Pihampar, patron of livestock and lord of wolves
Pihampar is the Chuvash patron of livestock and the master of the wolves. His name is a borrowing of New Persian payghambar, 'prophet' or 'message-bearer', taken in through Tatar mediation as part of the Islamic layer of Chuvash religious vocabulary; in Chuvash usage the prophetic figure became a heavenly herdsman and a giver of human qualities. He is titled the 'lord (khan) of the wolves' (kashkăr huçi), and prayers ask him to calm his 'dogs' — the wolves — so that they do not carry off the cattle. Beyond protecting the herds, he is said to endow people with good characteristics and to send prophetic dreams and visions. He is consistently placed among the attendant powers serving the supreme god Tură. His name belongs, with Kiremet, to the small group of Chuvash divine names that scholars trace to Arabic and Persian originals.
Domains
- livestock and herds
- wolves and predators
- endowment of human qualities
Powers
- to command the wolves and hold them back from the herds
- to bestow good qualities and prophetic dreams upon people
Epithets
- kashkăr huçi
Relations
- subordinate to: Tură, the supreme heaven-god and creator