below began to be afraid that it would fall down on them, wherefore the gods blew under the arch so that the air thus formed hid the arch from the sight of men.” 8 Without doubt, this picture of Heaven is closely connected with “ the mountain ” and has developed from it. This idea of the stone arch cannot have arisen among the Goldes, as this structure is quite unknown to them, as it is to all other North Siberian tribes.
In the tales of the Mongols, Buriats, and Kalmucks the world-mountain — Sumbur, Sumur, or Sumer — has a name in which the central mountain of the inhabitants of India, Sumeru, is easily recognized, and the beliefs connected with the same have spread ready-formed along with a stream of civilization from India to the peoples of Central Asia. Whether this mountain Sumeru or Meru originated in India, in connection with some actual mountain there, is difficult to say. As far back as can be traced it has been a cosmologic belief.
Where then, is the summit of this earth-mountain? We might suppose it to be at the summit of Heaven, directly above us, and, as such, the apex of a hollow sky. It was not, how- ever, envisaged thus, but instead, its peak rises to the sky at the North Star where the axis of the sky is situated, and where, on the peak, the dwelling of the Over-god and his “golden throne ” are situated. To this idea points also the assumption, met with everywhere in Asia, that the world-mountain is in the north. This appears quite clearly in a Buriat tale reflecting Indian views of life: “ In the beginning was only water and a frog (turtle), which gazed into the water. God turned this THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN
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animal over and created the world on its belly. On each foot he built a continent, but on the navel of the frog he founded the Sumbur-mountain. On the summit of this mountain is the North Star.” In another tale in which a temple is placed on the summit of Sumbur, the North Star is the golden spire of the tower of this temple.9
The cosmic mountain rising in this part of the sky was known long ago to the great civilized peoples of Nearer Asia. This idea appears also in the Bible. In the 14th chapter of Isaiah a proud being, who wished to “ be like the most high,” is described in the following words: “ For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congre- gation, in the sides of the north.” As the throne of God is believed to be on the summit of the world-mountain in the north, this point of the compass was the direction of the prayers of the Mandeans.
Although the idea of this wonderful, cosmic mountain, as its name denotes, arose in India and travelled with a stream of civilization to the Mongol tribes, the same belief reached the Turco-Tatar peoples by other roads. The Sürö (“ Majesty ”) mountain, appearing in the tales of the Altai Tatars, has doubt- less originated in Persia, as also the seven gods, who are be- lieved to dwell on this heavenly mountain and whose name Kudai is a loan-word from the Persian.10 That the idea of the heavenly mountain was known also far away in Europe, is shown by the Himinbjorg (heaven-mountain) of Scandi- navian tales and by a Finnish poem on the origin of fire, in which it is asked where fire was born, the answer being: “ There on the navel of the sky, on the peak of the famous mountain.”11
In comparing the above traditions we notice in them two leading ideas, one in which this world-mountain is merely a giant mountain in the centre of the earth-disc with a summit touching the sky, another in which the mountain itself is situ- 344 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
ated in the sky, or the whole of the sky is imagined to be a mountain. Unless these ideas have a separate origin, the latter has in all probability developed from the former. The world-mountains of the ancient peoples •— at least the Sumeru of India and the Hara Berezaiti of the Iranians — were cosmic, central mountains of the earth-disc. The Bündahish explains how all the stars, both fixed stars and planets, move round the mountain, to which they are bound as to the world-post. In a very interesting manner, both ideas are joined in the Sumeru of Chinese pictures, the mountain here resembling an hour- glass, comparatively narrow at its centre and widening both upwards and downwards; the upper part widens to a sky cover- ing the earth.12 Still stranger forms can be seen in Japanese art, where this rather narrow central mountain widens at meas- ured intervals to represent the different storeys of Heaven.13 In this shape Sumeru resembles a tree rather than a mountain, and is well designed to throw light on the manner in which the branched world-tree may have developed from the world- pillar.
A Central Asian tale places on this high, three-stepped cen- tral mountain a still greater world-tree. That this mountain, imagined as being three great steps, was rectangular, is shown by the fact that the summit, on which the world-tree stood, was <£ a square-shaped area.” In addition, on each side of the mountain, there are said to be four mounds, which are called the four continents, believed by the inhabitants of India to be situated round Sumeru, one at each point of the compass. How impressive the view from the crown of the world-tree on the summit of the mountain is, appears from the fact, that looking from there, according to the tale, the earth floating in the ocean is no larger than the hoof of a horse. The height of the tree is pictured further by the idea that if a stone of the size of a bull is thrown down from there, it will reach the earth after the lapse of fifty years and then be no larger than a lamb.14 THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN
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To this heaven-mountain idea, there is thus also connected the idea of a world-ocean. In an Altaic creation tale the moun- tain and the ocean are said to have existed before the earth peopled by men was created.15
The same mountain and ocean appear in the tales of the Mongols, in which an evil giant snake called Losy is spoken of, the home of which is in the ocean under the earth. By squirt- ing poison on the earth, this being attempts to crush out life by killing men and animals. At the request of God the hero Otshirvani engaged this sea-monster in battle, but his powers were not sufficient to overcome it, and he nearly fell victim himself to the monster. Seeing this he fled from the earth and ascended the Sumer mountain where he changed himself to the mighty Garide bird. In this form he attacked the monster again, seized its head with his claws, dragging it three times round the world-mountain, and finally smashed in its head with a great rock. This giant snake is said to be so large that though its head is on the summit of the world-mountain, round which its body is wound three times, its tail is still in the ocean.18
This sea-monster, appearing in Central Asian tales also under the name of Abyrga, was known already among the ancient peoples of Asia. Along with Eastern myths and beliefs it wandered to Europe. In Scandinavia there are tales of the dreaded “ Midgard snake,” which “ squirts poison ” “ scatter- ing this over air and land.” At the end of the world, a when the sea will rise over the land ” and C£ the giant snake squirms in its wrath and crawls on to the earth,” Thor will at last succeed in killing it, falling dead himself from the poison which the snake will have ejected against him.
As alien as the snake itself, is its vanquisher, the Garide bird, which is said to live on Sumeru mountain and thus repre- sents the heavenly powers in the tales of the Mongols. Its name is identifiable with that of the Indian bird Garuda. The hero Otshirvani, who changes himself into a bird, is the Bud- SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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dhist Bodhisattva Vairapani, and is only an addition, taken from legends, to this ancient tale.
Furthest developed is the cosmography with the Sumeru mountain in its centre, found at the present time in the teach- ings brought by Lamaism into Central and Eastern Asia. Ac- cording to notes made among the Kalmucks the whole of the proportions of the universe is strictly fixed. The height of the central mountain is 8 0,000 leagues above the surface of the ocean, and at the same distance is its foundation in the world- ocean, where it rests on a stratum of gold, borne in its turn by a turtle. Round Sumeru there are seven circular a golden ” mountain chains, divided from this and from each other by seven seas. Naturally these seas also are ring-shaped. The nearer a mountain chain is to the central mountain, the higher it is. The first is 40,000 leagues, the second 20,000, the third 10,000, the fourth 5,000, the fifth 2,500, the sixth 1,250, and the seventh, or last, 625 leagues above the ocean. As with the height, the distance between these mountain chains is also exactly defined. The higher the mountains become, the further they are from each other. The distance of each from the central mountain is the same as their height. The water of each of these inland seas is fresh, but the last mountain chain is surrounded by a salt ocean, which in its turn is ringed in with an “ iron ” mountain chain 312^ leagues high. This iron chain, the circumference of which is 3,602,625 leagues and which is situated 322,000 leagues distant from the nearest mountain chain, forms the outer edge of the world. The circumference of the salt ocean is 3,600,750 leagues.
Sumeru itself is shaped like a pyramid slightly broken-off at the top. Its circumference at the surface of the sea is 2000 leagues and at its summit 3J leagues. The sides of the pyramid facing the different points of the compass glow with different colours. The southern side is blue, the western red, the northern yellow, and the eastern white. These different THE WORLD-MOUNTAIN
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colours are said to come from the jewel or metal coverings of the different sides. On the south side there is a blue-gleam- ing and on the west a red-glowing jewel covering, the north side is golden and the east silver. These four colours are reflected in the parts of the world facing them, and for this reason the south is called the blue, the west the red, the north the yellow, and the east the white point of the compass.
In each direction there is a continent in the salt ocean, or as many as in certain tales already related. These continents are pictured as great islands, beside which there is on each side a smaller island, so that the total number of the islands sur- rounding the centre of the world is twelve. Without doubt, this conception, free from all geographical facts, reflects the beliefs connected with the twelve pictures of the cosmologic Zodiac. The Zodiac was already, imagined by the ancient Babylonians as the <c land of Heaven.” As above, so are there twelve lands below.
The people dwelling in these four continents differ from one another, above all, in the shape of their faces. The dwellers in the southern, or the continent in which India,
China, Mongolia and many other lands are situated, have oval faces j those of the west round; those of the north square; and those of the east crescent-moon shaped faces.
The continents themselves, as may be seen from the accom- panying illustration, are of the same shapes.17
This cosmography, which prevails in Tibet and in other Buddhistic districts, has its roots in the mists of antiquity. It is strange to find this colour idea connected with the four cardinal points also among certain
Fig. 15. A Kalmuck World-picture 348 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
North American Indian tribes. Naturally, the colours of the different points vary among different peoples. The Chinese regard the east as blue, the south as red, the west as white, and the north as black. The colours of the cardinal points in America are black, white, yellow and blue, or, black, white, red and blue (green).18 That these colour ideas have also had their counterparts in the sources of civilization in Nearer Asia is shown, e.g., by the belief, that when God created man he gathered differently coloured materials from the four quarters of the earth: i.e., red, black, white and brown. CHAPTER V
THE TREE OF LIFE
T THE navel of the earth, in the centre of the universe,
according to Altaic tales, the highest tree on earth, a giant silver-fir, raises its crown to the dwelling of Bai-Ylgön.1 Here we find the world-tree, situated in the earlier tales on the Sumeru mountain, removed to the navel or centre of the earth. Generally this tree is also imagined to grow on a high hill or mountain, especially on the central mountain of the earth, as appears from the words of a folk-poem already cited: “ In the centre of the earth there is an iron mountain and on this iron mountain a white, seven-branched birch.” But as this central mountain of the earth-disc is generally, believed to hide its summit among the storeys of the sky, the tree itself, for very obvious reasons, has been raised into the sky, where, according to different beliefs and tales it continues to exist.
In the beliefs of the peoples related to the Turks this tree, which with the growth of the universe has grown from a small sapling to its present height, is intimately connected, like the world-mountain, with the construction of the universe.2 And independently of whether it rises from the earth, a high moun- tain, or some storey in the sky, its position always resembles that of the world-pillar j like the former, the gods use this also to tether their horses to. In the fact, also, that it is often pictured as many-storeyed, it resembles the world-pillar. Thus, for example, in the shaman songs of the Vasyugan Ostiaks, which contain images obviously borrowed from the Tatars, this tree, like the heavens themselves, is said to be seven-storeyed.3 More often, however, it is regarded as pierc- ing the different floors of the sky, thrusting at the same time, 350 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
like the central mountain which is its foundation, its roots deep into the underground depths.
This cosmic tree differs from the world-pillar chiefly in the fact that it is always regarded as a branched, living tree, an es- sential and at the same time most peculiar feature of which is its freshness and sappiness. In most of the tales it is situated on the brink of some spring, lake or sea, even at times in the water itself. The Ostiaks speak of “the watery sea of the heaven-centre ” beside which this tree grows.4 The water from which the tree nourishes itself is described in a Minusinsk Tatar poem as follows:
“ Piercing twelve heavens On the summit of a mountain A birch in the misty depths of air.
Golden are the birch’s leaves,
Golden its bark,
In the ground at its foot a basin Full of the water of life,
In the basin a golden ladle. ‘. . .”
In the poem it is mentioned further that this “ birch 99 is watched over by the forefather of the Tatars, the old Tata, who was given this post by the Creator himself.5
The same wonderful birch is met with in the tales of East European people. Thus, the Mordvins tell of a giant birch growing on a hill in the depths of the forest, the roots of which ring round the earth and whose branches surround the heavens. Its leaves are of the size of the palm of a hand, and its buds as long as the lash of a whip. At the root of the birch is a spring, roofed over with carved boards and white sheets, on its edge a red wooden can, in the can a sweet honey-drink, and in the liquid a silver ladle, the bottom of which is decorated with the sun and the moon, the handle with the smaller stars. As the sun moves in the heavens, the handle of the ladle turns with it.6
More interesting is this tree glowing with life in the folk- lore of the Yakuts. THE TREE OF LIFE 351
On the yellow navel of the eight-edged earth, according to one of their tales, there is a dense, eight-branched tree. Its bark and knots are silver, its sap golden, its cones like nine- cornered goblets, and its leaves wide as the hide of a horse. From the crown of the tree runs foaming a heavenly, yellowish liquid. When passers-by drink of this, the tired among them are refreshed and the hungry become satisfied.7
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In this story, which concludes with the creation of man, God and the devil as rivals, the stringed instrument, etc., are features which can by no means be reconciled with the original circumstances and beliefs of the Tungus. A feature corre- sponding to the tree-growing competition may be found in the Central Asian creation tale in which Otshirvani and his com- panion, Chagan-Shukuty, pour water into a vessel and wait to see on whose side a plant shall appear. Similarly in the Buriat tale, three Burkhans try which of them is to procure a spirit for the people whom they had created.
The Tungus believe that fire played a great part in the creation of the world. This conception appears already among the syncretistic Mandaean sect, the influence of which was felt SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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in Mesopotamia in the first centuries of our era. Their tale had possibly been accepted by the Manicheans. It tells how fire is slung into the water and how, with the ensuing steam, dust rises into the air and in sinking again to the surface of the water forms into solid land.43
The presence of oriental learning is to be discerned also in a conception met with in Central Asia of a primi- tive chaos consisting of fire, water and wind. Burkhan- bakshi (—Buddha-master; bakshi = Mandshu fakshi,
ic master,” Chinese fas hi, a teacher ”) separated them and scattered the dust thus formed on the surface of the water, where it gradually grew into an earth covered with grass and trees.44
In some Mongolian districts we meet also with an idea, common in China and Japan, that heaven and earth were joined together in the beginning, but later separated. At the parting of earth and sky fire appeared, or, according to some variants, the constellations in the sky.45 This belief evidently originates in the Indian tale, which has spread especially to the eastward of India, of a world-egg, from whose halves earth and heaven have been formed.
Some of the most northern peoples of Siberia believe further that the earth came down from Heaven. Stories re- ferring to this have been recorded both in the west, in the Vogul districts, and in the far east, among the Kamchadales. The Voguls tell that Numi-Törem let down an earth-disc from heaven as a dwelling-place for the people he had made.46 The Kamchadales say that the god of Heaven, Kutku, brought the earth down from the sky and placed it on the surface of the ocean. The latter also relate how the wife of the god of Heaven bore a son while moving on the ocean, and that Kutku created an earth out of his body.47
The idea that the earth has come down from Heaven is closely connected with those tales in which sometimes fire, sometimes some animal, object, etc., is dropped or let down THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 331
from the upper spheres. We may therefore assume that the letting down of the earth from Heaven is of the same origin. It is, however, to be noted that these tales take for granted the existence of a primordial ocean.
Just as the idea of a vast ocean surrounding the earth is natural to coast-dwellers, and the conception of the growing of the earth, i.e., the shore, is founded on the actual experi- ence of years, so these same ideas seem unnatural and unex- pected in the central parts of a great continent. How entirely different the conceptions of the nomads of the Altaic race have been, is to be seen from a story of the Kirghis, in which it is declared that in the beginning there was no water at all. Two people tended a great ox, but having long been without drink they were dying of thirst. The ox then determined to get them water by digging into the earth with his great horns. Thus were formed the lakes and the rivers on the surface of the earth.48
We cannot, then, consider any of the above mentioned crea- tion tales to be the invention of the Altaic race. Without doubt the idea of the Yakuts: cc The world has always been,” probably represents the original belief of the whole Altaic race. By this we do not mean to say that the peoples of this race have not also had their own local myths, which try to explain the causes of certain changes on the surface of the earth. An example of this is the Kirghis tale already men- tioned. The most northern peoples of Siberia, such as the Tungus, Samoyeds, Ostiaks, etc., who often find, in the neigh- bourhood of their homes, bones and teeth of the mammoth in the ground, say that this beast made the originally smooth earth uneven with his horns. The mountains and chasms at least are said to have been thus formed. The valleys and de- pressions were caused by the quaking of the earth under the weight of this former giant animal when it walked. The water, gathering into these depressions, afterwards formed the lakes and rivers. God is said to have at last become angry SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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and to have drowned the mammoth in a lake where it still lives under the ground.49
Local also is another North-East Siberian tale of the origin of mountains and valleys. God lived in Heaven originally, but settled later upon the earth. When he then travelled, moving on skis, the thin earth bent under him like new, pliant ice. That is the reason why the surface of the earth is uneven.00 CHAPTER III
THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD
THE REGULAR diurnal movement of the stars round an axis at the North Star, the reasons for which never- ending rotation were earlier unknown, gave birth to an idea that this apparent centre of the universe was formed by some object which could be represented in concrete form, and which was, in addition, believed to support the roof of the sky. This belief we have seen to be held by the Lapps, etc., and relics of a similar belief are to be found among most of the peoples of the Northern Hemisphere.
From this belief spring the curious names given by the Altaic stocks to the North Star. The Mongols, Buriats, Kalmucks, and the Altai Tatars and Uigurs call the star in question a The golden pillar the Kirghis, Bashkirs and certain other Siberian Tatar tribes call it “The iron pillar”5 the Teleuts “The lone post,” and the Tungus-Orotshons “ The golden post.” From the similarity of the names given it by these widely separated peoples we may conclude that the conception of a sky-supporting pillar reaches back among the Altaic race to a comparatively early period.1 In a tale of the Yakuts in which the world is regarded as having gradually developed from a small beginning, this u iron tree ” boasts: a When the heavens and the earth commenced to grow, I grew with them.”2 Although none of the available sources mention directly that the peoples of the Altaic race made images of this great world-pillar, we Can still be reasonably certain that they did so from the fact that several of the more northern peoples -have kept up this custom even to our days. These peoples were under Turco-Tatar influence, and even offered up blood- SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
334
sacrifices to these pillars. The Ostiaks call these wooden images of the pillar, “ town-pillars ” or “ the strong pillars of the town’s centre.” Those more simple in construction are erected by being slightly sunk into the earth, and are hardly ever observed to be shaped at all in any way. The pillar of the village of Tsingala is about two fathoms in height, a squared, slender log, not very old. Nowadays these pillars, as the objects of reverential ceremonies, are here met with only in a few of the coast villages of Irtysh, those of the other villages having been swept along with landslides into the river. The “town pillar” of the village of Tsingala, although it stands among the buildings on a site incapable of awakening respect, is worshipped with offerings like a god. Karjalainen relates that “the inhabitants of this and other villages of the same district, gathered together for the paying of taxes, buy mutually a cow or a bull and sacrifice it at the foot of the pillar in order to obtain prosperity in their work and additions to their families.” This pillar of Tsingala, which the Ostiaks of that place regard as a deity, is called by them “ The iron
Fig. 13. Dolgan Shaman-pillars with Figures of Birds
pillar man,” a similar name being given to the post of another village of Irtysh, resembling greatly, the afore-mentioned “ Iron pillar ” of the Tatars. It is therefore obvious that THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD
335
“ the strong pillar of the town’s centre ” of the Ostiaks, which a certain tale describes as “the tree planted by God,” cannot be, as Karjalainen assumes, intended merely for the tying of sacrificial animals and the hanging-up of offerings, but is a representation of the pillar supporting the sky.3 This appears also from the prayers read at the post.
Some peoples in North-West Siberia, who have a similar custom, place on the world-pillar a wooden figure of a bird, which sometimes has two heads. What this bird, which is spoken of by the Dolgans as the “ lord of the birds,” and which hangs on the breast of the Yenisei Ostiak shaman-dress, is
Fig. 14. Two-headed Birds of Iron which hang on the Dress and Drum of the Yenisei-Ostiak Shaman
intended to represent, the people themselves do not know j but it is probable that this bird has flown here from the mythology of the ancient peoples. The pillars, on which these birds are placed and which have sometimes cross-pieces like branches, are, according to the Dolgans, a symbol of the “ never falling props ” before the dwelling of the Supreme God. On the cross-pieces, so it is said, dwell the sons of God.4
It would be interesting to know what the sky, which this wonderful pillar was supposed to support, was originally be- lieved to be. We can hardly be mistaken if we suppose it to have been pictured as some kind of a roof, the purpose of SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
336
which was to protect the earth and life on the earth. To this points also the view still prevalent in some places, viz., that the sky is a kind of great tent-roof stretched over the earth. The Yakuts say that the sky consists of several overlapping tightly stretched skins. The Buriats see in the Milky Way “ a stitched seam,” and a certain being says with pride: “ Long, long ago, when I was young, I sewed the sky together.” 5 Sometimes the gods open slightly the sky-cover to see what is happening on the earth. In this way, the Chuvash, among others, explain the flight of meteors. Lucky the one who sees this “ crack in the sky,” as he obtains what he at that moment wishes or begs of God.6 Similarly, the Ostiaks believe that God grants everything desired of him while “the door of Heaven” is open.7 The same phenonemon is also meant by the Buriats when they speak of the “ door of Heaven,” which the gods sometimes open for an instant. When this “ door ” is open, which lasts only for a second, “a wonderful light shines from the sky, which makes the whole world glow in a strange fashion.”8 This childish idea of the light-phenome- non which follows the flight of a meteor through the belt of air, has earlier been very general both in Asia and Europe. Quite as general has been the habit of expressing at such times some wish, which it is believed will be fulfilled.
The sky having thus been regarded as a kind of tent-roof, which, stretched from a great post or pillar, covered the earth, it is comprehensible that the stars should then have been only a kind of hole in this cover. The worst hole was the Pleiades, from which winds and cold were believed to stream over the earth.®
This conception of the sky as a kind of roof, is, without doubt, of extreme age and the product of an extremely early culture. Obviously, the primitive dwelling-house of man him- self gave direction to his imagination, when he attempted to create for himself a picture of the surrounding world. In some of the descriptions in the Old Testament the sky appears THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD 337
tent-like, e.g., in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, in which God is described as: “ He who stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.”
Besides the above conception, in which the world-pillar ap- pears as the supporter of the sky, another is met with, accord- ing to which it is the tethering-post of the stars wandering in the sky. The fact that, seen from the earth, the stars seem to be eternally revolving round the sky-post, awakened the idea of bonds attaching these to one another. As the peoples related to the Turks sometimes imagined the stars to be a great drove of horses, we can understand why, in the tales of these people, the world-pillar is often called a mighty tether- ing-post for horses. As such the Yakuts call it “the horse- post ruler.”10 The Buriats have tales of the nine sons of a spirit named Boshintoi, living in the sky; these sons, as skilful blacksmiths, taught men to prepare iron, and are therefore worshipped and praised in the following words: “The nine white smiths of Boshintoi... made of the North Star a horse- post and of the golden lake a race course.”11 In the same way as the Nomads of Central Asia have a post for the tether- ing of their steeds before their buildings, the gods are said to fasten theirs to the heaven-post. Certain Siberian Tatar tribes believe the gods to live in a tent in the sky, in front of which is a “ golden horse-post.”12 As Karjalainen remarks, the Ostiaks of Vasyugan, in their tales, have also adopted from the Tatars “ the Iron post, the Stone post, on the side of the sun, created by Torem (the god of Heaven), in which there is an iron ring large enough to admit a sleeved arm,” and to which the driving-reindeer is bound. Similarly, the Voguls speak of “ The holy iron pillar of God erected for the tether- ing of the holy animal with many-coloured thighs,” erected before the dwelling of the god of Heaven,13
In the folk-lore of the Ostiaks, as seen from the above, a “ stone ” pillar is also mentioned. A strange, rectangular, transparent pillar of stone, three fathoms in height, appears 338 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
in the centre of an area of iron in the tales of the Yakuts.14 Probably such world-pillars are hidden also among the stone pillars on the prairies of Central Asia. At any rate, traces have been found of high four-sided monu- ments which were erected upon the back of the world-bearing tortoise.
But especially interesting is the fact that many of these holy pillars of the Ugrians were imagined to be seven-storeyed. This was also true of the pillar at Tsingala, as although the object itself had no signs pointing to the fact, the words in the prayer, in which the god of Heaven is closely connected with the pillar god, run as follows: “ My seven-divided high man- father thou art, a six-divided high man thou art. My iron pillar man-father, to the foot of the holy tree, my metal pillar man-father, to the foot of the holy tree, to partake of a generous dish of head-meat, to partake of a generous dish of breast-meat, we called thee.” The word “six-divided” or “ six-marked ” is here only a poetic reiteration. Another prayer noted down in which a Heaven god called Sanke is addressed in addition to the post runs: “ Seven-divisioned high man, Sanke, my father, my, in-three-directions-watching man- father, my in-three-directions-protecting man-father. To the holy, ground of my iron pillar man-father, to the innocent ground, at the foot of the holy tree erected by him, I stand my blood-animal blood-sacrifice.”15
The significance of the number seven in the beliefs connected with the pillars of the Ugrians is especially apparent. The Ostiak tales relate how a person setting out on a courtship has to sacrifice at the foot of this “ God-faced holy tree,” or “ to hold up there the sacrifice of seven reindeer-bulls tied to one rope,” and to make “ seven good bows of the head at the foot of the god-faced holy tree.” The seven animals are mentioned also in certain advice given to a hero setting out on a danger- ous journey.: “Call together the village full of thy many men, the town full of thy many men 5 bring the seven animals
» PLATE XLII
Tortoise-shell shaped stone representing the world- bearing tortoise and used as a foundation for an old Turkish monument. (See page 338.)
After photograph by S. Palsi. :f
I'
i
•i {? THE PILLAR OF THE WORLD 339
bound to one rope and tie them to the strong town-pillar.”16 In the Yakut tales the seven reindeer at the “iron tree” are also mentioned.17 Most probably these “seven ani- mals ” bound to one rope, like the pillar itself, have their counterpart in the sky, and in this connection our thoughts turn to the Great Bear, the “seven animals” of which are imagined as being bound to the North Star “ by one rope.”
But the number seven appears also in the names of the god — “ the seven-divisioned or seven-marked man,” which points possibly to the fact that the pillar itself was imagined to be seven-storeyed. And examples for this are not lacking. Thus, in sacrificing to a spirit called “ the Roach lake old man ” at the sources of the Salym, the Ostiaks of that district erect on the lake a pillar of fir-wood about a fathom in height, on which they cut with a knife “seven marks at seven places.” To the head of the post they fix coloured cloths and place the sacrificial runes before it, the sacrificial animal being also bound to it for the duration of the prayers and genuflexions. In slaughtering, a stream of blood has to be directed on to the post.18 Similar pillars were erected in earlier times by the Yenisei Ostiaks on the banks of their rivers to give luck in fishing. Nowadays, to our knowledge, none are met with in practice, although the older people still speak about them. In the museum at Krasnoyarsk several are preserved, these being thin posts about two fathoms in height, on which seven deep cuts have been made one above the other. In the place of these cuts, it was the custom in some districts to leave the stumps of seven branches. In the same way it is related of the Irtysh Ostiaks that when sacrificing at a hole in the ice they erected a post beside it on which seven branches had been left.19 Karjalainen assumes this to have been only an artificial sacri- fice tree, but even these temporarily erected posts can probably not be separated from the world-pillars. In any, case, the seven-divisioned “iron pillar man” has a heavenly counter- 340 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
part, as the Vogul tales tell of a “ seven-divided pure silver holy pillar ” to which the son of God ties his steed when visiting his father.20
On studying the Asian cosmography we find no difficulty in explaining what these seven divisions or stumps of branches signify. Without doubt, they represent the seven storeys of the sky, an idea general also among the Ostiaks. The <c divi- sions” appear also in the shaman rites of the Altai Tatars, although here the storeys of Heaven are regarded as being nine in number. When about to shamanize, a special tent is erected on the Altai, in the centre of which a birch is erected so that the crown of the tree sticks out of the air-hole in the middle of the roof. Nine divisions are cut into the trunk of the birch, and are described as being the symbols of the nine- storied heavens. Rising by means of the tree into the highest Heaven the shaman has to travel through all the different storeys. This is done in such a manner that while exercising his magic the shaman climbs division by division upwards. When he places his foot on the lowest notch he has reached the first Heaven, and so on until he rises into the ninth.21
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dived twice, and the second time he succeeded in bringing up some earth. Then Otshirvani told him to sprinkle it on the stomach of the frog (turtle), on which they sat. The frog itself sank out of sight and only, the earth remained visible above the surface of the water. Resting there, the gods fell asleep and while they were sleeping, Shulmus, the devil, ar- rived and saw the two friends lying on the earth which they had just created and which was yet so small that there was scarcely room for a third on it. The devil decided to make use of his chance and drown these beings together with their earth. But when he attempted to seize hold of the edge of the earth, he no longer saw the ocean. He took the sleeping friends under his arm and began to run towards the shore with them. But while he ran the earth grew. When he saw that his attempt was vain he dropped his burden and barely succeeded in escap- ing when Otshirvani awoke. The latter then explained to his companion how the devil had meant to destroy them but how the earth had saved them.18
But although the devil did not succeed in destroying God, he was able to mar the earth, as we have seen, and, according to the Buriats, to create many useless and harmful animals on it. This last tale has also been recorded in other parts of Siberia, e.g., among the Voguls. Here the devil makes a hole in the earth with his staff, from which frogs, lizards, worms, beetles, gnats, wasps, mice, etc., arise, until God closes the hole with a fiery stopper. The same description is found even in East European creation tales.19
There would thus seem to be no doubt that these Asiatic stories of the origin of the earth, which correspond in all their details to the East European creation tales, are closely con- nected with a common cycle of tales, rich in variants. Outside the boundaries of the former Russian Empire, with the excep- tion of certain Balkan States and the Gypsies who have been influenced by the Slavs of Austria, we do not meet in the west with this myth, which is unknown on Roman Catholic territory. THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 321
In the Greek Catholic Church, on the contrary, and especially among certain sects, it has been greatly, favoured. This fact can also be proved in Finland, which has been a meeting- point for the currents of both Western and Eastern culture. Tales have been recorded only in Eastern Finland, in which the devil, sometimes with the aid of a diver-bird, fetches earth from the bottom of the sea, hides a part of it in his mouth, and adds the stones, rocks and mountains to the surface of the earth by, being compelled to spit it out when it swells between his jaws. In one variant, where God sat in the beginning on a golden pillar in the middle of the sea, the devil is said to have appeared in the World when God told his reflection, which he saw in the water, to arise.20 Bulgarian legends also relate that the devil was born of God’s shadow.21
Veselovskiy, who has made comparative researches on a large scale into the legends of the last-named church, is of the opinion that this tale is a creation of the Bogomil sect in Bul- garia. We do not, however, meet with the story of the fetching of the earth in either the Bogomil literature or in the teachings of those Armenian Gnostics from whom the Bogomils inherited their dualistic conception. This tale of the origin of the earth appears first in a Russian manuscript of the fifteenth century, but seems already at that time to have been very widespread. Schiefner, who is acquainted with the stories of the Russian sectaries, assumes that our dualistic tale has wandered into Northern and Central Asia with Russian fugi- tives and settlers from Europe.22 Sumcov doubts, however, whether the Russian newcomers could have implanted their tale so deeply into the beliefs of the Central Asian peoples in such a comparatively short time. He assumes, therefore, Nestorian influence, this sect having won much territory in Central Asia before Islam.23 To Persian influence points the fact that God in one Altaic creation tale calls himself “the true Kurbystan ” (= Ahura Masala).24 But in districts where Buddhism is common, names derived from this religion, such SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
322
as Burkhan, etc., are also met with, although the appearance of the devil here hints at Iranian influence. Might it therefore be assumed, as Dahnhardt also supposes, that the dualistic tale of the bringing-up of earth has its origin somewhere in the vicinity of the Iranians, e.g., among the Syrian Gnostics, whence it has wandered both to Russia and Bulgaria and through Persia to Central Asia? As no proof for this assumption can be found in the literary, sources on the subject, we should have to add a further supposition, i.e., that in addition to the written teachings, verbal stories corresponding with our tale have also been handed down. However this may be, it is at least cer- tain, as we have shown, that many features in this tale have their origin in the Near East. It is also probable that this cycle of tales is no single creation, but a collection of ideas and stories of different content and gathered from various places.
Especially interesting is the bird which fetches the earth from the bottom of the primordial ocean. Whence has this peculiar feature come into our tales and how shall we account for it?
In some Russian legends and also in North-West Siberian tales the fetching of the piece of earth is spoken of in con-» nection with the story of the flood. The Samoyeds in the District of Turukhansk relate the following: Seven people had been saved in a boat and, when they, saw that the water rose and rose and that there was no help, they begged the diver- bird to fly into the water and seek land there. After seven days the diver-bird returned bringing a grassy piece of turf in its beak, and of this they asked God to create for them an earth.23 Also in a Russian variant God sends the devil to bring sand from the water when he wishes to make a new earth after the flood.26
In the flood story of the Samoyeds, the diver-bird reminds one of the bird sent by Noah from his ark, which brought him news of the appearance of land in its beak, but from this we THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
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cannot yet be certain that Noah’s bird has been the original of the water-fowl appearing in our tales. For quite simple reasons, two myths, both treating of great floods and of a bird, may have become confounded.
In a Vogul creation tale, which mentions several birds, these have work of two kinds to perform The red- and the black- throated diver fetch earth, but the raven is sent out to see how large the earth has grown. On the first day the bird is away but a short time, on the second it returns toward midday, on the third not until the evening. Every day its journey takes a longer time and from this it may be guessed how the earth grows from day to day.27 The raven in this tale has thus in some degree the same duty as the dove in the flood story of the Bible, but this feature can hardly be traced back to the Bible.
It is to be noted, in addition, that stories of the creation and of the flood are often met with separately among the same people.
Besides the preceding versions, in which God and the earth- bringer are antagonists, a creation tale without this dualistic idea is met with in Asia. In this the Creator uses quite simply an ordinary water-fowl in order to bring up earth from the waters.
The Yenisei Ostiaks related to me that in the beginning the water flowed everywhere. The Great Shaman Doh hovered over the waters in the company of swans, looms, and other water-fowl. As he could nowhere find a resting-place he asked the diver-bird to bring him a piece of earth from under the sea. The diver tried twice before it succeeded in bring- ing up some earth in its beak. Of this Doh made an island in the sea.28
According to Buriat tales, at the bottom of the shoreless primordial ocean, there were black earth and red clay. When Burkhan decided to create an earth he asked the white diver to fetch him earth-matter from under the water. The diver 324 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
brought both earth and clay in his beak and sprinkled them on the water. Thus was created a world floating on the waves, on which trees and grass soon began to grow.29
The Buriats of the District of Balagan have the same story in the following form. In the beginning when there was yet no land, Sombol-Burkhan moved over the waters, where he saw a water-fowl swimming with its twelve young. God then said:Water-bird, dive down and bring me earth — black soil in thy beak and on thy feet red clay! ” Having thus ob- tained earth-matter, God scattered the red clay on the water, and upon it the black soil. Thus was made the earth which soon became covered with beautiful vegetation. Thankful, God blessed the water-bird saying: u Thou shalt have many young and shalt ever swim and dive in the water.” That is how this bird has such a wonderful ability to dive deep and remain long under the water.30
In these tales we find no being akin to the devil appearing as God’s opponent. We cannot, however, conclude from this, as Dahnhardt, who knows only the first mentioned Buriat tale, does, that this form of creation tale is only a deformed variant of the dualistic stories. Hardly, again, has the devil any part in the following story, which was recorded among the North- ern Yakuts, although the u Mother of God ” is mentioned in it: The Mother of God decided to create a world, but having no material she first created a diver-bird and a duck, both of which she commanded to dive under the ocean and fetch earth. The first to appear was the duck who brought some mud in her mouth. Then the diver came up, but without mud, explaining that it was impossible to find earth in the water. The Mother of God became angry and said: “ Thou deceitful bird, have I not given thee more strength and a longer beak than the duck? But thou deceivest me and pitiest the ocean. For this thou shalt never live on the sacred sur- face of the earth, but shalt ever dive in the waters and seek all manner of refuse there for thy nourishment.” Then the THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
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Mother of God created the earth from the mud the diver had brought, and placed it upon the surface of the ocean. The earth did not sink under the water, nor could the waves move it or wash it asunder, but it remained fixed in a certain place like a floating island and grew gradually into a great world.31
In the tales of the Voguls also, we sometimes find two water-birds, the black- and the red-throated diver, acting as earth-fetchers.
A Buriat variant tells in addition how the water-fowl, which Sombol-Burkhan sent to fetch earth, met the “ crab” in the depths. The latter inquired of the bird where it was going. The bird answered that it was diving for earth from the bot- tom of the sea. Then the “crab” became angry and re- marked: “ I am always in the water and have never yet seen its bottom, turn back quickly or I shall cut thee in two with my scissors! ” The bird was forced to return to the surface. See- ing it, Sombol-Burkhan inquired why the bird had not brought him earth. On hearing how the crab had threatened it, he gave the bird magic words, by the help of which it at last succeeded in reaching the bottom.32
This interlude in the diving is mentioned also in the tales of the Votiaks of the District of Sarapul. God’s assistant meets a crab in the water, who inquires where he is going and tells him that he, the crab, though a sea-dweller for one hundred and twenty years, has never yet met with land in the ocean. The story continues with the fetching of earth, and how an evil being hides sand in its mouth and then creates the
• Oft
mountains.
Comparing these latter tales, we can scarcely remain in doubt as to which of them represents a more original stage. The crab as frightener in the dualistic story of the Votiaks is as unnatural and unnecessary as it is natural in the Buriat tale. This additional feature, which to the author’s knowledge has not been met with further west, may have been added later to the dualistic creation story from a simpler and more primi- 326 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
tive creation tale, which has perhaps been known also among the Votiaks.
. If we assume, therefore, that the tales in which a natural water-fowl and not the Satanael of the Bogomils acts as earth- fetcher, are more primitive, we can easily, explain the bird-like features of the devil, often appearing even in stories where the devil dives into the water in human shape. In this way, the problem of the fetching of earth, which can be explained in no other way, would be solved: an old primitive tale has later become embellished with the dualistic ideas of the sectarians of the Eastern Church.
All depends thus on whether we can take for granted that those Asiatic tales in which the devil is unknown, represent an earlier stage.
A proof of the fact, that the creation tales in this simpler form are both popular and original, is given by the innumera- ble stories of similar content gathered among the Indian tribes of North America. In these it is sometimes a water-fowl, sometimes a fish or some amphibian that brings up mud from the bottom of the primordial ocean, which mud is then placed on the surface of the water and soon grows into a big world for people to live in.34
Sometimes this earth-fetching tale Is intertwined with the flood story even in America, where it is usually a musk-rat that saves the people floating on the ocean in a boat, on a raft, or on a tree-trunk, by bringing them mud from the bottom of the sea, from which mud a new earth then grows. Like the raven in the Vogul tale given earlier, so in the similar North American stories some animal, a fox or a wolf, is used for the purpose of reporting on the growth of the earth. When Nanabozhu, according to the Winnebago Indians, could no longer follow the growth of the land with his eyes, he sent a wolf to run round the earth in order to know its size. The first time the wolf soon returned, the second journey took him two years, the third time he returned no more.35 THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 327
Noticeable, further, is the part played by the turtle in the tales of the North American Indians. There is a story among the Sioux Indians of how the turtle and some water-bird swam about in the primordial ocean with earth-matter in their mouths, the one with mud, the other with grass. The grassy earth formed by these was placed on the back of the turtle. The Hurons also say that in the beginning there was nothing but water, until from the depths a turtle appeared and sent, one after the other, the otter, the musk-rat, the diver, and other water-dwellers to fetch earth-matter. But only in the mouth of the frog, the last to be sent, could the turtle find mud. This was then sprinkled round the edges of the turtle’s shell, and before long formed the earth. When the earth grew, the turtle remained as its supporter, a duty it carries out even today.36
The part of the turtle in creating the world is especially interesting on account of the corresponding idea in the Central Asian stories.
In the beginning of time, so say the Buriats, there was noth- ing but water, and a great turtle who looked into the water. God turned this animal on its back and built the world on its stomach. In another connection we have already mentioned how, according to an Altaic story, the heavenly Otshirvani and Chagan-Shukuty notice a turtle diving in the waters, and how the latter dives down for earth while the former sits upon the animal’s stomach, and how Otshirvani then sprinkled the earth on the frog.37 In Central Asian tales we find in addition Mandishire (= the Buddhist Bodhisattva Manjucri) as creator of the earth, who changes himself into a large turtle and supports the earth he has made on the surface of the water.38
In these Central Asian tales we find an ancient Indian story in a form coloured by Buddhism. As is known, the Creator appears already in the ancient Indian tales in the shape of a turtle. In this form he fetches mud from the bottom of the SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
328
primordial ocean and makes of it a rapidly expanding earth, which he supports on the surface of the vast surrounding ocean. In later Buddhist tales a Bodhisattva, mostly Manjucri, takes the place of the old and more primitive deity..
In Indian tales the earth-fetcher sometimes takes the shape of some other animal. As the supporter of the earth, as we have seen, a fish is also mentioned.
Our comparative research has thus at last brought us to India. This is actually the only country in Asia where the bringing of the earth from the bottom of the ocean is con- nected already with the beliefs of an unknown, far-distant past. The literatures of other ancient cultured Asiatic peoples do not possess a similar tale. It is also impossible to assume that the idea of a primordial ocean could have been born among the Central Asian prairie-dwellers. Although it is true that we can find among the information relating to India, no mention of a water-fowl as the bringer of earth, we are forced in the end to believe that this feature of our tales has its roots also in that land of countless stories.
Besides the above tales about the origin of the earth, in which the fetching of earth-matter from under the water is a common feature, stories have been recorded among the peoples of the Altaic race, which explain the appearance of the earth on the surface of the ocean in a different manner.
The following Mongolian story is probably a product of Lamaism: In the beginning, when there was yet no earth, but water covered everything, a Lama came down from Heaven, and began to stir the water with an iron rod. By the influence of the wind and fire thus brought about, the water on the surface in the middle of the ocean thickened and coagulated into land.39 Certain syncretists of Nearer Asia also describe how the earth was formed when God caused the cosmic foam on the surface of the ocean to coagulate.40 Closely correspond- ing to the Mongolian story is a Japanese tale: In the beginning one of the seven gods of Heaven stirred the chaotic waters THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 329
with his staff. When he raised his staff, muddy foam dripped from it and, expanding and thickening, formed the islands of Japan.41
More than a hundred years ago a tale was written down among the Tungus beyond the Baikal, describing how God sent fire into the primordial ocean. In the course of time the fire vanquished the power of the water and burnt up a part of the ocean, so that it became quite hard. Thus the present land and sea were formed. With this tale is connected a dualistic conception of two antagonistic primitive beings. When God stepped down upon the earth he met the devil, Buninka, who also desired to create a world. Thus a dispute arose between God and the devil. The devil wished to destroy God’s earth and broke the latter’s twelve-stringed musical instrument. Then God was angry and said: “ If thou canst command a pine-tree to grow out of the lake I will recognize thy power, but if I can do it, thou must admit that I am omnipotent.” The devil agreed to God’s proposal. At once, when God com- manded, a tree arose from the water and began to grow, but the devil’s pine would not stand erect but tottered from one side to the other. Thus the devil saw that God was mightier than he.42
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Although the conception of fixed storeys in the sky, among the primitive peoples of Siberia, bears without doubt the im- press of foreign influence, we cannot with any certainty declare that the conception of higher and lower storeys in the sky might not also originate amongst a people living in a state of nature. The Chukchee speak of several Heavens, placed one above the other, so that the floor of the highest is the roof of the next. All these worlds are joined by holes situated under the Polar Star.10
Whatever the original idea of the edge of the earth may have been, later the idea became general that the earth is sur- rounded on all sides by an ocean. This is an essential feature in all the world pictures of the Asiatic peoples. The Greek Oceanos corresponds to it, and in Snorri’s Ed da we read: “ The earth is circular in shape and outside it is the deep sea.”
But if the flat earth has around and under it the deep, mysterious, primordial ocean, what is it that prevents the earth from sinking into the depths? To this question also, the folk- tales attempt to give an answer.
When the mighty Ülgen, so say the Altaic peoples, created the earth on the waters, he placed under the disc of the earth, in order to support it, three great fish, one in the centre and WORLD PICTURES 311
one at each side. The head of the middle fish is directed towards the north and thus, when it presses its head down, floods occur in the north. Should the fish sink too low, the whole earth will be inundated. A rope is attached to the gills of the fish, the end reaching to Heaven, where it is attached to three posts. In this way, whenever desired, the head of the fish can be lowered or raised. This is the special duty of the Bodhisattva Mandishire. When he takes the rope from the first post, the earth slants towards the north, causing floods there, but were he to slip the rope from the third post, the flood would reach over all the earth.11
In certain Buriat districts, one large fish only is mentioned as the supporter of the earth. When for any reason it changes its position, earthquakes occur.12
The idea of one or more giant fish as supporters of the earth is general also in East European legends,13 while in Jewish myths the fish-shaped Leviathan bears the foundations of the earth. This belief, as the name Mandishire ( = Man- jucri) hints at, has come to Central Asia from India, where a similar belief has prevailed for ages.
Probably with a current of civilization from India through China, tales have reached Central Asia of a world-supporting frog, which animal here takes the place of the unknown turtle. If its “ finger ” even moves the earth quakes. This belief has spread even to the Tungus beyond the Baikal.14
In the tales of the Kirghis, and among the West Siberian, Volga, and Caucasian Tatars, it is related that the world is sup- ported by. a great bull. This idea has spread even among the Finnish tribes along the Volga. Under this bull there is often a support on which the bull stands. The Crimean Tatars say that in the world-ocean there is a great fish, and on the fish a bull which carries the earth on its horns.15 A similar belief is found among the Votiaks of the Jelabuga District.16 The world-bull is known also to the Votiaks of the Sarapul Dis- trict, who believe that earthquakes are caused by the bull some- 312 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
times starting to move. It is said to be afraid of sunlight, as the light rays kill it,17 The Kirghis relate that the world-bull stands on a stone arising out of the dense fog on the cosmic ocean.18 According to the Cheremiss at Ufa, there is a giant crab in the ocean on which stands the bull, supporting the earth on its horns. Earthquakes are believed to occur when the bull shakes its head. The Cheremiss say that on account of the weight of the world, one of the bull’s horns is broken and that when the other breaks, the end of the world will come.19
It is extremely probable that the idea of this world-support- ing bull has reached the Tatars with Islam. In the tales of the Jews a bull-shaped Prince of the Depths is also spoken of.
The primitive peoples of North-East Siberia believe the underground mammoth to cause earthquakes and landslides. In the winter it is even supposed to break the ice of the rivers.20 The local Tatars say that as the earth was not strong enough to bear the mammoth, God ordered this animal to bear the earth.21 Possibly the “ bull ” has here changed into the “ horned ” mammoth.
For the sake of comparison it may be mentioned how the inhabitants of North-East Siberia, where earthquakes are com- mon, explain these phenonema. The Kamchadales say that the dog of Tuila, on which this spirit rides under the ground, makes the earth tremble when it shakes the snow off its back.22 According to this view, therefore, the actual supporter of the earth is not the causer of earthquakes.
In Central Asia the idea of a world-supporting being is gen- erally connected with the belief in a cosmic ocean. Those tales, which seek to explain in a popular manner the origin of the earth, seem also to have been formed out of a similar world picture. CHAPTER II
THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
ROSCANSKIY says that, according to the original con-
ception of the Yakuts, the earth has always existed, and that the question of its creation does not interest them.1 Stories have, however, been gathered among all the Altaic peoples, the Yakuts also included, which tell that in the beginning there was no earth, only a deep and shoreless primordial ocean. This idea of a primordial ocean is common to most Asiatic creation myths, although the forming of a flat earth on the surface of the great water is described in different ways.
The most prolific cycle, possessing many variants, is that of the tales which relate how some being, diving into the water, brings up earth-matter from the depths of the ocean.
When the great Yryn-Ajy-Tojon (££ White Creator Lord ” ), so runs a Yakut tale, moved in the beginning above the boundless ocean, he saw a bladder floating on the waters and inquired: ££Who and whence? ” The bladder replied that it was Satan and lived on the earth hidden under the water. God said:££ If there really is earth under the water, then bring me a piece of it.” Satan dived under the water and returned after a while with a morsel of earth. Having received it, God blessed it, placed it on the surface of the water and seated himself on it. Then Satan resolved to drown God by stretching out the land, but the more he stretched, the stronger it grew, covering soon a great part of the ocean’s surface.2
The sharp dualism appearing in this tale, God and Satan as opposites, cannot represent the original beliefs of a primitive people. Clues showing which way to turn in tracing the ori- SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
314
gin of this myth are found in the name “ Satan ” and in the following variant noted down among this people: “Satan was the elder brother of Christ, but the former was wicked, the latter good. When God wished to create the earth he said to Satan:1 Thou boastest of being able to do everything and sayest thou art mightier than I. Good, bring me sand from the bottom of the ocean.’ Satan dived immediately to the bottom of the ocean, but when he arrived again at the surface he saw that the water washed the sand out of his hand. Twice the devil dived without succeeding, but the third time he changed himself into a swallow and managed to bring up a little mud in his beak. Christ blessed the morsel of mud, which then became the earth, at first flat and smooth as a plate. Intend- ing to create for himself a world of his own, Satan deceitfully hid a part of the mud in his throat. But Christ understood the wile of the devil and struck him on the back of the neck so that the mud squirted out of his mouth and formed the mountains on the originally smooth surface of the earth.”3
When comparing these Yakut tales, in which the names “Christ” and “Satan” especially attract attention, with the apocryphal creation tales of Eastern Europe we see that they coincide in every detail. Knowing, besides, that exactly the same tales are to be found among the Russians who have migrated to Siberia, it seems probable that the Yakuts, who according to statistics are Christians, have learned at least the above mentioned tales direct from the Russians. Before be- ginning to prove the fact in detail, we will examine a few more Central Asian tales belonging to the same cycle, which contain interesting additions.
When there was no earth and no Heaven, but only water, Ülgen (“ the Great ”), according to an Altai Tatar tale, de- scended upon the water to create the earth. He thought and thought but could not conceive how to begin. Then “ Man ” came to him. Ülgen asked: “Who art thou? ” “I also came to create land,” answered Man. God became angry and THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 315
said: “ Even I cannot create, how couldst then thou? ” Man remarked: a But I know where to get earth-matter from.” God urged him to get some, whereupon Man dived imme- diately into the water, finding at the bottom of the ocean a mountain, from which he wrenched a piece and put it in his mouth. Arriving again on the surface Man gave God a part of it. The other part remained in his mouth between his teeth. When at last he spat it out, the swamps and bogs ap- peared on the face of the earth.4
A creation tale in which God and the devil work together is met with among the Alarsk Buriats. When Burkhan (= Buddha) came down from Heaven to create the earth, the devil (Sholmo) appeared beside him to give advice how the earth was to be made from the earth-matter and stones under the water, offering at the same time to fetch the earth- matter. God scattered the earth-matter, which the devil had brought him, on the surface of the ocean and said: “Let the world be born! ” As a reward for his trouble the devil begged for a part of the land, receiving enough to plant his staff on. The devil at once pushed his staff into this, and from the hole there crept forth all manner of reptiles, snakes, etc. Thus he created the harmful creatures of the world.6
In all the above tales, even before the creation of the world, we meet with two beings of whom one was good, the other wicked. This dualistic conception reaches its height in the teachings of the Persian Zarathustra, in which Ahura Mazda, the god of light and truth, is the promoter of all good and happiness, and the devil, Angra Mainyu, of the evil and misery which mar the good earth created by, Ahura. Thus far back must we trace the dualistic features of our tales. But for com- plete coincidence with these we search the sacred books of the Mazda religion in vain.
Later, we meet with the same antagonistic original beings in the teachings of the Persian Mani and in the legends of other semi-Christian sects which have made their influence felt in 3i 6 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
Northern Syria, Palestine and Caucasia, and in which, besides Iranian, old Babylonian fancies and beliefs are also mingled.
In a Yakut tale, Satan, appearing before God, declares that he lives under the water. This idea also seems to be of great age among the people of Caucasia and Asia Minor. With Zarathustra also the Evil One £< arose from the depths.”
According to the creation tales of a later period, in which the conception of a primordial ocean has become fixed, the devil appears on the surface of the water, sometimes in thick foam, as in a Galician tale, sometimes in a floating bubble, as in the Yakut. The Voguls explain that this bubble was formed by God spitting into the water while coughing. The bubble grew and grew until God heard the voice of Satanael inside it. The same story is told of the devil in a White Russian creation tale.®
An Altaic story relates in addition how Ülgen saw some mud with human features floating on the ocean. God gave a spirit to it, and to the being thus born he gave the name Erlik. In the beginning, Erlik was God’s friend and brother, but be- came later his enemy. Mostly, the Altai Tatars call the being who helps God in creating the world a Man ” or “ First Man,” but always, this Man develops into the devil, Erlik.7 The reasons for his fall are his most obvious qualities, pride and boastfulness. On account of these God drives him down into the depths, where he now lives as the ruler of the spirits in the kingdom of death. This reflects the old Iranian con- ception of the first man, who, by falling into sin, was the first to die, and thus became leader of the spirits of the dead. In Caucasian tales also, the devil chooses the dead for his property, and in a Bulgarian creation story he says to God: “ The living be thy. property, the dead mine.”8
In the legends of the Bogomil sect, formed in Bulgaria about the year iooo, God is said to have had two sons, of whom the elder was Satanael, the younger Christ. It is owing to this conception, which is met with already among earlier THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH 317
sects, that in Yakut tales Satan is called the elder brother of Christ. In the corresponding Votiak, as also in many Russian tales, God and the devil, Keremet, are brothers. A sect of the Iranians, the Zervanists, believed that Ormazd and Ahriman were born of the same mother, in whose womb they took shape at the same time, but that the latter was brought forth first.9
In all the above creation tales the devil appears in human shape, only in the Yakut variant he takes on the shape of a swallow in order to be able to hold mud in his mouth. In an Altaic tale the swallow is also the earth-bringer.10 Mostly, however, the devil, in changing his shape, takes on the form of a water-fowl. A water-fowl is actually better adapted both for diving and for seeking earth on the bottom of the deep ocean. Again, in Eastern Europe the devil helps God both in human shape and as a diver-bird, loon, goose, or some other water-fowl. He appears in the form of a goose, as does God himself, in the following Altaic tale:
In the beginning when there was nothing but water, God and the “ First Man ” moved about in the shape of two black geese over the waters of the primordial ocean. The devil, however, could not hide his nature, but endeavoured ever to rise higher, until he finally sank down into the depths. Nearly suffocating, he was forced to call to God for help, and God raised him again into the air with the power of his word. God then spoke: “ Let a stone rise from the bottom of the ocean! ” When the stone appeared, “Man” seated himself upon it, but God asked him to dive under the water and bring land. Man brought earth in his hand and God scattered it on the surface of the water saying: “ Let the world take shape! ” Once more God asked Man to fetch earth. But Man then decided to take some for himself and brought a morsel in each hand. One handful he gave to God but the other he hid in his mouth, intending to create a world of his own. God threw the earth which the devil had brought him beside the rest on the water, and the world at once began to expand and grow SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
3.i18
harder, but with the growing of the world the piece of earth in Man’s mouth also swelled until he was about to suffocate so that he was again compelled to seek God’s help. God inquired: “ What was thy intention? Didst thou think thou couldst hide earth from me in thy, mouth? ” Man now told his secret intentions and at God’s request spat the earth out of his mouth. Thus were formed the boggy places upon the earth.11
This story, in which God and the devil appear as birds, may be compared with a North Russian creation tale, in which God and the devil are in co-operation, the former as a white, the later as a black pochard.12
Even when appearing in the shape of a water-fowl, the devil does not quite lose his human features. Thus, among other things, his hands are spoken of. In the creation tales of the Voguls also it is often mentioned that the fetcher of earth, sometimes the devil, sometimes the son of the first people, dresses himself for the occasion in water-fowl’s garb. When in one tale the devil makes three unsuccessful attempts to reach the bottom of the sea in a duck’s skin, he winds a goose’s skin about him and at last succeeds in bringing earth.13 The Voguls, like the East Europeans, often imagine the earth- fetcher to.be a real water-fowl, for which the bringing of earth in its mouth is much more natural than for a human-like being. But mostly, this bird is the . antagonist of God, Satanael, who endeavours to deceive God by hiding a part of the earth in his mouth, where, like the earth of God’s creation, it swells so terribly that the devil is forced to spit it out, thus forming sometimes mountains and hills, sometimes swamps and bogs on the smooth surface of the earth.
When the devil acts altogether in a human-like manner, the tales sometimes describe the hiding of the earth in a way more suited to men. Thus in a Buriat story, the devil hides it under his heel and thence scatters it as mountains on the smooth earth created by Burkhan. To God’s question, why the devil wished to spoil his earth, the latter replies: a When man de- THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
319
scends a mountain he is afraid and calls upon Thy name, but when he ascends he swears in my name. Thus he is ever mindful of us both.” 14 Similar words are uttered by the devil in both a Mordvin and a Russian creation tale.15
The devil mars the earth in a human-like manner in the following Yakut tale: In the beginning, God created a small, smooth and even earth, but the devil injured it sadly by kicking it with his feet and tearing it. God urged the earth to grow in spite of this and so the unevennesses caused by the devil be- came great mountains, valleys and lakes.16
In the first of the creation tales given, it is said that the devil intended to drown God, who had seated himself on the little earth-disc just formed upon the surface of the water. In a corresponding Bulgarian tale the devil has the same idea. He tries to coax God to lie down and sleep upon the earth- disc in order to be able to push him into the sea, and to become supreme in the world. Although God well knows the inten- tions of his enemy, he lays himself down and pretends to sleep. The devil then seizes him and begins to carry him to the edge of the earth in order to pitch him into the depths. But when he approaches the shore the earth begins to expand so that he is unable to reach its edge. He turns towards the other side but even there he can no longer see the ocean. The third and the fourth direction give the same result.17
This same story, has been added to an entirely different creation tale in Central Asia. Here the earth is also brought from under the water and placed on the surface of the ocean, but the devil takes no part in the creation. The creator is Otshirvani (= the Buddhist Bodhisattva Vairapani) and his assistant Chagan-Shukuty. When these mighty beings de- scended from heaven they saw a frog (= turtle) diving in the water. Otshirvani’s companion raised it from the depths and placed it on its back on the water. £ÉI shall sit on the stomach of the frog,” said Otshirvani, “ dive thou to the bottom and bring up what thy hand finds.” Chagan-Shukuty 320 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY
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« on: June 25, 2019, 03:41:59 PM »
SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra41gray/page/296BY UNO HOLMBERG PH.D. DOCENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FINLAND, HELSINGFORS INTRODUCTION MOST dominant among the Siberian peoples is the great Altaic race, the original dwelling-place of which ap- pears to have been in the vicinity of the Altai Mountains, but which at the present time is distributed over an enormous stretch of territory in Central and North Asia, the Near East and Eastern Europe. The languages spoken by these scattered peoples are divided into three large groups: Turco-Tatar, Mongolian, and Mandshu-Tungus. Besides the Turks proper, or Osmans, the closely related Turkomans to the east of the Caspian Sea and in the Stavropol Government, and the Eastern Turkish tribes in East Turkes- tan, the Turco-Tatar group comprises further, the Tatars around the Volga, whence pioneers have migrated as far as to Western Siberia, the Tatars in the Crimea and other dis- tricts in Russia, the Bashkirs in the central Ural districts, the Nogaiyes in the Crimea and Northern Caucasia and other Tatar tribes up to south of the Caspian Sea, the Kirghis in Russia and Turkestan, the Altai Tatars in the neighbourhood of the Altai, where they form a number of smaller groups with dif- ferent dialects, — Soyots, Karagass, the Abakan, Cholym, and Baraba Tatars, — the Teleuts, the Lebed Tatars and the Ku- mandines, and also the .Yakuts by the River Lena in North Siberia, and the Chuvash from the bend of the Volga in Russia. The Mongolians, whose original home was by Lake Baikal, and from whom Mongolia derives its name, have assimilated different Turkish tribes, which have appropriated the Mongo- lian language. In the course of raids of conquest the Mon- golians have also overflowed to other districts, amongst others, INTRODUCTION 300 to Afghanistan, where they are now termed Moghols. Closely related to the Mongolians are the Kalmucks to the south of the Altai, in the southern stretches of the Tientshan Mountains and by the Volga in Russia, whither inner disturbances caused them to wander in the seventeenth century. Further, the Buriats around the Caspian Sea belong to the Mongolian group. The Mandshu-Tungus stocks, which are composed of many closely related lesser groups with different languages, appear to have migrated from the districts around the Amur River. At the present time tribes belonging to these stocks dwell over wide stretches in North-East Siberia, reaching from the Yenisei Valley to the Pacific Ocean, and from Northern China and Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean. The Tungus stocks dwelling in the Amur Valley include the Goldes, the Orotchones, the Manegres, etc., and also the more distantly related Solones, Mandshus and Dahurs, of which the last-named have for the most part appropriated the Mongolian language. The Tungus dwelling on the shores of the Northern Arctic Ocean and the Pacific are called Lamutes. The Dolgans dwelling around the Khatanga River, and at present wholly under the influence of the Yakut language and culture, appear also to have been originally Tungus. The primary cause of the present widely scattered state of the Altaic race would seem to be found in their restless, migra- tory mode of life, and their lust for war. Tribes belonging to this race first appeared in Europe with the great migration of the Huns, whose barbaric advance-guards are described al- ready by Ptolemaios in the second century. When these re- turned to Asia after their martial exploits, certain Turkish tribes remained behind, the remains of which are the Bolgars, or, to call them by their present name, the Chuvashes by the Volga. Early in history, Turkish peoples in Asia have built up powerful empires, attaining a certain, though short-lived, prosperity. Their chiefs have ruled everywhere in Asia. An important centre of development seems to have existed INTRODUCTION 301 at some period south of Lake Baikal on the Selenga River and its tributary, the Orkhon, where a number of ancient Turkish inscriptions on the gravestones of departed chiefs have been discovered. These inscriptions, translated in 1893 by Prof. Vilhelm Thomsen, originate from the Turk dynasty (Chinese, Tu-kiu, 680-745' A.D.) and the subsequent period of pros- perity among the Uigurs (745-840). The Uigurs came at that time into contact with missionaries from Syria, who preached the Nestorian and Manichean doctrines, and also with Buddhist missionaries from China. When, later, a part of the Uigurs moved to the districts around the Tientshan, where they took up agriculture and commerce, an important centre of culture arose in East Turkestan (900-1200 a.d.). Through the Uigurs other Mongolian tribes came into con- tact with the Christian Faith. The influence of Syrian culture is evident in the Syrian characters of Uigurean literature, re- mains of which were dug up in excavations commenced in 1905 at the town of Turfan in East Turkestan. During the period of Manicheanism, and probably during a still earlier period, ancient Persian culture affected the religious views of the Mon- golians and the Turco-Tatars dwelling at Sajan and the Altai, as will be seen from certain mythological names Mon- golian Hormusda, Kalmuck Hormustan — Persian Ahura- Mazdaj Buriat Arima = Persian Ahriman; Altai-Tatar and Kirghis Kudai (“ God ”) = Persian Hudaij Altai-Tatar Aina (“ an evil spirit dwelling under the earth ”) = Persian Aênanh). Great upheavals and new groupings of tribes took place when the great Mongolian ruler Temudjin, or as he is more often called, Jenghiz Khan or Chingiskan (1162-1227), ac- complished his ambitious schemes of conquest. These migra- tions of tribes pressed also the Turks farther west, gradually even to Europe. After the Mongolian conquest, different Tatar tribes remained behind in Russia, represented by the Tatars at present dwelling there. Jenghiz Khan himself was 302 INTRODUCTION extremely liberal in religious matters, tolerating all the dif- ferent religious sects. His successors, notably Kubilai (1260- 1294), whose capital became Pekin, were, however, more in- clined towards Buddhism, which seems also to have exercised a great influence over the Mongolians. But with the fall of the Mongol dynasty in China in 1368, Buddhism appears to have gone out of fashion, and paganism blossomed anew, until Buddhism again, in the shape of Lamaism, won over in the seventeenth century fervent disciples among both Mongolians and Kalmucks, the last-named setting up during their war in Thibet the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader. Eager mis- sionaries arose also in the ranks of the people, and gradually, by fines and other punishments, the pagan sacrifices were over- come. For political reasons, however, many old folk-customs were tolerated by giving them a new meaning. At the present day, the orthodox people abhor their old shamanistic religion, the “ Black Religion,” which has almost entirely been sup- planted by Lamaism, the “Yellow Religion,” with Thibetan books of devotion. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Buriats south and east of the Baikal, and a part of the Tungus dwelling there, have also been led to accept the “Yellow Religion.” The older Buddhistic culture, which penetrated from China, has left among the Central Asian tribes a number of myths, in which the Buddhist names of the gods appear borrowed from the Sanscrit and not from the Thibetan. Of the tribes belonging to the Turco-Tatar group, the ma- jority, have gradually declared for Islam, which had already in the eighth century penetrated to a Turkish tribe, forcing its way via Turan into the Near East. Only the Soyotes in Mon- golia and the Uigurs, the latter lapsing little by. little into Chinamen, are Buddhists 5 the Yakuts, part of the Tungus in Trans-Baikal and the Chuvashes, being, like many of the Tatars in the Minusinsk District and on the Volga, members of the Russian Orthodox Church, -t— ? -..... PLATE XL An Old Turkish Image and Memorial Stone with Inscription in North Mongolia (See page 301.) After photograph by-S. P&lsi. INTRODUCTION 303 Traces of the religion conformed to at one time by the whole of the Altaic race, shamanism, have adhered to many of the converted tribes, such as the Yakuts, Buriats, part of the Kirghis, etc. In its primitive state, this religion still flourishes among the Tungus and the tribes related to them among the more Northern Yakuts, among the Buriats west of the Baikal, and among a few small Tatar tribes at the Altai. An important field of investigation is moreover found among all the peoples who, in different ways, have been in close contact with the Altaic race. The peoples, related to the Finns, on the River Ob, the Ostiaks and Voguls, have been at least in their southern districts influenced by the Tatars. The Tungus, again, have transmitted many of their beliefs and customs to the eastern Samoyeds and to some Old Asian tribes, such as, for example, the nearly extinct Yenisei Ostiaks and the Yukagires. Asiatic shamanism exists still among the Chukchee, Koriaks and the Kamchadales. The Kamchadales have, however, to a great part become Russianised in recent times. Among the Tungus tribes by the Amur River, and equally among the East Mongolians, Chinese culture also has in some degree left traces. Concerning the means of existence of the Altaic races, with which the religious beliefs stand in connection, the tribe most completely adhering to its primitive mode of life is the Tungus. They exist in the great primeval forests by hunting, or wander about with reindeer, riding on the backs of these j on the banks of rivers and on the sea-coasts, fishing is also an important means of existence On the same plane of civilization are also the other North Siberian peoples. The tribes dwelling on the great steppes of Central Asia have from prehistoric times been nomads 5 part of the Soyots near the Altai are reindeer-nomads. For the majority the horse and the sheep are the domestic animals of most importance. In some districts, chiefly in the south, agriculture has recently been taken up. The oldest information concerning the Mongolian and INTRODUCTION 304 Tatar religions, is found in accounts of travels by. certain Euro- peans, sent out in the thirteenth century to Central Asia. One of these was the Franciscan monk, Johannes de Plano Carpini, sent by Pope Innocent IV to the land of the Mongolians. He journeyed over the Volga as far as to Karakorum on the Orkhon, the capital founded by Ögedei, the son of Jenghiz Khan, in which town he remained over one winter. His experiences he describes in his Historia Mongolorwn. An- other important book of travel of the same period was written by the Franciscan Vilhelm Rubruquis (Ruysbroeck), who travelled in 1253-12$$ as the ambassador of the French King, Louis IX, in nearly the same districts as did Carpini. Of the accounts mentioned above, a critical edition appeared in Recueil de voyages et de mémoires fubliê far la sociêtê de Géo graf hiey tome IV, Paris, 1839. The well-known travel- ler, Marco Polo, sojourned also for a longer period among the Mongolians, going out in 1271 as the Pope’s ambassador to visit Kubilai-Khan; serving the latter at one time in the capacity of governor, until in 1292 he was accorded permission to return to his native country. His De regiombus orientalibusy touch- ing in some degree also on the religion of the Mongolians, has been translated into many languages. A few older frag- ments of knowledge concerning Mongolian religious beliefs are to be found in certain Chinese, Mohammedan, and Mongolian sources, amongst others, in the Mongolian Chronicle of Ssanang Ssetsen, translated into German by the Academician I. J. Schmidt {Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fur- stenhMses,i%2y). The oldest reports are, however, so few and insignificant, that it is not possible to build up any clear representation of the ancient religion of the Altaic race by their aid alone. But as the majority of the scattered peoples have retained the old traditions handed down by their ancestors nearly to the present day, even in many cases right on to our time, it has still been possible to gather together an imposing mass of material for I INTRODUCTION 305 iff. ' investigation. The foundation of these, at present compara- I tively large, collections, was already laid in the seventeenth I century, and later, after the Russian migration to Siberia. Among some of the tribes, notably the Buriats and Yakuts, native investigators have played an important part in this work. Some of the northern tribes, in particular the Tungus living in their inaccessible primeval forests, are, however, up to the % present day, still very little known. •'v i. - •' | i SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY CHAPTER I WORLD PICTURES HE VARIOUS streams of civilization, coming at dif- ferent times and from different sources, which have crossed and recrossed Central Asia, have brought with them differing conceptions of the world we live in and the universe. The newest arrivals, usurping as they: do the supreme authority, have either altogether brushed aside the old beliefs, or, finding in them some point of contact, have assimilated them. Matters being thus, it is often extremely difficult to decide which fea- tures represent older views, and what the original world pic- ture of the Altaic race was like. To obtain some idea of how primitive peoples form their idea of the world, we will examine the strange, but to them quite natural, conception of the world of the Yenisei Ostiaks. According to their ideas, the world is divided into three parts: Above, the sky; in the middle, the earth peopled by men; below, the kingdom of the dead; but all these parts are united by the u Holy Water,” which, beginning in Heaven, flows across the earth to Hades. This water is the great Yenisei River.1 The Samoyeds also, who have learned to speak of different storeys in the sky, declare the Yenisei River to flow from the lake in the sixth storey of Heaven. In their tales, the Yenisei Ostiaks describe how the shaman rows his boat in Heaven and how he returns along the river at such terrific speed that the wind whistles through him.2 It may, be diffi- cult for us to understand these pictures, but to the Yenisei 308 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY Ostiak nothing can be more natural. Do they not know from experience that the earth is slanting, that the rushing river which is the dwelling-place of this fisher tribe comes from “ above ” and flows “ down ” into the depths of Hades? The south, like many other North Siberian peoples, they call u that above,” the north “ that below.” The Yenisei is to them the centre of the world, as on its banks or tributaries they place all the peoples known to them, and thus would they draw a map of the world, had they a Ptolemy amongst them. The peoples living in Central Asia imagine the world some- times as a circular disc, sometimes as a square. In an Altaic tale in which a Lama creates the earth with his staff, the world is said to have been originally circular but later to have altered, so that it is now square.8 Thus do the Yakuts also imagine the world. In their folk-poetry the four corners of both Heaven and Earth are often mentioned. The winds, for ex- ample, are said to arise in the four corners of the sky.4 Georgi relates how the Tungus made a picture of the earth which was in the form of a little square of iron plate.5 This idea, common to many peoples, is closely connected with the four cardinal points. Even in the world pictures of the civilized peoples of Southern Asia it is quite general. In a certain Yakut tale, which speaks of the octagonal earth, the points of the compass have been doubled.6 Side by side with this idea of a square world, the idea of a circular one is equally common. It is often pictured as round, and as such it appears also to the eye. Similarly shaped is the sky stretching over the earth. In the hero tales of the Yakuts the outer edge of the earth is said to touch the rim of a hemispherical sky. A certain hero rode out once to the place where earth and sky touched. Simi- larly, in some districts, the Buriats conceive the sky to be shaped like a great overturned cauldron, rising and falling in constant motion. In rising, an opening forms between the sky and the edge of the earth. A hero, who happened at such PLATE XLI Boat-Gods and Boats of the Yenisei Ostiaks (See page 308.) After photograph by U. Holmberg. ! ?..r. WORLD PICTURES 309 a time to place his arrow between the edge of the earth and the rim of the sky was enabled thus to penetrate outside the world.7 Between Heaven and Hades, the earth peopled by men forms the centre of the universe. Often the earth is called “ The Middle Place.” Sometimes this “ Middle Place ” is, in a more confined sense, the country of the people using the term. Mongolia, among other regions, is a world-centre of this description. The Chinese also call their country “ the Central Empire,” Examples of this belief, born in. the begin- ning from the anthropocentric view of the world peculiar to man, are to be found also among the ancient civilized peoples. From the fact that Mongolia is a plateau in which number- less rivers flowing in different directions have their sources, the Mongols derive their belief that they live on the peak of a world, imagined to be like a great mound, other peoples liv- ing on its sides below them. In addition to the simplified idea that the world is three- storeyed : Heaven, Earth and Hades, Altaic folk-poetry speaks often of a many-storeyed world. Especially is the sky believed to contain hemispheres, one higher than another 5 generally three, seven, or nine are spoken of, but sometimes even more. Most common is the conception of a seven- storeyed Heaven, obviously derived from the Babylonian pic- ture of Heaven, in which the sun and the moon and five planets are situated in hemispheres placed one over the other. As the complement to these seven heavens, an equal number of storeys are pictured down below. Where the sky is regarded as nine-storeyed, Hades is also divided into nine gradually de- scending parts. That a belief of this description has actually sprung from a belief in layers of stars, appears from an Altai Tatar tale, in which the sun and moon are placed in different storeys of the sky. The Moon old man lives in the sixth and the Sun mother in the seventh Heaven.8 The primitive peoples of Siberia do not, however, know the reasons for this 310 SIBERIAN MYTHOLOGY division, neither can they explain the significance of any Heaven. The most northern peoples place in the different storeys of Heaven, landscapes from the earth — mountains, lakes, tundras, snowfields, etc. The Samoyeds relate in their shaman tales that there is a lake in the first storey of Heaven, a fiat plain in the second, the third is covered with numerous heights like little volcanoes, the fourth is formed like a roof of little icicles, the sixth contains a great lake, from which springs the Yenisei. Of the remaining storeys, of which there are in some districts altogether nine, they have very little knowledge.9 The Yakuts believe that in the lower regions of the sky there are also animals, kept by the inhabitant spirits as food.
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mygdat-yako (Ost.), commoners.
N.
Naininen (Kor.), ' Universe ', ' World ', ' Outer One ', a name for the
Supreme Being. Narginen (Chuk.), 'The Outer One', the world, vaguely conceived as
a beneficent being, nasleg (Yak.), a social group comprising from one to thirty or more
clans, nauchin (Chuk.), a female captive-slave.
naundoiirgin (Chuk.), ' for wife herdsman being', serving for a wife. naunyan (Tung.), 'possessed by evil spirits', said of a nervous affection
similar to raenerik. nayani (Tung.), a nervous affection similar to kutiirar. naydji (Bur.), 'friend', said of the relationship between a shaman and
the parents whose child he undertakes to protect from evil spirits, nenveticnin or ninvit (Kor.), evil spirits.
ne uehica (Chuk.), 'similar to a woman', said of a ' transformed' man- shaman, neusqat (Chuk.), woman, newew girkin (Chuk.j, 'thou askest for a wife', said of the preliminary
negotiations for a bride made by the matchmaker, new-tumgit (Chuk.), 'companions in wives', members of a group having
common rights in each other's wives. nexiyini (Yuk.j, 'they are bashful (in the presence) of each other', said
of the custom of avoidance. nimeleu qatvanvota (Kor.), ' hail ! ' ' be well ! ' nimeleu qatvarkin (Chuk.), ' be well ! ' a bride's salutation to her
husband's hearth. nim-tungit (Chuk.), 'camp-companions ' — inhabitants of the tents in
a Reindeer Chukchee encampment other than those living in the
'front tent', ninirkilqin (Chuk.), 'he is bashful', said of shamans to express their
extreme nervous sensibility, noyda (Lapp), shaman, nusa (Ain.), a cluster of kema-ush-inao (legged inao), set up by the
water as a sacrifice to the water-gods.
860 GLOSSARY
0.
odakh (Alt.), a temporary yurta built for a newly-married couple.
odyr (Vog.), a hero.
ocitkolin (Clink.), ' giving answering calls ', the assistant of a shaman.
ogonyor (Yak.), elders.
ogurda, ogurta, gurta (Uriank.). the head of a khoshun.
oibon-kiinga or oibon-kiinasata (Yak.), ' hole-in-the-ice sun', a disk- shaped ornament on the shaman's coat.
oiogos timiria (Yak.), metal plates fastened to the right and left sides of a shaman's coat.
oktorgo (Bur.), the night-sky.
olan (Tung.), mimiciy mania (amiirakh).
olongho (Yak.), ancient poems or folk-ballads.
ongon (Mong.), a fetish in which the soul of an ancestor is worshipped.
ongon (Bur.), a fetish representing either 'black ' or 'white' spirits.
opana (Kam.), soup made from fish and a plant called hale.
orda, old name for the larger social groups among the Turkic tribes.
orgoy (Bur.), the shaman's coat— white for a 'white' shaman, blue for a ' black.'
ort (Ost.), a male slave ; ort-nen, a female slave.
orto-oyun (Yak.), a 'middling shaman'.
ot-imeze (Alt.), ' mother of the fire ', represented in symbol on the shaman's drum below the circumferential dividing line.
ouokh. (Yak.), a resting-place for a shaman in his journey through the sky.
oyeye (Bur.), one of the three parts of a man— the body.
oyokh (Yak.), a wife.
pacil (Kor.), ceremonies held in celebration of a birth.
pal (Gil.), mountain ; spirit-' owner ' of the mountain.
palma (Tung.), a long knife with a wooden handle.
pandf (Gil.), name used Uy a clan for another with which it has marital
ties. parchis (Vot.), secondaiy priest appointed by the tuno. pellaskis (Vot.), sorcerer, peninelau (Kor.), 'ancient people', the dead. penzer (Sam.), the shaman's drum, pet-ru-ush mat (Ain.), ' females of the water-ways ', female deities who
have oversight of all streams. po (Yuk.), ' worker ', slave. pogil (Yuk.), persons who serve or are served for a bride, a relationship
term, pogilonu (Yuk.), to serve for a bride. polutpe (Yuk.), 'old men', oldest repi'esentatives of different families
constituting a sort of council. problokto (Esk.), a nervous afl^ection somewhat resembling menerik. pu (Gil.), husband (classificatory).
pura (Alt.), the soul of a horse sacrificed to Bai Yulgen. purel (Chuk.), a male captive slave.
qacikicheca (Chuk.), ' similar to a man ', said of a ' transformed ' woman- shaman,
qaitumntn yeti (Kor.), 'a relative has come' — the formula used by a father in announcing the birth of his child.
GLOSSARY 361
qavau (Kor.), ' transfoniied ' men.
Qoren-vairgin (Chulc), 'Reindeer Being', the tutelary spirit of the
reindeer herds. Qiiikinnaqu or Kutkinnaku (Kor.), ' Big Raven', the organizer of the
universe.
R.
raff (Gil.), a shed built to receive the ashes of the dead.
ra-i-oman (Ain.), ' to go to the lower place', to die.
rayirin (Chuk.), ' houseful ', ' those in the house ', household.
rekken, pi. rekkenit (Chuk.), a spirit ' assistant' of the shaman ; part ot
the ornamentation of the shaman's coat representing this spirit ;
the Maritime name for a kele, ruf (Gil.), brother (classificatory). rynchi (Alt.), persons able to foretell events.
S.
sagan-bo (Bur.), ' white' shamans.
sagani-khordut (Bur.), lesser deities.
sagan-sara (Mong. ), 'white-month', the autumn festival.
saiba (Yak.), a platform on two posts on which dead bodies, especially those of shamans, were exposed.
sakiikh bayuga (Bur.), a shaman's first visit to the dwelling of the people with whom he is to be naydji.
salamata (Yak.), meal cooked with butter.
saman (Manchui, 'one who is moved ',' exalted ',' excited' — a shaman (so pi'onounced by some Tungusic tribes).
samana (Pali), to become weary.
samburzia (Sam.), the tadibey's (shaman's) coat.
samdambi (Manchu), ' 1 shamanize.'
same-nabma (Lapp), the ceremony of naming a child.
sangyiah (Yak.), the woman's coat.
satini-burkhat (Bur.), tutelary spirits of tea- planting.
seok (Alt.), 'bones', 'generation', clan.
ser (Uriank.), a raised platform on which the corpse of one struck by lightning is exposed.
serge (Bur.), 'posts', birch-trees planted at a shaman's consecration.
sesen or sekhen (Yak.), an adviser, a sage.
setertey (Mong.), the custom of dedicating an animal to an ongon, and the taboo which forbids the use of such an animal for heavy work.
shagund (Gil.), certain articles reckoned as private property.
shaitan, almys, khawa, kuremes (Chern Tart.), names for evil spirits.
shaku (Jap.), vaginismus.
shaytan (Mong.j, 'black' spirit.
shelenga (Bur.), the head of a clan as organized by the Russian adminis- tration.
shinnurappa (Ain.), 'libation-dropping', part of the ceremonial of ancestor-worship.
shire (Bur.), shaman's chest containing certain ceremonial accessories.
shirlikb (Alt.), prohibition against removing anything from the yurta in which a dead body is lying.
shram (Sanskr.), to become weary.
shramana (Sanskr.), a hermit, ascetic, religious mendicant.
sinnakh khongoruta (Yak.), 'they have given their word '—the conclu- sion of the marriage compact.
sijrnyin (Alt.), ' girl ', a younger sistei-.
362 GLOSSARY
sorkhoho (Bur.), 'to commit sin', applied to the custom of avoidance, souban-ir (Alt.), 'aurora'- the dawn (or the aurora horealis); part of
the ornamentation of the shaman's drum above the circumferential
dividing line, sugyznym-karagat (Alt.), the horses of the high god Ulu-khan ; part of
the ornamentation on the shaman's drum above the circumferential
dividing line, sumyn (Uiiank.), subdivision of a khoshun. Probabl}- a clan, siine (Alt.), a soul peculiar to man, his intellect, sunyesun (Bur.), one of the two souls of a man ; it is peculiar to man,
and is reincarnated in human form. siir (Yak.), one of the three souls of man. siir (Alt.), the soul which separates from a man at his death, surge (Yak.), the tree to which the animal dedicated at a funeral is
tied, suwu (sulu) (Yak.), the part of the kalym paid to the parents of the
bride, suzy (Alt.), the strcagth or vitality of a man or animal, one of his souls, sygan (Yak.), a relative nine times removed.
tabytaua (Yak.), plates fastened to the sleeves of a shaman's coat.
tadebtzy (Sam. and Vog.), spirits.
tadibey (Sam.), shaman.
tagaun (Tung.), clan.
tahe (Ost.), ' man', husband.
tailgan (Bui-.), 'the asking ceremony', a periodical communal
sacri6ce. takalhin (Chuk.), ' brace-comijanion ', wife's sister's husband, tanara (Yak.), ' protector ', said of the shaman's coat and the symbolic
ornamentation on it ;' household 'guardians'; charms; its modern
significance includes heaven, the Christian God, and ikons. tano-mnalin (Chuk.), ' fortifier ', one who performs certain ceremonies to
countei-act the evil influence of the spirit of a deceased person, tapty (Alt.), ' steps ' or notches, nine in number, cut in a birch trunk to
symbolize the stages of the shaman's ascent to the ninth heaven at
the sacrifice to Bai-Yulgen. tarasvm (Bur. i, wine or milk. tay (Alt.), uncle (maternal), said of clansmen older than the speaker and
related to him through his mother, taysha (Bur.), the head of a (Russian) a-dministrative group comprising
several clans. tei-nei-pokna-moshiri (Ain.), ' the wet underground place ' of departed
spirits, tenci-ronulin (Chuk.), 'well-minded' shamans, tenge (Bur. i, a jiartition which shuts off the sleeping-place from the
hearth, tenge (Alt.), aunt, applied to clanswomen older than the speaker, tengeri or tengeriny (Bur.), highest supernatural beings, tea bazin-yat (Alt.), 'the ancestor (spirit), leaps upon, strangles him',
said of the shamanistic call coming to the descendant of a sharaanist
family, tetkeyun (Chuk.), 'source of life', blood, vital force; represented in
symbol on the shaman's coat, tey (Ost.). a male slave. tey-nen (Ost), a female slave.
GLOSSARY 363
thusind (Oil.), mnsom or compensation jiaitl in lieu of Mood-revenge, tiungnur tiuser (Yak.), 'the arrival of the niateh-niaker ' at the house of
the briile's parents ; tiungnur hodohoi tiuser, ' the arrival of the
uiatehuiaker and uiateh-uiakeress ', i. e., the bringing of the bride by
her parents to the bridegroom's house. tlo (Gil.), the habitation in the sky of those who have died a violent
death, tly-nivukh (Gil.), gods of the sky. tol (Gil.), the sea; spirit-" owner ' of the sea. tole (Bur.), a mirror of metal on the breast of the shaman's coat. tole (Gil.), a copper disk hanging from the shaman's girdle. tomgin (Chuk.), 'companion', 'mate', 'kinsman'. tonto (Lapp), spirit, tordo (Yak.), ' origin ', ' root '.
tore (Vot.), a secondary priest appointed by the tuno. totaino rkinc (Chuk.), said of a certain peculiar deformity of the penis, toyon (Y'ak. I, lord. tula (Alt.), a soul peculiar to man. tiingur (Alt., Soiot, Karagas), the shaman's drum, tuno (Vot.), the chief shaman, tiiniir, tungiir, diiniir (Yak.), the shaman's drum. Tiiniir also means
kinship by marriage. tiiniirattar (Yak.), match-making. turene nitvillin (Chuk.), 'the newly-inspired one', a shaman in his
novitiate. turushi (Bur.), a group of horsemen accompanying a bride, tusakta (Yak.), a woman's cap. tuvn (Gil.), sister (classificatory). tyn (Yak.), 'life ', ' breath ' ; a soul common to men, animals, and plants.
U.
uchchi (Vog.), malicious spirits dwelling in the forest.
udege (Tart.), ' housewife ', ' wife ' ; also female shaman.
uicil (Yuk.), a hired labourer.
uiritak (Ain.), 'distant relatives', ' brethren brought in ' — men married
into families not of their own village. uiriwak (Ain.), 'blood-relatives', ' brethren '- men who take wives from
their own village. \ikhan-budla (Bur. i, a ceremony performed by a shaman to celebrate
the birth of a child, ukher-ezy (Bur.), souls of evildoers who have died by violence. ukoreske maci (Ain.), a girl betrothed to a man of about her own age. ulahan-oyun (Yak.), a ' great shaman '. Ulgere (Alt.), a deity to whom prayers are offered for the curing of
earache and toothache ; represented in symbol on the shaman's
drum below the circumferential dividing line. ulug-bai-kazyn (Alt.), two trees growing in the high god Ulu-khan'.s
country ; part of the ornamentation on the shaman's drum below the
circumferential dividing line. ulus (Y'ak.), a group comprising several naslegs. umgu genycli (Gil.), ' buying a wife'. unpener (Chuk.), 'the pole-stuck star', the pole star, which is considered
to be a benevolent being, uos assar (Yak.), ' the opening of the mouth ', the part of the kalym
paid at the beginning of negotiations for a wife, urdla nivukh (Gil.), ' good and rich one ', unofficial leader of a clan.
364 GLOSSARY
urif (Gil.), a class of good spirits.
uru (Yak.), ' wedding ', ' relationship by marriage ', relationship.
urui (Yak.), 'hurrah.'
urus-sara (Mong.), ' the month of sara', the spring festival.
useten (Bur.), an ongon prepared for a woman who desires a ehild.
Usui (Yak.), to train a shaman, to consecrate a shaman.
utakan (Tung.), sorcerer, cannibal.
utka (Bur.j, 'descent', 'genealogy'; a term connoting shamanistic
power, utygan (Tart.), bear.
uvirit or uvekkirgin (Chuk.), ' belonging to the body ', the soul, uyicit or uyirit (Kor.), the chief soul of man.
Vahiynin (Kor.), ' existence ', ' strength ', a name for the Supreme
Being, vairgin, pi. vairgit (Chuk.), 'beings', benevolent supernatuml beings;
taaronyo vairgit, benevolent ' beings sacrificed to '. varat (Chuk.), 'collection of those who are together'— a social body
resembling a clan, enan-varatken, ' one of the same varat.' vata itilin (Chuk.), 'continuous dweller', a son-in-law adopted into his
?wife's family. vedin (Vot.j, a sorcerer. viyolin, pi. viyolet (Chuk.), 'assistants'; sometimes applied to spirits
supposed to be assistants of certain supernatural beings ; slaves.
W.
wuyil-wuyil (Kor.), 'shadow', one of the minor souls of man. wuyivi (Kor.), ' breathing !, one of the minor souls of man.
X.
xoil (Yuk.), an ' idol ' formed of the skull of a shaman placed on top of a stick.
yada-tash (Alt.), a stone by means of which the weather can be con- trolled.
yaelhepu-walin (Chuk.), that coming from the penis — the paternal line of descent.
yagan (Bur.), ancient name for the clan.
yahalanu (Kor.), ' cloud people.'
yalgil (Y'uk. ), 'lake', the drum.
yangpa (Gil.), the shaman's girdle.
yanra-naw (Chuk.), 'separate woman', an unmarried woman.
yanra varat (Chuk.), 'separate tribe' — the spirits of intoxicating mush- rooms.
Yaqhicnin (Caqhicnin, Vahicnin, Vahitnin) (Chuk.), 'something existing', a name for the Supreme Being.
yara-tomgit (Chuk.), 'housemates.'
yara-vairgit (Chuk.), 'house-beings', the tutelary spirits of the house.
yauasua (yalama) (Alt.), strips of bright-coloured material fastened inside the drum.
yayai (Kor.), the drum.
GLOSSARY 365
ye (Yak.X 'womb', 'embryo', mother.
yekyna (Yak.), ' mother-animar, a shaman's familiar spirit.
yendo iennt ya etei (Yuk. ), singing in one's sleep, a nervous affection
similar to kutiirar. yep ayaakeleu (Chuk.), 'not j'et put in use', an expression probably
equivalent to ' girl '. ye-usa (Yak.), 'mother-clan.' yirka-laul-vairgin (Chuk.), 'soft-man-being', said of the so-called
' change of sex ' among shamans, ymgi (Gil.), clan of a son-in-law. ymk (Gil.), mother (classificatory). yokh (Gil.), said of a woman with whom, as not being of the speaker's
mother's clan, sexual intercourse is forbidden. yor (Yak.), the soul of a deceased person which is unable to leave the
earth, ys I Gil.), the spiritr' owner' of an animal, ysyakh (Yak.), a sacrificial festival, ytk (Gil.), father (classificatory). ytk-khavrnd (Gil.), 'without father', said of one whose father is not
known, or whose mother has married a man not of the correct
marital class. 3rurta, the tent-like dwelling in use among the Turkic tribes. yz (Gil.), ' host ', the unofficial leader of a clan.
Z.
zayan (Bur.), the spirit of an ancestor whose memory is honoured by sacrifices ; a god.
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children. adilparmint (Esk.), the cold, dark, underground abode of the dead, aga (Yak.), 'older', the term applied to one's father, aga-usa (Yak.), 'father-clan', clan. ag-prenya (Bur.), an ongon of horse-skin made for the protection of
young children. ahmalk (Gil.), 'father-in-law clan', giving wives to a corresponding
son in-law clan. aibi (Kor.), an ancestor reincarnated in one of his descendants. ail-buzar (Alt.), ' destroying the house ', part of the marriage cei'emony
among the Teleut, in which one of the bride's male relatives tears
away a portion of the wall of the bridegroom's yurta, being
mounted and simulating an attempt to escape from the occupants, aimak (Y^ak.*, older name for a nasleg. aiy (Y^ak.), 'white ' or good spirits ; aiy-oiuna, shamans who serve these ;
aiy-udagana, ' white ' shamanesses ; aiy-ysyakb, the spring festival
dedicated to the 'white ' spirits. ak-baga and kara-baga (Alt.), 'white' and 'black frog', servants of the
high god Ulu-khan — part of the ornamentation on the shaman's
drum below the circumferential dividing line. akha (Bur.), 'taboo', said of a grove of birches containing the ashes of
deceased shamans. alaranto virgin (Chuk.). 'a journey out of loneliness', ceremonial visit
paid by a bride to her parents a short time after her marriage. Alash (Kirg.), watchword of the Kirgis of the Great, Middling, and
Little Oi'das, from the name of the mythical tribal ancestor. Alcheringa (Aruuta), the age of myth, algysh-sez (Alt.), 'blessing the bride' before she leaves her parents'
house. alkha (Bur.), a monster without trunk or limbs.
GLOSSARY 353
amagyat (Yak.\ ancestral spirit associated with shamanistic power; invisible, impersonal power communicated by old shamans to young ; figure on a shaman's coat symbolic of these.
amban (Uriank.), chief ogiirta.
amin (Bur.), lower soul, breath — one of the three parts of man.
amulin (Chuk.), ' weakling', a slave ; ciq-amulin, ' very weak one '.
amiirakh (omurax, meriak) (Yak.), a nervous affection characterized by the patient's imitating involuntarily movements and sounds Avithin his sight or heai-ing (amirak, 'sensitive'; amyrakh, 'compliant ' ).
anan-loho-lercte (Yak.), 'mouth-opener', gifts brought by the match- maker to a prospective father-in-law.
anapel (Kor.l, ' little grandmother ', a divining stone used to determine what ancestor's name is to be given to a child.
angey (Gil.), ' wife '— classificatory term.
anna ( Yak. ), a bride's dowry ; anna tangaha, her clothes ; anna siekhi, the cattle she takes to her husband.
anqaken-etinvilan (Kor.), 'Master of the Sea', a supernatural being vaguely associated with the sea. anqa, sea.
anqa-vairgit (Chuk.), supernatural 'beings of the sea', anqa, sea.
apapel (Ivor. I, spirit-protectors of hunters and travellers, apa, ' father', ' grandfather '.
aptah-kisi (Yak.), ' sorcerers.'
aranga (Bur.), a platform on which the corpse of a shaman is exposed.
arangka ( Yak. i, a platform on whicli a corpse, especially that of a sha- man, was formerly exposed.
arbu (Bur. I, a cart.
armaci-ralin (Maritime Chuk.), 'the one of the house of the strongest', the most influential man in a village.
armaci-ran (Mar. Chuk.), ' house of the strongest ' in a village.
aru-neme lak-neme) (Alt.), good spirits; kara-neme, evil spirits.
attooralin or aunralin (Chuk.), 'the one in the chief or ' front house', the master of a reindeer Chukchee camp.
attooran (Chuk.), 'front house ', chief house.
attwat-yirin (Chuk.), 'boatful', boat's crew,
attw-ermecin (Chuk.), 'boat master', helmsman and owner of a boat.
aunralit (Chuk.), 'masters' or spirits animating forests, rivers, lakes, animals.
ayabol (Yuk.), name for an unmarried woman with several lovers.
ayellakh (Yak,), ' reconciled ', 'peaceful ' — an alliance of clans.
B,
bai-kazyn (Alt.), 'rich birch', part of the ornamentation on the sha- man's drum below the circumferential dividing line.
baksa, basky ( Kirg.), shaman.
balyk-timir (Yak.), 'fish ', a symbolic figure on the shaman's coat in the shape of a fish. It trails behind on the ground as a bait for spirits, being fastened to the coat by a long leather strap,
balys (Yak.), younger,
bar I Alt.), the handle of the shaman's drum. It has the form of a human figure.
barky (Alt.), a gift which a boy receives at the age of seven from his maternal uncle.
bash-tutkan-kiski (Alt •, 'holder of the head' of the sacrificial horse at the sacrifice to Bai-Yulgen.
bashtut-khan (Alt.), family deity of the yurta.
354 GLOSSARY
batyr (Yak.), a warrior.
bayga (Alt.), five feasts held in connexion with a marriage.
billiryk (Yak.), a seat for honoured guests at the right side of the yurta ;
'left' billiryk, seat and sleeping place for women, bis-usa-toyou (Yak.), chief of a clan. bo (Bur.), a shaman. Bogi-narhan, 'the birch of a shaman', in the
trunk of which the ashes of a dead shaman are deposited. bokholdoy (Bur.), the form in which amin, the lower soul, continues to
live on earth. bol (Gil.), a class of good spirits. bomo (Bur.), the spirit-' owner ' of sibirskaya yazva. buge (Mong.), a shaman, bun (Tung.), the place of the dead.
biirgiine (Yak.), two disks on the shoulders of a shaman's coat, bytyrys (Yak.), a long fringe of hollow copper balls (ehoran) attached
by leather straps to the lower edge of a shaman's coat.
carmoriel (Yuk.), a nervous affection like menerik.
ceneyine (Kor.), head-piece for the fire-drill.
charamni (Yak.), horses with richly decorated saddles. They bear a bride's anna.
chayu (Alt.), spirits or spiritual power possessed by a shaman.
chekhn-kun-inau (Gil.), an inau or fetish placed upon a tree while it is being cut down to receive the spirit-' owner ' of the tree.
chilliryt kyhan (Yak.), flat metal plates fastened to the back of a sha- man's coat.
chitkur (Diurbiut), an evil spii-it harmful to young children.
chotunniU' (Yak.), having sexual intercourse with a woman, or making her your hostess; formerly said of the custom of brothers having such intercourse with their sister before she was given to a husband.
chshity-kyz (Alt.), ' seve-n maidens ' who bring seven diseases on men ; part of the ornamentations on the shaman's drum below the circum- ferential dividing line.
chshity-us (Alt.), spirits associated with seven nests and seven feathers ; part of the ornamentation on the shaman's drum below the circum- ferential dividing line.
chum, the tent-like dwelling in use among the Finnic and Samoyedic tribes.
chyx'-ngykh (Gil.), a shed built near the place where a person has been killed by a bear.
cln-yirin (Chuk.), 'collection of those who take part in blood-revenge', a varat.
cireske maci (Ain.), 'the brought-up wife', a girl betrothed to a man older than herself.
coro-mimebonpe (Yuk.), ' men of the clan ', the term for the system of relationship; also coro-monulpe , 'relatives'.
cuboje-yono (Yuk.), 'heart-anger', blood-ievenge.
D.
dakhul (Bur.i, a malicious spirit — the soul of a deceased poor person, dansari (Tung. I, a marriage ceremony, darkhan, pi. darkhat (Bur.), a smith.
degnym (Alt. I, nephew (maternal), applied to clansmen younger than the speaker related to him through his mother.
GLOSSARY 355
djakhter-em (Yak.). ' my woman', toim used in addressing one's wife. djon (Yak.), old niinie for a larger social group, donkiir (Uri.), the shaman's drum, diigiir (Yak.), a stringed instrument used by shamans. diingiir iMong. ), the shaman's drum.
dyrelacho xiri (Tung.), ' first meeting of the two ', i. e. of the bride and bridegroom at the dansari.
E.
edem (Alt.), an elder sister.
eezi (Alt. I, 'owner' spirits of the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, forests.
elhogicnin (Kor.), 'wolf-stick-festival', the wolf-festival of the Maritime Koryak.
elomen (Yuk.), madness.
emjepul (Yuk.), classificatory term including brothers, sisters, cousins (male iind female) of the father and mother.
enen (Cbuk.), shamanistic spirit; enenilit, 'those with spirit' — pro- fessional shamans.
Ennanenak or Nenenqal (Kor.), 'on the opposite side', the abode of the dead.
ennen-mulilit (Chuk.), 'those of the same blood', i.e. of the blood used for sacrificial anointment-paternal relatives.
erim (Yak.), ' my man ', referring to a husband,
erke (Chern Tart.), family deity of the yurta.
Erlen-Tama iBur. ). the smaller of two dungeons to which souls are consigned after death.
ermecin (Chuk.), 'strong man'— a hero in the old Chukchee legends; nowadays (especially among Maritime Chukchee), the most influen- tial man in the community on account of his physical prowess.
Etin (Kor.), ' master', a name for the Supreme Being.
etinvit (Chuk.), 'owners', or spirits animating forests, rivers, lakes, animals.
Etugen (Mong,), the earth-goddess.
ewganva-tirgin (Chuk.), 'producing of incantations', an incantation- shaman.
eyet (Kor.), ' bow ', the bow for turning the fire-drill.
G.
gam (Alt.), shaman.
gellung (Kal.), priest.
gicgic or gecgei (Kor.), the fire-board.
Gieholan iKor. ), 'The-One-on-High' ; Gicholetinvilan, 'The- Master on- High '. Names for the Koryak Supreme Being.
ginon-kanon Chuk.), 'middle crown', a benevolent being residing in the zenith.
Girgol-vairgin (Chuk.), ' Upper Being '.
gupilin (Chuk.), ' working-man ', slave ; any worker.
II.
haraman or samman ('Tung.), shaman.
harain-bo (Bur.), 'black' shamans.
hetolatirgin (Chuk.), 'one-looking-into', a prophet-shaman.
hobo (Yak), tongueless copper bells suspended from below the collar of
a shaman's coat, hodohoi tiuser (Yak.), 'the arrival of the match-makeress ' or wife of
the match-maker at the house of the bride's parents.
A a 2
356 GLOSSAEY
hoinohor kasi (Yak.), 'the gift for the night', part of the kalym. hoku-eikara (Ain.), ' making my husband ', a ceremony performed by
a bride of presenting certain gifts to her husband. homuB (Yak.), the ' jew's-harp '.
iasso (Gil.), iron links on the shaman's girdle.
ichchi (Yak.), a spirit-' owner '.
ichchylakh C^'ak.), a hereditary blacksmith's tools which have the power
of emitting sounds of themselves. iik (Alt.), a light-coloured horse sacrificed to the good god Yulgen by
a bridegroom. ijin (Bur.), an 'owner' or spirit residing in some object, ike-karagus (Alt.), two black birds, messengers of the shaman to the shaitans ; part of the ornamentation on the shaman's drum above the circumferential dividing line, ilshi or bydek (Bur.), intermediaries between the 'eastern' and the
' western ' khats. ilhun or elgoi (Kor.), an arrow placed near the hearth at the (Maritime)
wolf- festival. imu (Ain.), mimicry mania (amurakh). Inahitelan or Ginagitelan (Kor.), ' Supervisor', a name for the Supreme
Being, inao (Ain.), fetishes made of wood-shavings.
inenjulan (Kor.), a relative who impersonates the deceased to deceive the kala into believing that it has not obtained the dead man's soul. irbit (Yak.), spoilt, mad.
irkunii (Yuk.), mimicry mania (amurakh). irkei, to shudder, is (Ost.), shadow.
isi (Vog.), shadow, one of the three parts of a man. ivn (Gil.), husband (classificatory).
jemi (Ost.), wife.
jido (Bur.), the Phea sibirica.
K.
kabys or komus (Alt.), a two-stringed musical instrument used to
accompany the recital of heroic tales. kacho (Chern Tart.), a shaman's mask. kadyk (Bur.), a white cloth attached to an arrow which one of the
turushi sticks in the tenge of the bridegroom's yurta when the
bride is being brought thither. kala, pi. kalau (Kor.), an evil spirit.
kalan, kamak (Paren Kor.), evil spirits; also guardian spirits. kalatko urgin (Chuk.), ecstatic shaman, kaliany (Yak.), mischievous familiar spirit of a shaman, kalym, cattle, goods, &c., given in payment for a wife, kam (Tart., Alt.), shaman. kamui (Ain.), 'he who' or 'that which is of the highest degree of evil
or good', 'he who' or 'that which covers' or 'overshadows'
—a deity. kamuli (Kam.), evil spirits dwelling in volcanoes and hot springs.
GLOSSARY 357
kan-at-uruta (Yak.), ' blood-and-flesh relationship', refeningto members
of the same clan, kannus or kvobdas (Lapp), the shaman's drum, kanoirgin (Chuk.>, 'being a crown', a benevolent being residing in the
zenith, kanun-kotan, kanun-moshiri (Ain.), the land of the gods, kara-darkhat (Bur. i, 'eastern' or 'black ' smiths, kargan Yak.), ' household.' kasi (Gil.), the drum, keileni (Yuk. ), ' icd-paint', the menses, kekhn and kenchkh (Gil.), a shaman's familiar spirits. kele, pi. kelet (Chuk.), evil spirit, also a shaman's spirit-assistant. ken kersier (Yak.), ' the race of the youths ', a race on horseback between a member of the bridal jiarty and one of the bridegroom's friends, which takes place when the bride is being brought to the bride- groom's yurta, kenniki-oyun (Yak.), a ' little shaman '. ker-khomlakh (Ost.), a black-beetle, khada-ulan-obbkhod (Bur.), 'old people of the mountain', local
divinities, the souls of deceased shamans and shamanesses. khadam (Bur.), the name by which a wife addresses her father-in-law
and all the older male relatives of her husband, khailyga or khailige (Yak.), the custom of sacrificing at a funeral
a horse or cow, the flesh of which is eaten by those present, khal (Bur.), the final marriage compact, khal (Gil.), the clan,
khat (Bur.), a benevolent spirit, child of a western tengeri. khaura-boro (Bur.), three days of mourning for the dead, kherege-khulke (Bur.), the first consecration ceremony of a shaman. khese (Bur.), the shaman's drum or his bell, kheyinar (Gil,j, an elder, khlay-nivukh (Gil.), an orator or intermediary in the settlement of
blood-feuds by means of thusind (compensation), kholbokho, khoubokho, or shamshorgo (Bur,), conical iron pendants
attached to a shaman's cap or to the ' horse-staves ', kholgo (Bur.), a horse consecrated for sacrifice at funerals, khorbo (Bur.), a shaman's staff, khoahun (Uriank.), one of the five largest social divisions among the
Tangnu Uriankhai, khosodabgaliku (Tung.), a marriage ceremony. khuna (Kirg.j, blood- revenge. khur (Irkutsk Bur.), the shaman's 'Jew's harp',
khurir (Bur.), prohibition against removing anything from the yurta for a certain period after the sacrifice to the fire ; called also serotey, Kihigilan (Kor.), 'Thunder-Man', a name for the Supreme Being, kilvei (Chuk.), the antlers ceremony, kinitti (Yak.j, the custom of avoidance observed by married women with
regard to the older male relatives of their husbands, kinr or knin (Gil.), a class of evil spirits, Kinta-vairgin (Chuk,), 'The Luck-Giving Being', kirik (Bur.;, an occasional private sacrifice, kimaipu-walin (Chuk.), 'that coming from the old buck (male)', the
paternal line of descent, kirna-takhalin (Chuk.), an older relative.
kime-tomgin (Chuk.), ' old buck (male) mate ', the paternal line ; an older relative.
358 GLOSSARY
kirneyicemit-tomgin (Cluik. ), an elder brother-
kittegan (Yak.), the betrothal ceremony.
kiyolhepu-waliri (Chuk.), 'that coming from the uterus ', the maternal
line of descent. koekchuoh (Kiim.), probably a eunuch possessing shamanistic power, kojajjoskire (Ain.), 'to make the first advances', said of a woman who
courts a man for husband. kondei-kyhan (Yak.), rolls of tin fastened to the back of a shaman's
coat. kongokto (Gil.), small tongueless copper bells on a shaman's girdle, kongoro (Gil.), rolled iron plates on a shaman's girdle, konlakhion (Kam.), a kind of grass. koshogo (Alt.), a screen borne before the bride when she is being taken
to the bridegroom's house. koska (Gil.), a shaman's apron, krish (Alt.), a horizontal iron st;iy inside the drum, kudlivum or adlivum (Esk.), a warm land of plenty in the sky- an
abode of the ^lead. kulun tyl kurduk (Yak.), a tongue-shaped buckle which fastens the
shaman's coat at the neck, kun (Yak.), light, day. kiingeta, kiinasa, kiisana (Yak.), 'sun' (?), 'bell' (?), a disk-shaped
ornament of the shaman's coat. kungru (Alt.), iron rattles attached to the krish. kurg-enenilit, kunieh-enenilit (Chuk.), ' mocking ' shamans,— deceitful,
maleficent shamans. kurraes (Alt.), an image of a god ; called tyn by the Chern Tartars, kut (Yak.), a soul common to men and animals, and composed of three
parts : buor-kut, ' earth-soul ' ; salgyn-kut, ' air-soul ' ; and iya-kut,
' mother-soul.' Among the Altaians it is a stage or phase of the life
of the soul. kutiirar (Yak.), a nervous affection characterized by the patient's singing
in his sleep, kuturuksuta (Yak.), a shaman's assistant.
kyira (Gil.), irregularly shaped pieces of iron on the shaman's girdle, kys kesit (Yak.), ' gifts of the bride ', food which she takes to the bride- groom, kysmrk or kyssk djakko (Gil.), a special knife used for cutting the
umbilical cord. kyun (Alt.), ' sun ', part of the ornamentations on the shaman's drum
above the circumfex-ential dividing line. Kyzyl-kikh-khan (Alt.), a deity to wliom one prays when beginning an
undertaking ; represented in symbol on the shaman's drum above
the circumferential dividing line.
latah (Malay), a nervous affection similar to amiirakh.
lepud-oicil (Yuk.), 'blood-anger', blood-revenge.
lepul (Yuk.), ' blood', kinsfolk, including also relatives by affinity.
lili khel mkholas (Ost.), soul.
lot (Gil.), a class of good spirits.
M.
ruacihi (Ain.), 'the wife', said of a bride after the second, or real,
marriage. malykh (Bur.;, calves as yet unborn.
GLOSSARY 359
nianyak (Alt.), sbanian's coat or the metal pemlaiits on it.
marxin-wolen (Yuk.). 'the price of a girl", said of the custom of purchasing a bride.
mataliramkin (Chuk.). 'athnity people', relatives by affinity.
mat-eikara (Ain.), ' making my wife ', the presenting by the bridegroom of certain gifts to his newly-made bride.
niaxeni (Ivor. >, ' arrow ', the fire-drill.
meciecum (Yuk.^ 'a washing', ceremonial smearing with reindeer's blood of a bride before she is taken to her husband's house.
raenerik (Yak.), a nervous affection in which the patient is affiicted with spasms, falls into a trance, howls, sings or dances— this being some- times followed by an epileptoid seizure.
menkeiti (Kor.), mimicr}- mania (amiirakh).
menkva (Vog.). secondary ' dark ' spirits.
mif (Gil.), the earth : the island of Sakhalin.
milk (Gil.), a class of evil spirits.
mlyro (Gil. ), the habitation of the dead.
morini-Ilhorbo (Bur.), 'horse-staves.'
mu-shu-bu (Bur. I, 'malicious bird', the evil-working transformed soul of a girl or young woman.
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