Erlik

Erlik is the ruler of the lower world, the realm of darkness, and master of the harmful spirits; the Altaians attribute to him disease, misfortune, and the gravest disasters. In the cosmogony he is the brother of Ülgen, both proceeding from the primordial sovereign, but where Ülgen embodies light and creation Erlik embodies darkness and death. He receives the souls of the dead and is propitiated through the descent of the black shaman, who bears offerings into the underworld on behalf of the afflicted. In the heroic epic Maadai-Kara he appears as the ultimate adversary in the depths, confronted and overcome by the hero Kögüdei-Mergen.

Parentage

• paternal: Kaira-Khan

Domains

• underworld
• death

Powers

• rule the world below and judge the dead
• exact sacrifice and seize human souls

Epithets

• Эрлик-бий — Lord ErlikA. V. Anokhin, Materialy po shamanstvu u altaitsev, Sbornik MAE IV(2), Leningrad: Izd. AN SSSR, 1924 (primary)

Relations

• child: Kaira-KhanL. P. Potapov, Altaiskii shamanizm, Leningrad: Nauka, 1991 (secondary)
• sibling: ÜlgenL. P. Potapov, Altaiskii shamanizm, Leningrad: Nauka, 1991 (secondary)
• sibling: KyzaghanA. V. Anokhin, Materialy po shamanstvu u altaitsev, Sbornik MAE IV(2), Leningrad: Izd. AN SSSR, 1924 (primary)
• sibling: MergenA. V. Anokhin, Materialy po shamanstvu u altaitsev, Sbornik MAE IV(2), Leningrad: Izd. AN SSSR, 1924 (primary)
• enemy: Kögüdei-MergenMaadai-Kara: altaiskii geroicheskii epos, ed. S. S. Surazakov, Epos narodov SSSR, Moscow: Nauka, 1973 (primary)

Sources

• Erlik is the Altai lord of the underworld and master of evil spirits, brother and dark counterpart of Ülgen, to whom the black shaman descends with propitiatory sacrifice.: A. V. Anokhin, Materialy po shamanstvu u altaitsev, Sbornik MAE IV(2), Leningrad: Izd. AN SSSR, 1924 (primary); J.-P. Roux, La religion des Turcs et des Mongols, Paris: Payot, 1984 (secondary)