Ülgen, commonly honored as Bai-Ülgen ("the mighty Ülgen"), is the supreme good deity of Altai belief and lord of the upper world, the realm of light. He created the earth, the heavens, and living beings, and stands as protector of humankind and patron of the shamans, from whom their knowledge is said to derive. He dwells in a golden dwelling in the highest sky, reached only by passing through seven or nine barriers. The great communal offering to Ülgen was a three-year-old white mare, its soul carried up through the heavenly layers by the kam over the course of a nights-long ritual. In the cosmogony he is the bright counterpart of his brother Erlik, lord of the world below.