The Budalaal are the mountain and hunting powers of the Avars, owners of the wild herds of the high crags. Turs and wild goats are said to be their livestock, 'the herds of the Budalaal'; a hunter is permitted only the beast the spirits have themselves eaten and then restored to life, and to kill beyond one's allotted share invites their punishment. Anthropomorphic yet invisible to ordinary people, they may show themselves in the shape of turs to those they favour, and belief in them was strong in Karata villages such as Irib and Gilib. Ambivalent and many-sided, the Budalaal also act as go-betweens linking the Supreme and the community, especially in the rites performed to bring rain.