Tsagan Aav
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.
Domains
- earth and waters
- fertility and longevity
Powers
- guards the land, waters and wild game
- bestows long life and offspring
Epithets
- Делкән Цаһан аав — White Old Man of the Whole UniverseKalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project (University of Cambridge), 'A note on the Kalmyk Tsagan Aav' (secondary)
- Җилин эзн — Master of the YearsBakaeva, E. P., Sakral'nye kody kul'tury kalmykov (Elista, 2003) (secondary)
Sources
- Tsagan Aav is an ancient earth and nature deity of the Kalmyks, worshipped as master of lands and waters, protector of livestock and wild animals, and giver of longevity, later absorbed into the Buddhist pantheon.: Heissig, Walther, The Religions of Mongolia (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980) (secondary); Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project (University of Cambridge), 'A note on the Kalmyk Tsagan Aav, the White Grandfather' (secondary)
- He appears among the Kalmyks in several forms including Gazr-usna Tsagan Aav (master of lands and waters), Delken Tsagan Aav (master of the whole earth) and Zhilin Ezen (master of the years), and features in the Jangar epic.: Bakaeva, E. P., Sakral'nye kody kul'tury kalmykov (Elista, 2003) (secondary)