Lord of the Dead

Spirit-class lord of the dead (classed as deity). Buryat form Erlen Khan, cognate with Turkic-Altai Erlik and ultimately Tibetan/Indic Yama. Counterpart in the eastern (black) half of the 99-tengri dualism opposite Khan Khormusta.

Domains

• death underworld
• judgment of souls

Powers

• judges the souls of the dead in the lower world
• leads the forty-four eastern (black) spirits against the western ones
• sends sickness to seize the souls of the living

Relations

• equated with: Erlig Khan

Sources

• Uno Holmberg (Harva), Finno-Ugric and Siberian Mythology, 1927
• Mircea Eliade, Shamanism, 1964