Tsagan Aav, the White Old Man, is among the most widely venerated pre-Buddhist deities of the Kalmyks and of Mongolic peoples generally. Imagined as a white-bearded elder leaning on a dragon-headed staff and holding the peach of long life, he is the master of the earth, its waters, mountains and burial sites, and the guardian of both domestic herds and wild game, especially the steppe antelope. Kalmyk tradition distinguishes several of his aspects: Gazr-usna Tsagan Aav, lord of lands and waters; Delken Tsagan Aav, lord of the whole universe; and Zhilin Ezen, the mobile master of the years who protects the people through the turning seasons. Originally a shamanic land-spirit, he was drawn into the Buddhist pantheon as a lay protector and appears both in cairn (ova) offerings and in the Jangar epic. Sources differ on whether his origin is autochthonous Mongolic or a localization of a wider Inner Asian earth-master figure.